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Title: Super Volcano: The Ticking Time Bomb Beneath Yellowstone National Park
ISBN: 0760329257
Author:
Greg Breining
Publicate Date: 2007-10-15
Publish: 2007-10-15
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.49
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.47
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Yellowstone: America's Nemesis?
Although I've long been interested in volcanoes, it took me awhile to fully accept the reality of supervolcanoes. I had orginally thought that the most dangerous category of volcano was the stratovolcano which arises along coastlines in subductions zones, as a picturesque conical mountain (for instance Mt. Fuji, Mt. St. Helens before it erupted). How could a relatively flat space on the earth, such as Yellowstone or Long Valley Caldera in California, compare with my beautiful and beloved stratos? But now I understand why a supervolcano is more destructive. Greg Breining's SUPERVOLCANO: THE TICKING TIME BOMB BENEATH YELLOWSTONE, although not written by a scientist, provides a good answer. Most of the rock that is found in the center of continents is rhyolite, harder than the andesite and dacite found along coasts. So even a relatively flat area, if found inland, has can create sufficient resistence to cause an explosive volcanic eruption. And resistence to pressure is what explosive eruptions are all about. The pressure comes not only from hot magma but from chemicals which are usually gases when hot, above all water. But when under pressure in a volcano, these chemicals are not in a gaseous form. They are superheated liquid, like the liquid in a pressure cooker. When there is a sufficient build-up of them, they will blow the lid off the volcano and flash to steam, expanding 1000 times in the process, and thus creating an explosive eruption.
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2: yellowstone
A general overview and discussion. Insufficient depth for my purposes. Would like to have seen supportive charts and research results on previous eruptions and current events. Author mentioned ashfall in Nebraska, but offered no data other than a general discussion. No ashfall pattern or intensity. No maps of projected Lahars, pyroclastic flows, or global impact. Author mentioned that geologist are maintaining a vigil on yellowstone, but again, no supportive data. Such information, if it exists at all, will be found in non related geology papers and may require extensive research to compile it.
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3: Good explanations of complex phenomena
Review by Rik Lantz, R.G. on Ann Logue's Amazon account: This was a very interesting book and a nice, thorough discussion of hot spot volcanism. The book gave me a good appreciation that the hot spot that created the Snake River Basalt flows and Yellowstone is still down there cooking away and could cause another major volcanic event with profound consequences for the area, North America, and the world.
Mr. Breining does a nice job of describing some complex phenomena in plain English and making them accessible to the layman. I thought he did a very good job of describing what happens during an eruption and the hazards of ash falls and climate alteration in addition to the more immediately obvious effects of pyroclastic eruptions and lava flows. I felt that he didn't do as good a job of describing why these hot spots would remain stationary in the mantle, which by all accounts is moving around as much as the crust, but perhaps that's because it's not very well understood in the first place. Explanations of other phenomena were direct, concise, and understandable, but the discussion of hot spots stood out to me because it was not very cogent or convincing in comparison. I would have liked to see him explore the link between volcanism and climate more thoroughly.
I enjoyed his description of the Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska, and how they demonstrate that volcanic events can have far-reaching consequences for animals half a continent away. The description of how fine ash affects a faunal assemblage and helps explain the sequence in which they die, and thus which ones are on top, was fascinating. I'm going to have to stop and check the place out next time I drive through Nebraska.
In summary, this a very readable overview of volcanism in general and how it relates to the geology of Yellowstone in particular, with a lot of good information about the significant eruptions during recorded history thrown in for good measure. The title ("ticking time bob"!) is a bit alarmist, but it's a good read and sober assessment of the risks of future volcanism at Yellowstone.
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