Boom!
The world has been in disarray for almost a week, since the volcanic explosion of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland. This, because of the eruption of a middling-sized volcano, sending a middling-sized explosion of ash, rock and glass particulates into the air all around Europe and beyond. Discommoding countless travelers, and sending travel agencies, hotels, airlines into deep dudgeon and faltering bottom lines.
How does this sound; there are at least 1,500 volcanoes - active ones - all over this world. Between ten and twenty are in the process of erupting each and every day. And then, there are also thousands more of these lava-spewing mountains with open lids under the vast areas of the Earth's seas; occasionally giving birth to spanking new little islands. The molten core of Earth is forever bubbling away, heated and agitated.
This globe has experienced, in times primeval, astonishingly-destructive volcanic events of a magnitude unimagined other than by geologists, vulcanologists, and other earth scientists who marvel at the vast and impressive violence, and hope never to experience it, for it will be short-lived; for them. Volcanic eruptions in prehistory are known to have been monumentally destructive.
Tens of thousands of years ago and more, eruptions occurred of a magnitude unimaginable to puny human constructs. Blowing up magma and lava in an impressive fireworks display hugely overtaking the puny efforts of Eyjafjallajokull. Yellowstone's eruption, if it happened in the present era, according to experts, would effectively destroy the entire Continent of North America.
In more modern times; 1783, 1815, 1883, there were major eruptions in Iceland, Indonesia, and the best documented one, Krakatoa which destroyed the island, and was heard and felt over a huge geography, casting the sun from our heavens for a very long time. The 1783 Iceland Laki eruption resulted in a haze of toxic gases that spread across Europe into the Middle East.
Its effects were said to have caused the Haze Famine in Ireland, and Europe experienced an unusually hot summer, while the next winter was far colder than the 250-year norm right across the northern hemisphere, and that blue haze persisted for an additional three cold winters before finally disintegrating into the greater atmosphere.
Canada has 18 active volcanoes, out of its total of roughly one hundred, and they're mostly located along our Pacific coast. It's where our most impressive tectonic plates are, too; double indemnity; earthquakes, volcanoes; take your pick. Prefer neither, live in Quebec or Ontario, oops, earthquake-potential there too, but not volcanoes, whew!
Often enough volcanoes erupt that were not even recognized as volcanoes, but thought to be mountains. Think man-made carbon dioxide is a hazard to our environment? Nature is capable of dwarfing handily anything humankind conspires to. Nature is tricky, unpredictable, unconcerned with the fall-out of her little chemical experiments.
Given all of this, one can only wonder at this obvious case of mis-colonization. Why ever would we generally more thoughtfully careful humans have considered Earth an ideal destination? What on Earth might have inspired us to intrepidly, foolishly, settle on this Planet? We are enticed by the thought of excitement, adventure, uncertainty?
Still waiting to hear from above, tuning our antennae toward extraterrestrials who, we may assume, may have chosen more wisely...?
How does this sound; there are at least 1,500 volcanoes - active ones - all over this world. Between ten and twenty are in the process of erupting each and every day. And then, there are also thousands more of these lava-spewing mountains with open lids under the vast areas of the Earth's seas; occasionally giving birth to spanking new little islands. The molten core of Earth is forever bubbling away, heated and agitated.
This globe has experienced, in times primeval, astonishingly-destructive volcanic events of a magnitude unimagined other than by geologists, vulcanologists, and other earth scientists who marvel at the vast and impressive violence, and hope never to experience it, for it will be short-lived; for them. Volcanic eruptions in prehistory are known to have been monumentally destructive.
Tens of thousands of years ago and more, eruptions occurred of a magnitude unimaginable to puny human constructs. Blowing up magma and lava in an impressive fireworks display hugely overtaking the puny efforts of Eyjafjallajokull. Yellowstone's eruption, if it happened in the present era, according to experts, would effectively destroy the entire Continent of North America.
In more modern times; 1783, 1815, 1883, there were major eruptions in Iceland, Indonesia, and the best documented one, Krakatoa which destroyed the island, and was heard and felt over a huge geography, casting the sun from our heavens for a very long time. The 1783 Iceland Laki eruption resulted in a haze of toxic gases that spread across Europe into the Middle East.
Its effects were said to have caused the Haze Famine in Ireland, and Europe experienced an unusually hot summer, while the next winter was far colder than the 250-year norm right across the northern hemisphere, and that blue haze persisted for an additional three cold winters before finally disintegrating into the greater atmosphere.
Canada has 18 active volcanoes, out of its total of roughly one hundred, and they're mostly located along our Pacific coast. It's where our most impressive tectonic plates are, too; double indemnity; earthquakes, volcanoes; take your pick. Prefer neither, live in Quebec or Ontario, oops, earthquake-potential there too, but not volcanoes, whew!
Often enough volcanoes erupt that were not even recognized as volcanoes, but thought to be mountains. Think man-made carbon dioxide is a hazard to our environment? Nature is capable of dwarfing handily anything humankind conspires to. Nature is tricky, unpredictable, unconcerned with the fall-out of her little chemical experiments.
Given all of this, one can only wonder at this obvious case of mis-colonization. Why ever would we generally more thoughtfully careful humans have considered Earth an ideal destination? What on Earth might have inspired us to intrepidly, foolishly, settle on this Planet? We are enticed by the thought of excitement, adventure, uncertainty?
Still waiting to hear from above, tuning our antennae toward extraterrestrials who, we may assume, may have chosen more wisely...?
Labels: Environment, Nature, Whoops
posted by Pieface @ 6:37 PM
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