Is the Yellowstone hotspot the only volcanic threat?

Is the Yellowstone hotspot the only volcanic threat?

In recent years there has been a lot of questioning on about, when it will erupt the Yellowstone volcano in North America? The topic itself should be discussed seriously as the super volcano is overdue to erupt, and even more worrying is the fact that the volcano can “wake up” at any moment by the strong earthquakes around the world (i.e. Ecuador, 7.8; Northern Mariana Islands, 7.7) and authorities should already be preparing for a danger of this magnitude.

However, there are other threats in the form of super volcanoes/volcanoes that can be just as threatening as Yellowstone. One of the super volcanoes that are going to be mentioned is mount Baekdu, the highest mountain of the Changbai and Baekdudaegan ranges. Located between China and the land of the “dear leader” (North Korea) this VEI 7 super volcano was last erupted in 1903[1], but given the actual situation (nuclear tests and tectonic movements, i.e. Amur plate) we can’t rule out the possibility that the volcano wakes up because these crazy nuclear tests (Kim keeps realizing just because he’s on his days) can cause earthquakes like the one happened in march and in the worst of the cases it could lead to a earthquake of a bigger magnitude. And for making this more complicated and creepier, the fat guy (Kim Jong-un) doesn’t let anyone enter in his lands just because he wants to hide his concentration camps meaning that there is little knowledge of the volcano.

Another threat being mentioned is the Taupo volcanic zone mainly located in the north island of New Zealand. The area is home to VEI 7 and 8 volcanoes. The fact is that island (New Zealand) lies between a convergent/destructive (the plates collide with each other) plate boundary (the Pacific and the Australian plate to be more precise). If the plates collide and trigger an earthquake strong enough to wake up the volcanoes, the result could be catastrophic not only for New Zealand but also the world. In 2006, geologists predicted that in the future an overdue earthquake would strike the islands[2] [3], meaning that there is a possibility of having strong volcanic activity. However, a volcanic activity of this magnitude would have a similar or worse outcome than mount Tambora eruption in 1815 which was known as the “year without summer” the year following of the eruption for reducing global temperatures by about 0.5^oC and killing the crops across Europe, we might see political and economic turmoil around the global if leaders are unable to control a situation of this scale.

Being in the same situation, the Macauley islands[4] are part of the Kermadec islands and therefore part of New Zealand. It is halfway the north island of New Zealand and Tonga in the south-west Pacific Ocean, making the island vulnerable to seismic and volcanic activity. Even though there is no one living in the island, the outcome is not going to be pleasant as there might be a reduction in global temperatures. The island is considered a VEI 6 volcano.

The Far East region of Russia, more concretely, the Kamchatka peninsula is considered one of the most various and an active volcanic area in the world as it forms part of the ring of fire. It is not surprising to say that the super volcano Karymshina [5] is in that region. The volcano was in fact discovered in 2006, and since then it hasn’t presented any signs of waking up. However it wouldn’t hurt if Putin stopped arguing with the US and tried to predict the worst case scenario, as the volcano is in a divergent plate boundary. Honestly, it would serve as a lesson for the US on the topic of how to stop funding terrorism and start caring about super volcanic threats that can destroy your country.

Still in the ring of fire, but in south-east Asia there is the archipelagic island country of Indonesia. The country itself hosts a great variety of volcanoes and it is very well known for the destruction that they caused i.e. mount Tambora in 1815[6] killing more than 71000 and Krakatoa in 1883[7] killing 36000. However, Indonesia is a highly unstable country, when referring to tectonic activity; it lies in a point where the Indo-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate are pushed under the Eurasian plate where they melt at about 100 km deep, and given the fact that they have various volcanoes across the country it’s not very hard to imagine the fact that some volcano wakes up after a major seismic activity like the one[8] in 2004 where it killed around 230,000–280,000 or the Yogyakarta 2006 earthquake[9].

Meanwhile in México[10] [with the voice of a republican American narrator of cartoons], where Peña Nieto (BTW chinga tu madre Peña Nieto) and his wife are committing various crimes of corruption there is the Popocatepetl volcano[11], an active stratovolcano that if erupted in could hit the states of Morelos (by the south), Puebla (north/northeast/east/southeast) and Mexico (by the south) as well as the region that comprises the Amecameca population (by west/southeast). Even though that this does not represents a global threat, the idea of Peña Nieto doing something is a remote if null possibility, resulting in many human casualties as well as an economic downfall due to Peña’s incompetence.

In conclusion, although the super volcanoes within the Yellowstone hotspot maybe the ones that everyone fears, there might be others that are unknown and would cause the same type of destruction as Yellowstone. Even though we have all these threats it seems that no one is taking precautions to prevent the immense damage that the super volcanoes will cause and furthermore not taking it seriously. Instead of having governments that care deeply about the possibility of returning to an ice age, we have crazy guys bombing his country to death as well as having concentration camps[12] [13], governments that help fund terrorism, far right idiots having the possibility of becoming president[14][15][16][17], religious nutjobs killing everyone in the Middle East[18], traditional media misinforming most of the times[19] and governments sponsoring religious extremism[20] (yeah that goes for you Saudi Arabia!!!!).

But, hey! If we enter in an ice age period its Russia’s fault, right ‘murica???

 

 

[1] http://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=305060

[2] https://www.sott.net/article/249473-Is-The-Super-Volcano-Taupo-in-New-Zealand-Awakening

[3] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503438&objectid=10943895

[4] http://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=242021

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karymshina

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_eruption_of_Mount_Tambora

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Yogyakarta_earthquake

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Yogyakarta_earthquake

[10] http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/536/370/ee3.jpg

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popocat%C3%A9petl

[12] http://i0.wp.com/memecollection.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/kim-jong-un-going-through-a-phase.jpg?resize=400%2C299

[13]http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/04/0494e1c3494e38e485ed7ee6c2ba60588654e849e1afc805a67824b6eac3e2bd.jpg

[14] http://f.tqn.com/y/politicalhumor/1/S/V/a/6/trump-isis-megyn-kelly.jpg

[15] https://casimira31.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/hitler-mlp.jpg

[16]http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/sites/sbs.com.au.comedy/files/styles/body_image/public/clown_1.jpg?itok=sjsEHZWS&mtime=1445565400

 

[17] https://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/57885066.jpg

[18] http://i100.independent.co.uk/image/24893-1gfu9qh.jpg

[19] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27687018

[20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-sponsored_terrorism#Saudi_Arabia