Past Due: Mother Nature Edition

A Love Supreme

Ramblin' Wreck
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822
I hate to be a "Negative Nancy" or a "Doomsday Danny" but that is just who I am. We have seen many large hurricanes and tornadoes recently but I'm pretty sure it is past due for a major geological event.

There has been over 800 earthquakes reported at the Yellowstone supervolcano in the last two weeks. Apparently, the last volcanic eruption within the caldera was 70,000 years ago. And the probability of the supervolcano erupting in the coming year is 1 in 730,000. Of course I'm not hoping anything bad will happen but I think it is past due for a eruption. I'm sure lava flowing at Yellowstone will increase tourism.
http://www.newsweek.com/yellowstone-supervolcano-earthquake-swarm-update-eruption-risk-629272

The scariest one to me though is a major earthquake at the San Andreas Fault.
http://idyllwildtowncrier.com/2017/06/27/the-big-one-san-andreas-major-quake-coming/

Dr. Lucy Jones says the big one is coming. "Northern sections of the fault have experienced major eruptions on average every 150 years. The southern section, running through the Coachella Valley, has not had a major eruption for more than 300 years. It is long overdue and seismic pressure is building. Jones notes that the southern San Andreas Fault is capable of a magnitude-8.2 quake."

This would be a disaster. Again, I hope that none of these happen but I think we are past due.
 

00Burdell

Helluva Engineer
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The earthquake activity at Yellowstone is no big deal. And I don't know what the article means by "the last volcanic activity was 70,000 years ago" unless they are talking about minor eruptions - the last real activity was 670,000 years ago and the frequency of major eruptions is 600,000 years so while we are technically "overdue", I wouldn't give it a second thought because the caldera isn't rising (an inch or two/year is negligible). When the ground starts jacking a couple feet/yr, time to grab the bugout bag but really, there is nowhere to go unless you count the southern hemisphere and you would have to walk to get there.

And, yes, CA is going to shake, rattle and roll but it won't be the first time and life will pretty much go on.

No point in focusing on upcoming trials and tribulations - just live today.
 
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