A Supervolcano Beneath Mt. St. Helens? 180
We've discussed the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone a few times here (not going to blow, 2004; going to blow, 2008). Now scientists are pondering whether a large area of conductive material beneath Mt. St. Helens might contain enough magma that the area could be classed a supervolcano. The jury is still out on this one. Reader nhytefall sends us a New Scientist progress report. "Magma can be detected with a technique called magnetotellurics, which builds up a picture of what lies underground by measuring fluctuations in electric and magnetic fields at the surface. The fields fluctuate in response to electric currents traveling below the surface, induced by lightning storms and other phenomena. The currents are stronger when magma is present, since it is a better conductor than solid rock. ... [M]easurements revealed a column of conductive material that extends downward from the volcano. About 15 km below the surface, the relatively narrow column appears to connect to a much bigger zone of conductive material. This larger zone was first identified in the 1980s by another magnetotelluric survey, and was found to extend all the way to beneath Mount Rainier 70 km to the north-east, and Mount Adams 50 km to the east. It was thought to be a zone of wet sediment, water being a good electrical conductor. ... [Some researchers] now think the conductive material is more likely to be a semi-molten mixture. Its conductivity is not high enough for it to be pure magma.. so it is more likely to be a mixture of solid and molten rock."
Mount Helen? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Mount Helen? (Score:4, Funny)
Chances are that they'll forget to use sudo the first time...
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Mount a saint?
Lava life? (Score:1)
Re:Lava life? (Score:5, Informative)
Not to be a nit-picker, but lava and magma aren't actually the same thing; lava is magma flowing on the Earth's surface. The properties of the two are the same, aside from lava being surrounded by relatively cool air, and magma being surrounded by insulating earth.
I know that doesn't really answer your question, but consider this; It's not lava yet.
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I know jack all about geology and vulcanology. Thanks for the info though. ^_^
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No, of course it isn't. It only turns into lava when you put it in a lamp. [wikipedia.org] Either that, or soap. [lavasoap.com] I'm not sure which.
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Gov. Jindal isn't worried (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Gov. Jindal isn't worried (Score:4, Insightful)
Yep. And next time Louisiana gets slammed by a big storm (and it will) Jindal or his successor will go running to the Federal government for help, all the while whining that not enough was done to predict or prepare for the event. But volcanoes? Pffft. Everyone who has to worry about that is a damnyankee anyway.
(Of course, if it weren't for those damnyankees, Jindal himself would never have had a prayer of getting elected county dogcatcher in any ex-Confederate state, much less governor ... but we're not supposed to mention that either.)
Louisiana politics have always been deeply corrupt, but they used to be relatively sane. I'm not sure what happened.
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Fuck the south, and FUCK RELIGION. Hmmph. Talking to a fucking invisible man in the sky. Pure and utter stupidity.
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(My own personal opinion is that this is true, but I am not a right-winger myself.)
Leave the politics out of it, and let's just consider MONEY. If those bastards want to live in a hurricane zone, below sea level, fine. Let them. But not on my nickel.
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Either you completely misread my post, or you're deliberately twisting my words. Given your posting history, the first seems more likely. The facts in this case completely support the "liberal," "left-wing" position, in either case ... which is usually the way to bet.
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It's interesting that libertarians and other assorted nutjobs always point out that no one has to live in hurricane zone or below sea level, yet fail to realize that they themselves don't have to live in a civilized, cooperative society. They can move to Somalia or some other governmentless hellhole and be free of taxes and all that they impl
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Fine but the city was basically destroyed. When it was built it made sense powered freight transportation and fishing were both important so it was logical to construct cities on the coast. Its not reasonable to pick up and move a perfectly good city but when its devastated to the degree New Orleans was why should we rebuild it? Why not move the entire thing 50 miles inland? A short (cheap to replace) stretch of rail road could connect the docs to the city and other ground transport. Moving freight by
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For my argument to be a strawman, it would have to be putting words into your mouth. So, do you deny you suggested other people move so you don't have to pay taxes?
I can see you still have lots to learn there.
Because cooperation has been such a successful strategy throughout human history that mere idiocy can't explain why libertarians
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As for Constitution, please, spare me. I live in the buckle of the Bible belt. Every day I hear fake Libertarians piss on the Constitution and the principles it stands for. Their hypocrisy appears to be unbounded, so you'll pa
Re:Gov. Jindal isn't worried (Score:4, Informative)
Why do you consider facts to be "right-wing"? You must then consider left-wingers to live in a fantasy world?
