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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HPilot who wrote (22604)	8/4/2008 4:46:17 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 36917

They are quite right that removing ice will cause volcanoes to erupt. Decades ago, it became obvious to me that the time to stay clear of Taupo's caldera is when there's an deep anti-cyclone, in winter when the lake is drained for electricity generation and when there's a full moon. That's when Taupo will erupt and umpty thousand people will be killed, with nearly all of the electricity supplies to Auckland destroyed. Having piles of ice or a lake full of water acts like the cap on a pressure cooker. If you take the cap off, the water inside the pressure cooker starts boiling and comes roaring out the hole if it's up to temperature. It's not that volcanoes are created by taking ice off, just that if they are nearly ready to blow, then removing the last restraint turns them loose. Taupo's magma is heavily gaseous as shown by the pumice eruptions. At present, the column of stuff waiting to erupt is mostly in liquid form due to the huge pressures way down deep, despite the temperatures. Some of it is also in hydrocarbon form, being subducted oceanic sediment which includes mega peta-trillions of dead marine beasties. When the full moon comes along, causing a spring tide, and the lake is empty, and there's low air pressure, perhaps with a little earthquake to provide momentary uplift, then there will be a bit of liquid turn to gas, which will expand and push a bit of water out of the way in the lake. That will relieve the pressure a bit more and some more liquid will turn to gas, pushing some more water sideways. Pretty soon the water has all been pushed sideways and there isn't enough pressure to keep a lid on it as dirt gets pushed out of the way, vertically. In a very short time, measured in minutes, the whole column of stuff is moving upwards, turning to gas as it rises, expanding as the pressure is increasingly relieved. It comes roaring out of the hole, heading for the sky. As the hydrocarbons reach the atmosphere, they ignite, providing a LOT of drama to the scene, acting like rocket propellant, launching many cubic kilometres of pumice and phreatomagmatic eruption kilometres into the sky. Pumice is quite light, so if there's a strong wind from the west as usual, then the pumice dust will blow a long way, burying the Bay of Plenty. As the main energy is spent, the hole will be filled with boiling frothy "Hinuera Stone" in magma form which will go racing down the Waikato River channel towards Hamilton, which has 300,000 people in the area, not to mention huge areas of farmland. Since that molten goop will be traveling at 100kph [the current speed limit] there won't be much time for people to evacuate to the north. Hinuera stone is the frozen remains of previous such eruption. It is used as a construction and ornamental stone material. With Taupo, much of the Bay of Plenty and large parts of the Waikato destroyed, along with electricity supplies to Auckland and north of the region, NZ would be in big trouble. All because of a lake level dropping. Snow melting can precipitate volcanic eruption. But only if it's ready to go anyway. Taupo is ready to go. It has been 2000 years since the last pop. It's a caldera, which goes pop on a fairly regular cycle. When it happens, the government will hold a commission of enquiry to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again. But they do force me to wear a crash helmet on my bicycle and ban smoking and are planning banning people buying fat, sugar and carbohydrate combinations. They also ban people from building a house where it might get water under it once in 100 years. Meanwhile they leave families to live for generations and build houses, schools etc right INSIDE the caldera!! It's okay to visit Taupo, and even stay there, but avoid full moons and low lake levels. Mqurice