Actually, Planet Earth is trying to kill Mankind
A look at the death and destruction caused by Hot Spots, Large Igneous Provinces, and stratovolcanoes such as Mt. Agung.
Environmental activists constantly accuse humanity of destroying the Planet Earth. A case can be made that the reverse is actually true.
Take, for instance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s finding that there are is a mantle plume underneath Antarctica, which seems to explain much of the melting of the continental ice shelf.
Researchers at NASA have discovered a huge upwelling of hot rock under Marie Byrd Land, which lies between the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea, is creating vast lakes and rivers under the ice sheet. The presence of a huge mantle plume could explain why the region is so unstable today, and why it collapsed so quickly at the end of the last Ice Age, 11,000 years ago.
Mantle plumes are thought to be part of the plumbing systems that brings hot material up from Earth’s interior. Once it gets through the mantle, it spreads out under the crust, providing magma for volcanic eruptions. The area above a plume is known as a hotspot.
Perhaps the most famous mantle plume is the one over Yellowstone, and there are concerns about the scale of the magma-build-up under North America’s famous caldera. The term “hot spot volcano” refers to the geologic formation over these plumes. Those on Iceland and Hawaii are other famous examples. For instance, the eruption of Iceland’s Laki in 1783 poisoned the island population and the ensuing climate change caused thousands of death in Europe.
It will be interesting to see if further research finds that the Antarctic plume could potentially do more than melt ice.
Researchers are now pondering another category of volcanism: Large Igneous Provinces or “LIPs.” Evidence indicates that LIPs are the cause of mass extinction events.
LIPs are floods of basalt lava on an unimaginable scale: the Siberian Traps LIP, which erupted at the end-Permian extinction, covers an area the size of Europe. It’s estimated that over 3 million cubic kilometers of rock were vomited onto the planet’s surface, The end-Triassic Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, stretching from Canada to Brazil into Europe and West Africa, was just as large. Others are similarly gigantic.
In the words of Bond and Grasby, “Four of the ‘Big Five’ extinctions are associated with LIPs—too many to be mere coincidence —implying that large-scale volcanism is the main driver of mass extinctions.”
Even the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous was simultaneous with the Deccan Traps LIP in India. It’s possible that the combination of the Chicxulub asteroid impact and the Deccan eruptions, rather than just the impact, pushed life over the edge. And recent evidence points to a LIP trigger for the second phase of the end-Ordovician extinction, the one missing from Bond and Grasby’s quote. If confirmed, that would link LIPs to all five of the Big Five extinctions.
Legal Insurrection readers will recall that I did a detailed analysis of the real cause of five mass extinction events, when the press was trying to gin-up hysteria about a human-caused sixth episode. This new analysis alters some conjectures about what happened during previous geological epochs.
And since I am on the subject of volcanism, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the ongoing eruption sequence of Mt. Agung in Bali. This volcano is a stratovolcano, which is a kind that emits ash before fully erupting to release pyroclastic flows (e.g., Mt. Pinatubo, Mt. Vesuvius).
Massive plumes of dark ash were seen reaching as high as 3km (2 miles) from the summit of the rumbling volcano, which began erupting last week.
Officials raised the alert to the highest level on Monday, fearing an imminent major eruption.
More than 100,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the vicinity.
Volcanic ash can damage aeroplane engines or even cause them to fail, and also clogs fuel and cooling systems. Pilot visibility can also be hampered.
The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo caused the global temperature to drop temporarily (1991 through 1993) by about 1°F (0.5°C) after nearly 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide went into the stratosphere. That is arguably real climate change that is not man-caused. Additionally, the eruption killed 722 people and displaced 200,000.
I have often accused climate change fanatics of ignoring the sun. It is interesting to see the new data and theories underscoring that planet Earth is also a huge contributor to its own climate and mankind is sometime the collateral damage.
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Comments
Many say that methane is a far more significant greenhouse gas that CO2. EPA has spoken up and floated some ideas about curbing methane emissions. But for the pirates in the hedge funds pushing trading schemes, a formal recognition of methane as more profound that CO2 would be problematic and perhaps terminal to their scam. Methane is emitted by so many natural sources that dwarf human caused emissions, and trying to curb or offset methane emissions on a worldwide basis would be seen as futile by the public. If people see no reasons to participate in the scam and buy their credits, they make no money off the AGW agenda. Furthermore, it does not necessarily pay off for small, non-industrialized countries either, because they may have natural sources of large scale methane emissions. The small countries definitely don’t want to jump into a scheme in which they are expected to pay for credits because they are big emitters of GH gas [from natural sources that do not necessarily create wealth like industrial assets].
Volcanic eruptions, for example, are a major source of methane gas release.
But what is the calculus for an eruption on cooling or heating in the long run if the temp drops shortly after due to ash and other matter released, when there is also a huge release of methane?
Oops,I think I might have accidentally hit the down vote when I meant to hit reply
Regardless of the cause of global warming, we should be thinking about ways to delay or reverse it. One thing which might delay warming are nukes, either alone or especially using them to trigger volcanic eruptions.
Aside from multiplying the effectiveness of the nukes, much of the radioactive fallout could be contained in the volcano. Of course, eruptions increase background radioactivity.
This seems like it is worth studying.
And that brings Iran and North Korea to mind:)
these underground explosions lead to terraforming and island creation.
we would be remiss, if there wasn’t a real scientific plan to save humanity and the libraries for future repopulation of mankind (perhaps a lunar colony can be a viable alternative.
Damn, nature. You scary.
Many years ago most of our country was covered by a mile thick glacier. Who was responsible for its demise? LOL
Those really old folks didn’t have Al Gore to help them keep the glaciers.
We all love the environment. Just not sure what I love most:
The volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, blizzards, floods, forest fires, droughts, tornadoes, sandstorms, erosion, pandemics, forest fires, landslides, avalanches, recurring ice ages, tsunamis, heat waves, ice storms, tar pits, quicksand, polar ice caps, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, cosmic radiation, magnetic storms, magnetic reversal of the poles, bombardment by meteors, malaria, typhus, dysentery, AIDS, other STDs, or something else?
Just remember, the correct way to model the earth is with a water balloon, and even then, you’re over-representing the solid skin ever so slightly. 🙂
One of the hazards of living on a life bearing planet is that the planet can kill you with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. Once the planet cools off and no longer supports those nasty killer Volcanoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, etc., it dies and kills off all life, as Mars did.
Gaia replenishes its carbon stores, despite human factions bent on sequestering it.
Wrapped in Gaia’s warm, nurturing arms, we shall be brought to meet our maker.
“Perhaps the most famous mantle plume is the one over Yellowstone”
If that mantle plume rises over Yellowstone, we could be in serious trouble… 😉
I would have thought it was under Yellowstone. Guess I’m mistaken.
If Yellowstone erupts, all our troubles will be over in short order.