Interesting you mention this. I'm just reading Alan Sokal's Beyond the Hoax, where he criticises the liberal-left academic post-modernists for trying to undermine facts. Of course, he then goes on to criticise the fundamentalist right for the same thing, and notes the irony that the latter wouldn't have been able to succeed without the groundwork of the former.
So there was a period (pre-Bush, essentially) where the literary academic establishment did consider facts to be a right-wing anti-progressive and revisionist construct, or some other such spew of verbal diarrhea. Guess what goes around comes around after all.
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Without claiming that either side is correct politically, I will say that it is my experience that those on the Left, relatively speaking, tend to be more concerned with idealism than with verifiable facts. Which is a very dangerous thing to let loose on the American people.
On the other hand, idealism or no, the Right has done considerable damage to the American people and their society over the last 8 or 10 years itself. So... it h
Re:Gov. Jindal isn't worried (Score:4, Interesting)
If those bastards want to live in a hurricane zone, below sea level, fine. Let them. But not on my nickel.
How would you feel about dealing with the massive economic hit to the country involved in all of the people living in similar areas relocating? Whether the government funded it or not, you'd be talking about bringing huge pieces of industry to a standstill for years.
Oh, and don't forget about the ruin you'd wreak on the country by shutting down all of the ports on two of the three coasts. Nearly anywhere that is capable of being a useful port is also going to be victim to natural disasters of some kind - whether it's hurricanes in the South or earthquakes in the West. But, you know, while you're relocating all those millions of people, maybe you can have them dig a container-ship-sized canal to Idaho. Not many options for that in the South, since (AFAIK) most of the states between the South and e.g. Michigan (which already has water access) are hit by tornadoes.
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Look, let me make my position clear: living below flood level is STUPID. Period. I don't want to pay for their levees, or relocation, or rebuilding, or any of it, any more than I would want to pay for somebody who burned their house down by using a turkey fryer indoors. Stupid is stupid.
Personally, I would just consider it evolution in action. The average intelligence of the human race goes up a fraction.
And before you accuse me of being a hypocrite, let me repeat wh
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I don't live in a floodzone, or a hurricane zone, or an area that is subject to typhoons, or tsunamis, or dust storms, or earthquakes, or...
Shit happens. The bush fires in my state five months ago almost hit the metropolitan area where I live. Washington state in the US apparently has a super volcano potentially about to blow. Lots of people around the world live close to or below sea level. Disasters happen sometimes. The shocking thing to me (as a non-US person) was that the response from emergency management people seemed to be below what would normally be expected in the US. But I also think that the victims of that disaster did less to hel
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I lived in Seattle for 12 years and during that time.... and every time I laid eyes on Mt. Rainier my hind brain went fraking ballistic.
something deep within me said, " Get the fuck out of here... You shouldn't be any where near that mountain!!!"
I can't explain that feeling. For most of my time living there I believed that volcano to be extinct. I never even looked into it. Much later I did and found that it is not extinct... or dormant or sleeping.... it's considered ACTIVE.... so is there some
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ok, so that "Mt. St. Helens" also is in usa, seattle, right ?
oh my, would have been _so_ helpful to say that in the damn summary.
it might also have been helpful to, like, link to something useful [wikipedia.org].
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Tell me, how long do you have to sit in intellectual purgatory, destroying all cognitive dissonance in favor of easy-answer ideologies, before you're capable of writing something like this? Only on Slashdot could such socially and emotionally retarded drivel get modded up. Seriously, go fuck yourself.
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Hey... don't go living below the waterline, and I'll never have to refuse to bail you out. Sound fair?
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If you truly believed in limited government, and you had any backbone, you'd start by throwing your own pet projects to the "limited government" furnace. What about the highway system that I don't use because I bike everywhere and stay local? What about the tax breaks that go to churches that I don't attend? What about the military that I think should stay a lot closer to home?
The truth is, you just think the government should spend all it's money on you.
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What's up with those lately? They're all over the place with their brave and honest "-1 Overrated" judgments.
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A fair number of them, I think, have realized that they can't possibly win in an actual debate, so when they get mod points they scan through stories looking for something that presses their political hot buttons.
