Too lazy to look it up, but I did read that Katla is able to be almost a world killer -- but that was about almost killing all life on Earth -- the lesser damage of "killing humanity due to mass starvation" is a much more possible result out of a Katla event.
Here's a concept that most folks really don't have a handle on: the thinness of the Earth's crust. How thin? Well the Earth's diameter is about 8,000 miles, and the crust is at most 50 miles thick and under the oceans it's only about five to ten miles thick. About a third of one percent of the diameter of the Earth. Sounds like a lot of rock between us and the hot interior, right? Well it is -- we're not boiling, right?, but though rock has great insulating properties, the crust's thinness is very very much thinner than you might expect -- relatively speaking, and it is this I wish to underline -- with a metaphor that packs a punch for me. Consider this: if the Earth were the size of a billiard ball, if one touches the ball where there is ocean, it would feel only "barely moist to the touch." And if you breathed upon it -- fogged it as if to clean your eyeglasses -- then that layer of water you've put upon the ball would be one of Earth's deepest oceans. See? The oceans are about five miles deep, and so is the crust under the oceans....that's about 1/1000th of the Earth's diameter. The crust is thinner than an egg shell and the inside of the egg is up to about 10,000 F degrees....hotter than the surface of the sun. There's your protection that volcanoes so easily pierce. Feeling a bit more at risk? My job is done here. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jst...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > That second volcano is a mofo and if it blows like it has > > blown before, whew we ain't seen nothing yet.....could be > > a world crushing event. > > The volcano that was incorrectly reported to have erupted > was Hekla. The big mofo is Katla. It blows about twice a > century, so I guess the world must have been crushed on a > pretty regular basis. > > > That's probably all it would take to precipitate the fears > > about 2012 into a very real religion > > Not. It's unlikely to be a big threat anywhere but in > Iceland. If it spews a lot of ash and the wind is right, > that could be a problem elsewhere, but not a "world- > crushing" one. > > > > -- who will spring to the fore to be its high priest? > > > > Edg > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozguru@> wrote: > > > > > > The bigger volcano is only 8 miles from the one that is erupting. So it > > > would not be unusual at all for it to start up. Living around volcanos > > > one learns a bit about them. They could be doing damage control too as > > > not to alarm the public but if it does explode with a boom then damage > > > control may no longer be possible. > > > > > > authfriend wrote: > > > > >From the main volcano story on the MSNBC Web site: > > > > > > > > "A plume of smoke from a second Icelandic volcano briefly > > > > caused concern Monday but its impact was quickly minimized." > > > > > > > > Not sure who/what "minimized" its impact. But there's > > > > nothing on MSNBC cable, CNN, or Yahoo News, so this looks > > > > like it may have been a flash in the pan, for now at least. > > > > > > > > (Hekla *is* the one they're worried about, BTW.) > > > > > > > > OK, the Eruptions blog on ScienceBlogs says it was a false > > > > alarm (see the comments for updates and very interesting > > > > discussion of various points): > > > > > > > > http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/changes_in_the_eruption_at_eyj.php > > > > > > > > http://tinyurl.com/y3yjj8c > > > > > > > > A post on an Icelandic blog, saying it's bogus: > > > > > > > > "I have been seeing a lot of false reports in english > > > > about Hekla volcano having started erupting. This reports > > > > are false. Currently there is no eruption in Hekla > > > > volcano. At the moment Hekla volcano is quiet and shows > > > > no signs of eruption, or that it is going to start > > > > erupting soon. > > > > > > > > "When Hekla volcano starts erupting there is a period of > > > > earthquake swarms that come from Hekla volcano. Currently > > > > there are no earthquakes in Hekla volcano." > > > > > > > > http://www.jonfr.com/?p=3874 > > > > > > > > Here's a Hekla volcanocam: > > > > > > > > http://www.ruv.is/hekla > > > > > > > > BONUS: More than you ever wanted to know about how to > > > > pronounce the name of the erupting volcano, with four > > > > different audio clips: > > > > > > > > http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2257 > > > > > > > > VIDEO BONUS: > > > > > > > > Close-up view of the eruption in daylight, showing > > > > the ash cloud, from a helicopter tour: > > > > > > > > http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1395588323904&ref=mf > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozguru@> wrote: > > > > > > > >> Gaia is really pissed now as "Breaking News" on MSNBC > > > >> has the second volcano, the one with the pronounceable > > > >> name Hekla, has begun erupting. If this is the one they > > > >> are were worried on then all bets are off. > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
