When I think of the most terrible catastrophes of our time, first comes to mind is the fall of an asteroid or a Third world war. However, if you believe NASA, there is something much worse than some asteroid. And hiding it right under our feet: it is a SUPERVOLCANO.
Worldwide there are about 20 volcanoes and all of them like a time bomb or a powder keg in the basement. NASA claims that the eruption of even one of them will put an end to humanity far faster than an asteroid. Fortunately, the Agency has a plan
Under the Yellowstone national Park in USA is a huge fault of 50 to 75 kilometers, filled with red-hot red-hot magma. If this volcano will erupt, he will throw hundreds of cubic kilometers of molten material, Ismailov all-around 100 kilometers and covering Wyoming and the surrounding States five meters of volcanic ash.
However, this destruction will not end. The dust and gases emitted during the eruption, will be closed from us the sun and plunge the world into a “volcanic winter”, which will last many years and kill millions of people.
Although this is unlikely to happen in the next few decades, scientists say that one day this will happen and develop a plan for the disposal of the Yellowstone SUPERVOLCANO and its explosive potential.
The plan, which first appeared on the BBC, the team announced that can prevent the eruption, the heat sucked from the rift and turning geothermal energy into electricity. In the hot rock via the wells can pump water that returns to the surface in the form of steam. Due to this, steam can spin turbines and generate electricity.
After cooling, the water can again be pumped underground to extract more heat.
“The main goal is to gradually neutralize the Yellowstone, to save mankind from the threat,” says Dr. Brian Wilcox, an aerospace engineer at the jet propulsion Laboratory of NASA in Pasadena, California.
Although it is unlikely that Yellowstone will be able to repay in the near future, the team hopes that their idea will raise a discussion on the subject of supervolcanoes.
“The explosion of the SUPERVOLCANO will kill 99% of humanity, so their containment seems like a reasonable topic for discussion,” he adds.
NASA: the biggest threat to humanity lies beneath our feet
Ilya Hel