Re:Gov. Jindal isn't worried (Score:5, Funny)
fixed
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Honestly, I could flip "left" and "right" in that dialogue, and it would be no more or less correct.
The (in)ability to use logic or rational discussion skills is not unique to any one political party or philosophy. Throwing around poorly-formed jokes (such as this one) only adds to the fire.
Can we agree that there are more than a few nuts on both the left and the right, and that many of these individuals tend to be given their own TV and radio shows to boost ratings?
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yes, if its one thing the right wing is all about, its facts, sources and methodology. thats why they're so pro-science.
He Was Exactly Right (Score:1, Insightful)
This volcano monitoring spending was part of an economic stimulus bill.
What in the hell does spending on volcano monitoring have to do with stimulating the economy, I have no idea. Maybe we should be funding this, but it has nothing to do with the issue that he was addressing.
It was a bit clumsy, but Jindal was dead on correct in criticizing the pork that goes on in Congress.
Re:He Was Exactly Right (Score:4, Interesting)
It can be reasonably argued either way as to whether funding for volcano monitoring belonged in that particular bill (I urge you to consider how the economy might be affected by a volcano-scale natural disaster -- the possible nullification of any progress stemming from the bill's other economic recovery provisions).
More poignant however was the obvious subtext of Jindal's message, which was mockery of science. You probably wouldn't agree, but it'd certainly be worth my taxpayer dollars to fund a permanent residence for Gov. Jindal at the summit of Mt. St. Helens.
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Larry blurbed: /quote larry bagina (561269) Alter Relationship on Saturday June 13, @03:25PM (#28322177) Journal
Stimulus? bwahaha. Earlier this week, Caterpillar (bulldozers and stuff) announced 66 more employees would be laid off, on top of the 400 or so in the last 9 months. This is noteworthy because they (and Barack Obama) had previously stated that the stimulus would prevent this from happening /endquote
BXZZXT> WRONG.
Despite the rest of your post being full of goodness and all the
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Re:Gov. Jindal isn't worried (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, parent got modded troll pretty fast. Apparently the Republican mod-bombers are out in force.
It is a fact that Jindal, governor of a state (Louisiana) which has suffered mightily from natural disasters (hurricanes) in the recent past and will inevitably do so in the future, criticized Federal spending on a program designed to predict and prepare for natural disasters (volcanoes) which could easily be as devastating if not more so. It is also a fact that Jindal made this a partisan issue. Pointing this out does not constitute a troll.
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It could've been a Libertarian or even some Democrat who was paid off by him. I realize it's quite popular to blame everything on Republicans these days, but c'mon! There are plenty of nutjob groups on both sides of the fence.
I'm a Republican. I never mod down posts--not even quite hateful ones directed to people like me. 1) It ain't worth it and 2) bigoted speech (even the kind most Slashdotters sadly agree wit
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It's called Keynesian economics. When the economy is in a slump, you should employ people doing whatever work that you can think of. Especially random, somewhat questionable research. Most of the major breakthroughs have been the result of random, somewhat questionable research.
Furthermore, people need to quit whining about 'pork' in the stimulus bill. A stimulus bill is by definition pork. If there wasn't pork in it, it wouldn't be a stimulus bill. It would be an energy spending initiative, or a bank bailo
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you should employ people doing whatever work that you can think of. Especially random, somewhat questionable research. Most of the major breakthroughs have been the result of random, somewhat questionable research
Monkeys with multiple asses?
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Has any macroeconomic theory been shown to work? Keynesian economists seem no more delusional than any other brand, in that there's a fair amount of ambiguous evidence that might favor their ideas.
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Well, he's right to some extent. Funding for ongoing projects (like volcano monitoring) should be in the normal budget - the stimulus bill was supposed to be for one-time expenses and to kick start the economy, not for pork or to circumvent the normal budget process. I can't help but wonder how much 'seed' money for ongoing projects/pork is hidden in the stimulus money.
Disclaimer: Puget Sound area resident, and one aware of the difference between volcano monitoring and basic research.
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In the other hand... a supe
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Unlike many government programs, volcano monitoring can be easily justified with solid numbers and statistics.
I worked with a few folks in a volcano-monitoring program [alaska.edu] a few years ago.
Much of the justification for their existence comes from an incident [wikipedia.org]that took place in 1989, in which a 747 flew into a cloud of volcanic ash, causing all 4 engines to fail.
