Ummm....this, is bad. Really bad. I'm not the type to subscribe to conspiracy theories or to believe in all the Armageddon bullshit, but this event seems to have substantial evidence from credible sources that it may actually occur, and possibly sooner than later. If it does, life on earth will most likely survive, but it will never be even remotely the same.

What the hell am I talking about? A "Supervolcano" that resides quietly underneath Yellowstone Park. A giant cauldron of lava about 25 miles wide by 50 miles long that has been festering for the past 640,000 years under the surface of the earth. It apparently erupts once every 600,000 years and is now 40,000 years overdue. Estimates say that the next eruption will certainly take place relatively soon (geologically speaking, which means within the next 100,000 years) but it could happen at any minute. Since science has never been around to witness an event of this nature (the last supervolcano to blow was 75,000 years ago in Sumatra and nearly wiped out humans) we just don't know what kind of warning signs to expect.

They say that the next eruption will be approximately 2,500 times as powerful as the Mt. St. Helen's eruption. That's about the same force of a mile wide asteroid hitting the earth and would have similar catastrophic effects. It would be the loudest sound humans have ever heard. The eruption would most likely kill every living creature within 100 miles in a matter of hours and within 500 miles over a matter of days. Outside that, most of North America would be covered with a layer of ash ranging anywhere from five inches deep up to two feet deep depending on the winds and the distance from the source. Acid rain would begin to fall in abundance and breathing without a dustmask anywhere around here would become a thing of the past. Over the course of the next few weeks after it blew, the dust, ash, and vapor would circle the globe and begin to block out light from the sun which would drop the average temperature on earth about 21 degrees. Nuclear winter. Most plants and animals would die, agriculture would be all but wiped out, food would have to be grown in labs. Clean water would be worth its weight in gold. You get the idea. Humanity would of course survive but not without a ton of problems, chaos would rule for a long while.

So what's the big deal? Why even worry about it? Well like I said, we don't have a clue what the warning signs are. But there is some strange stuff going on in Yellowstone these days and it could be a precursor to the big "bang". For instance, there were 64 earthquakes recorded in Yellowstone park in the month of October the largest I think was a 4.4 on the scale. Lots of small earthquakes usually precede any volcanic activity. The ground at the park has risen an average of 17 inches over the past century. Seventeen inches in a hundred years is a lot for the earth to move in one spot. There is also a huge bulge at the bottom of Yellowstone lake that is 7 city blocks long and over 100 feet high that seems to be slowly increasing the average water temperature. New geysers and mud pits are apparently springing up around the area at alarming rates. Not to mention that Steamboat Geyser which hadn't erupted for over a decade (since 1991), has done so now 6 times in the past 18 months and with increased water temperatures. Also the ground here has risen 5 inches just in the past few years. The kicker is that roads have been closed all over Yellowstone Park due to the fact that the surface temperature of several roads there has reached over 200 degrees!

Now before you write me off as a crazy person let me explain myself a bit. Do I think that this thing is going to blow? Eventually yes. Do I think it will happen in the next 100,000 years? Certainly yes. 10,000 years? Most likely, yes. In our lifetime? Highly doubtful but still very possible. The truth is no one knows, just like the whole "will we ever get hit by an asteroid" thing. But it really is interesting to think about.

By the way, I'm not going to list every reference link as to where I found info about this since there were so many out there. Some more reputable than others. Try googling "Supervolcanoes" and "Yellowstone" and you should find most of the same information I did. If you want a link to a specific piece of info that I found, send me an email or a comment and I'll do my best to find you the link.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:28 AM