Category: Earth's Interior

Don’t Call It a Supervolcano

8/13/2021

Scientists dismantle the myths of Yellowstone: Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first and arguably most famous national park, is home to one of the planet’s largest and potentially most destructive volcanoes. The 50- by 70-kilometer Yellowstone caldera complex is so massive that it can really be appreciated only from the air. But although the caldera isn’t always visible on the ground, it’s certainly no secret: Copious thermal features like hot springs and geyser basins dot the landscape and have attracted people to the uniquely beautiful and ecologically rich area for at least 11,000 years. - EOS

Right - The movement of the North American tectonic plate over the Yellowstone hot spot has created a trail of volcanic activity across southern Idaho into Wyoming over the past 16.5 million years. Credit: USGS. Click image for larger version.

WHAT ROLE CAN GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PLAY IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION?

3/16/2021

Transitioning away from fossil fuels to 100 percent renewable energy is essential to staving off the worst effects of the climate crisis. Wind and solar are currently leading the charge – but they may only get us so far. There is a less-talked-about, under-explored renewable out there that can generate clean, base load energy around the clock. “Geothermal electricity is always on,” said Jefferson Tester, a professor of sustainable energy systems at Cornell University and a leading expert on geothermal energy. “It can provide fully dispatchable power or heat and is scalable in the same way other renewables are.” - Climate Reality

Geologists Raise the Speed Limit for How Fast Continental Crust can Form

10/9/2020

Scientists have thought that the Earth's mountain ranges are formed through this process over many millions of years. But MIT geologists have now found that the planet can generate new land far more quickly than previously thought. In a paper published in the journal Geology, the team shows that parts of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California rose up surprisingly fast, over a period of just 1.39 million years—more than twice as fast as expected for the region. The researchers attribute the rapid formation of land to a massive flare-up of magma.- Phys.Org

Don’t Call It a Supervolcano

WHAT ROLE CAN GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PLAY IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION?

Geologists Raise the Speed Limit for How Fast Continental Crust can Form

GeoNews

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