A similar incident took place in 1982 with a British Airways 747. In both cases, the pilots at the controls had experience flying unpowered aircraft, and
Don't panic (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Don't panic (Score:4, Funny)
thats no moon
If the west coast blows up (Score:5, Funny)
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Yeah, but it'd be buried under feet of magma and ash.
Yeah, you can have it, but good luck finding it. :P
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Well Silicon Valley already had its bubble burst. So are you saying its about time it blows up by a volcano? When the city of Atlantis rises again, we'll see who the fools are.
hmm if it did blow (Score:2, Funny)
The force could be enough to take out all the chairs in the Microsoft campus, regardless of what news was being digested by the CEO at the time.
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The force could be enough to take out 173 libraries of congress, regardless of what news was being digested by the CEO at the time.
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The force could be enough to take out 1.73 libraries of congress, regardless of what news was being digested by the CEO at the time.
There, fixed that for you.
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I saw what you did there.
pffft! It's not "Supervolcano" (Score:4, Funny)
You got that? It's a Megacaldera guys. Only total n00bz call it a supervolcano! I bet you guys called Yoda a Jedi Knight too....everybody knows he was a Jedi MASTER.
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Re:pffft! It's not "Supervolcano" (Score:5, Funny)
"...supervolcano was not a technical term used in volcanology. The term megacaldera is sometimes used.."
It's a supervolcano if it wears it's underwear on the outside.
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It's a supervolcano if it wears it's underwear on the outside.
Volcanoes do that sometimes. I note that at least Ms. Helens has red panties. Hot!
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Technically, either a volcano or a volcano is where volcanic activity is exposed on the surface. A volcano is a source of magma. A caldera is the "crater" that often appears at the center of a volcano. Neither have a whole lot to do with a massive reservoir of magma, which is... a massive reservoir of magma.
Except for the postulated mix of magma and water, there is not much new here. It has long been accepted that Mount Ranier, Mount St. Helens, and probably Mount Baker are connec
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Isn't Megacaldera a heavy metal tribute band from the SCO group?
Re:pffft! It's not "Supervolcano" (Score:4, Funny)
In my opinion, all volcanoes are all "super." Monsters like Mt. Etna and Vesuvius would be typical in size. Super would be what? The size of Cuba, Iceland, Tasmania - that would be super. How about exovolcanoes (or is it exoplanetary volcanoes)? Do you use the same scale?
I suppose that since the Mt. St-Helens is in the USA, it must be a super something.
Re:pffft! It's not "Supervolcano" (Score:4, Insightful)
The point is that the very large and active Mt. St Helens could be just a small vent for a much larger volcano. One who's crater / caldera is close to 2000 square miles. If true, something like this going off would make Krakatoa look like firecracker. As in, all of the US and a good chuck of Canada and Mexico covered with ash.
Mega Caldera?!?! (Score:2)
Volcano! (Score:5, Insightful)
There's always a volcano about to erupt, or a fault going to shatter in an earthquake, or a comet that's going to smash into the earth, or a polar ice cap that's going to melt. It's always something.
Wake me up when Vesuvius erupts; California becomes "the Island previously known as California"; New York is under water; or an planet splitting meteor strikes. Otherwise, it's not news, it's fear mongering. Wolf has been cried too many times for people to be concerned any more.
I've lived in Florida for years. Hurricanes are far more likely to blow through than a volcano destroying a vast swath of the US, yet seasoned residents (those of us who have lived through more hurricanes than we can count) just make sure we have some food and water at home, and a way to cook. Live on high ground, and cross your fingers a tornado doesn't take your house away. Tornadoes during hurricanes are very likely, but the square footage of land destroyed (houses, upturned cars, etc) are so small compared to the square miles of potential damage area that you may as well play the lottery and expect to win.
Re:Volcano! (Score:5, Interesting)
I suggest you actually read the summary. It doesn't say that Mount St. Helens is going erupt and destroy life as we know it, or anything like that. It says "Hey guys, what if that large area under the ground isn't actually water like we thought and is actually semi molten rock?". To which the answer is, "Well that might mean we need to classify it differently." That's it. No grand and dire warnings, suggest an idea that would further our understanding of at least a piece of the earth.
But don't let me interrupt your off topic rant.
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A miscategorized geological formation isn't newsworthy unless they're trying to imply something else. It would have just been changed on a few note sheets and ignored.
