Long Valley Caldera near Mammoth Lakes has experts "concerned" because over the last 100 days the volcano has been "acting up" as NewsPrepper describes it and the unusual amount of Earthquakes that have hit Mammoth lake over the last month means all eyes should be carefully watching these earthquakes and especially this particular volcano.
In 1915, Lassen Peak erupted and wrecked a huge portion of the state. Over the last 100 days, the much larger Long Valley Caldera has begun acting-up. And what it’s doing has Geologists at the US Geological Survey “concerned.” The Caldera – the mouth of the Volcano – is . . . . moving.
According to scientific instruments monitored by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) the area in vicinity of the Long Valley caldera is deforming and moving rapidly compared to previous records. How sure are they? “95% (confidence interval), the (data) ensemble is significant”
The data is showing on a recent timespan that the amount of movement is causing STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT STRAIN in the rock in the area. This is not conspiracy-theorist conjecture or amateur geology antics, this is from the USGS itself.
According to a March report found at AOL science and tech news, this massive super volcano "has the potential to unleash a fiery hell across the planet, and the magma-filled mountain has a history of doing so." While the article downplayed the likelihood of an imminent eruption, the article was written before the 1,000+ EQ that are being reported on now.
The article goes on to state:
Approximately 760,000 years ago, this super volcano in particular had a massive eruption on an apocalyptic scale that blanketed the United States region in molten lava and ash.
And if such were to occur again, molten rock would not only incinerate the Earth for thousands of miles, but the toxic ash spewing from the opening of the crust would temporarily block out the rays of the sun, which scientists say would cause temperatures to fall to levels not seen since the Ice Age.
Billions of people will be affected if this volcano blows, and the reason for the concern isn't just over the activity of the last 30 days, as we see from the the screen shots below from the global incident map from just today, shown below.
What brought this to our attention is a series of links posted by Steve Quayle, in rapid succession this morning, detailing the issue and key things to watch for, because when someone that has been studying earthquakes and volcanoes for decades issues this many warnings, well, it is enough to get my little fingers running searches like mad!
The two alerts referenced above can be found here and here.
The following graphs from the USGS website also show some concerning data.
The different colored circles represent the EQs occurring, the colors indicate the depth of those EQs.
Below the map on the USGS website they have a scroll box listing the depth of the earthquakes, many of which list the depth in the negative with the - sign in front of them.
We are now starting to report all future earthquake at a depth relative to sea level (officially this is called the Geoid depth). This is being done by simply subtracting the average station elevation of the five nearest stations. Thus if the calculated depth is less than this average the result is a negative depth. So, a negative depth means "above" sea level.
Geologists monitor volcanoes in a number of ways, including ">4. monitor earthquakes (triggered by upward movement of magma) that occur around a volcano." (Source)
According to the USGS quick facts: The most recent activity in the area was about 300 years ago in Mono Lake. Both Long Valley Caldera and Mammoth Mountain have experienced episodes of heightened unrest over the last few decades (earthquakes, ground uplift, and/or volcanic gas emissions). As a result, the USGS manages a dense array of field sensors providing the real-time data needed to track unrest and assess hazards. They list the Long Valley Caldera threat potential as "Very high."
BOTTOM LINE
The most advanced technology cannot predict the exact time and date of the next volcanic eruption, so we are most definitely not going to try, but when these types of swarms occur, but are not the usual, but are instead unusual, it is well worth highlighting the incidents and recommending that people monitor the situation closely and be aware of what to look for in the news, what to watch for and be prepared.
Mammoth Lakes has seen earthquake swarms before over the years, with much concern shown when just dozens of earthquakes have occurred, so while no one is declaring this to be a 100% sign that the Long Valley Caldera is going to imminently blow, we do not that if registering a few dozen causes concern as we have seen in years past, it does make the extremely high number of earthquakes being monitored now something to keep a very close eye on.
