If you haven't been to Yellowstone, you should go, because it is one of the beautiful ways to feel like the end is nigh. That's right, I'm talking apocalypto.
Now you may not believe our claims of this impending doom. The first white man to see Yellowstone tried to tell everyone what he saw and no one believed him! In 1807, John Colter, described it as "hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious steams, and smell of brimstone". Everyone thought he was making it up because it sounded too crazy.
What is crazy is that Yellowstone is a giant volcano! The tourists come to enjoy a beautiful flat land to get a close up look at many geothermal phenomenon. What you learn in the process is that all of this activity is due to the fact that you're standing directly above a magma chamber the size of the Yellowstone area. Kinda scary if you start thinking about it. Consider this picture, stolen off of National Geographic's website, and similar to what we saw in the visitors centers. Notice the size of yellowstone and the two magma chambers. right under foot. Makes you want to get as far away as you can, like the French Southern and Antartic lands, which is an island on the opposite side of the earth.
Now you may not believe our claims of this impending doom. The first white man to see Yellowstone tried to tell everyone what he saw and no one believed him! In 1807, John Colter, described it as "hidden fires, smoking pits, noxious steams, and smell of brimstone". Everyone thought he was making it up because it sounded too crazy.
What is crazy is that Yellowstone is a giant volcano! The tourists come to enjoy a beautiful flat land to get a close up look at many geothermal phenomenon. What you learn in the process is that all of this activity is due to the fact that you're standing directly above a magma chamber the size of the Yellowstone area. Kinda scary if you start thinking about it. Consider this picture, stolen off of National Geographic's website, and similar to what we saw in the visitors centers. Notice the size of yellowstone and the two magma chambers. right under foot. Makes you want to get as far away as you can, like the French Southern and Antartic lands, which is an island on the opposite side of the earth.
Now they did reassure us that there is no imminent threat. For anything drastic to occur, there would be warning signs of violent earthquakes and weeks of slow oozing lava. But, if it did happen to erupt it has the potential to spew enough ash and poisonous gases into the atmosphere to temporarily block out the sun and start an ice age.
Now clearly, we're no geologists, but we were in awe. The earth is such a dynamic place and it's pretty cool to get to live in a time when all of this knowledge is so accessible. It should be noted that National Parks are such great places to learn! Most of them have interactive displays now with audio tours that you can download right onto your iPhone. And I won't tell you how many Parks we've been to thus far, but I will say we've far surpassed the $80 we spent on our National Parks pass. So worth it.
um, what? how did i miss this before? a. i need your yellowstone oozy percolating pool pics and b. i need to look into this craziness!
ReplyDeleteplease stay safe and avoid natural disasters!