No, that dike isn't a dike, it's a levee. No, that lake isn't a lake, it's a pond. No pluto isn't a planet, it's a misclassified astronomical object. No it's not TV, it's HBO.
Re:Volcano! (Score:4, Informative)
This isn't a generic news site, thought; it's "news for nerds". And the story is not about a miscategorization, it's about new findings about a major geological feature.
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Re:Volcano! (Score:4, Informative)
A miscategorized geological formation isn't newsworthy unless they're trying to imply something else.
Its the corrected categorization that is doing the new "implying" here. The implication that St. Helens may be just one vent from a much larger super-caldera structure is what is significant. Now, whether its true or not is something else, I'm a little skeptical because it doesn't sound to me like the caldera structure at Yellowstone, but whatever...
And no, a super-caldera eruption is not "just another volcano going off". Its a whole 'nuther kettle of fish. Super-caldera eruptions are automatically global, catastrophic events simply due to the amount of energy released by them, usually 3+ orders of magnitude greater than a single volcanic event, and the worst of them can be globally life-threatening [wikipedia.org].
The last time Mt. St. Helen's blew its top in 1980, it ejected ~1.2 km3 of material (cubic kilometers). The last time the Yellowstone caldera blew its top around 600,000 years ago, it ejected ~1,000.0 km3 of material. And the really bad one from the link above (Toba Lake, Sumatra, around 75,000 years ago)? That one ejected ~2,800.0 km3 of material. See the difference? :)
Fortunately, the only good thing about them is that they're rare. Unfortunately, they're very big firecrackers when they go off. How big? If the Yellowstone caldera decides to clear its throat real good in our lifetime, then you being in Florida won't automatically make you safe... That's how big. :)
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And the level of concern for a super volcano eruption should be? All the following odds are events:year(s)
We know of 8 VEI-8 eruptions in the last 27 million years, with the last being 26,000 years ago; and 19 VEI-7 eruptions in the last 15 million years. That gives us 1:3,375,000 for a VEI-8 and 1:1,000,000. On the other hand, you're looking at 3.8:1 for a hurricane, or 1:1.25 for at Atlantic Category 5 hurricane.
You still have 200:1 for being struck by lightning, o
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And the level of concern for a super volcano eruption should be?
I don't claim to know how to rank it, compared to other issues, danger vs. likelyhood, etc, thats up to each individual.
My only point is that it is not the same thing as a normal volcanic event, which was implied in your post: "There's always a volcano about to erupt". Uhmmm, no there *isn't* always a super-caldera about to erupt, thats the point.
You saw the reference to St. Helens, and assumed it was about a usual volcanic event(s), and missed the part about the alleged caldera super-strucure under the m
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Change happens, and some of it is big and abrupt. Will happen tomorrow? next century? Is not for losing the sleep for what could happen that you cant predict nor prevent, but neither is for denying that will happen in some moment of the (maybe far, maybe near) future.
If makes you happy, you can take it as the "news" that Mars will hit Earth like in a billon years, odds are not low that it will no happen in your lifetime (specially if a big tidal wa
Re:Volcano! (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, yes, I was woken up last time a Category 5 hurricane was about to hit. We don't panic because it's reported "This could be the worst hurricane season ever!" That's not news either, it's fear mongering. It's something to worry about when there's really a storm coming, and you may have a day or few days notice. It may be a Category 2 hurricane now, but when it arrives it could be just a tropical depression or a Category 5 hurricane. It may turn towards us. It may turn away from us. When it looks likely that it will hit, that's when we take precautions.
When Hurricane Andrew came our way, we stored some water, make sure we had food and cooking supplies, and locked down everything we needed to. We were within the storm, but not near the eye. Not that the eye matters that much, these storms are wicked most of the way across.
We watched Hurricane Isabel, but it turned away from us.
Hurricane Ivan wasn't much to see when we got it.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita danced around us, so we were lucky.
Hurricane Wilma wasn't terribly strong when it got here.
A few years ago, I believe 2005, we had 4 hurricanes back to back. I was living out of state, but I had to fly back for work. My first flight was delayed because of the hurricane. They reopened the airport, and I caught the second flight. About a day after I landed, the next storm came in, and low lying areas were evacuated. We were moving equipment between data centers, and had just gotten it all inside when the edge of the storm hit. I called a provider to have a circuit turned up, and they asked "you do realize you're in the middle of a hurricane, right?" I had a 4wd rental SUV (with insurance, of course), food and water were secured at home. Power and traffic lights were spotty throughout the area. I received one phone call for an evacuation. Someone I knew had a Porsche, and couldn't get down his street because of the flooding and trees down. Flood waters were starting to come up, and the wind was driving the rain through his window seals, so the whole West side of his house was soaked. I drove Tampa to Clearwater, got him out of his home and to another friends place on higher ground. It's interesting driving in a hurricane across a bridge. It's hard to see, the winds push you around, the waves are crashing over the side of the bridge, but there are no cars on the road. :) It was us and police looking for people in trouble to help out. If we had seen a stopped car and someone trying to get our attention, we would have picked them up and taken them to safety, just as the police would have.
Hurricanes are probably one of the best times, because most people turn to each other. The police aren't out trying to write traffic tickets. They're evacuating people from their homes (either mandatory or on calls for help), and looking for people stuck on the side of the road, or in other trouble. No questions are asked, they are just helped. Friends help out friends. People on higher ground give those on lower ground a place to stay until it's over. When its over, neighbors help neighbors with anything they can.
During Hurricane Elena (1985), because it lingered off shore from us, the lowland houses flooded. We lived inland, and had 8 or so people staying with us for several days. After we lost power, food was cooked on the BBQ. Everyone was happy and fairly comfortable. 3 tornadoes hit our property, one on the house directly, and two uprooted trees and tossed them. When it was safe to go home (i.e., the flood waters had gone down enough to drive home), they went home and started cleaning up. Our only damage was a destroyed 50' TV antenna. The low lying houses weren't all so lucky.
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'cause UR in txt/twitter society. If over 140 chrs, PpL won't read it.
I can write anything I want past 140 characters. I could post a new novel, or plans for world domination through control of the cheezie poof supply chain.
People don't understand the importance of cheezie poofs to the global economy, and that is what has been overlooked. The illuminati and the NWO have seized power by controlling the supply chain. Global warming is caused by it. Limiting supply has inc
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Let me rephrase my previous response.
Hurricanes happen a lot. Category 5 hurricanes happen enough to make it a concern.
Volcano's erupt ... umm ... Well, the last major eruption in the US was Mt. St. Helens in 1980, and there haven't been any major eruptions in the last decade [msn.com].
Compare that to 8 Category 5 hurricanes [wikipedia.org] in the Atlantic in the last decade.
Or we could look at a longer time span. 14 major volcanic eruptions world w
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I misread your comment the first time, and I read "you won't have to hear any more about political disasters". I was overjoyed. :)
If I'll be turning into a land dwelling walking jellyfish, you better say the magic words. "You, for one welcome our mutated jellyfish overlords". :)
Wake me (Score:3, Funny)
Wake me when Rainer and Adams all start smoking at the same time.
Otherwise, in people as well as volcanoes, an occasional good healthy belch relieves a lot of pressure.
Just terrific (Score:1)
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At least you aren't in Portland...
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Re:Just terrific (Score:5, Insightful)
Look on the bright side. A volcano just does what it does. It won't try to hold a city hostage like professional sports teams do!
In Other News... (Score:1, Troll)
So, to summarize recent science news on Slashdot: (Score:5, Funny)
If the supernova don't get us the supervolcano will!
Re:So, to summarize SENSATIONALISM on Slashdot: (Score:2)
Fixed the subject line for you. The only reason these things are in the news is the sensationalism, not the science.
If anyone was honest about reporting threats to human well-being they would be saying, "Sensationalist News Reporting Proven To Be A Threat To Human Life."
At least we know that sensationalist news reporting, unlike supernovae and supervolcanoes and super-anythingelse, has actually already killed people, and will certainly do so again in future.
Re:So, to summarize recent science news on Slashdo (Score:2)
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Comments (Score:1, Troll)
That is all.
HOUSE FOR SALE (Score:2, Funny)
I don't think this is a supercaldera. (Score:2)
Given what we know about the geology of the area around Mt. Saint Helens, it's definitely not a candidate for a supercaldera. Otherwise, you would see something akin to the Long Valley Caldera in eastern California with its gigantic lava flows measuring many kilometers in every direction--something you see at the Toba and Yellowstone supercaldera sites.
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That's crazy talk!
Yo, dawg (Score:2)
I herd, you like volcanoes...
(yes, I realize that now I am supposed to gb2/b/ ).
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