Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Belkis Villa
Rita Anderson
Nhu Nguyen
Austin Whittle
Liliana Sevilla
Geography 1700
June 7, 2018
One of the many dramatic natural disasters that occur in the movie 2012 is the eruption of
the Yellowstone super volcano. In the movie, our protagonist travels to Yellowstone park and
while there experiences a few minor tremors that lead up to a massive apocalyptic explosion. The
explosion is enormous-looking like that of a nuclear bomb, and sends chunks of rock shooting
out across the sky. The explosion is massive and spreads for miles, killing everything in its path
and the main family barely escapes. The eruption is clearly meant to be a dramatization- the
eruption is portrayed like a nuclear explosion- but the real effects of a supervolcanic eruption
could be just as devastating, albeit different from the one in the movie.
Yellowstone National Park is best known for its Old Faithful geyser and its stunning
wildlife. But the national park also sits atop a super volcano. We can see the evidence of its
active state in the hydrothermal activity that bubbles up. The caldera is a volcanic feature formed
by the collapse of a volcano into itself, making it a large, special form of volcanic crater. When
we watched the movie it did not show the caldera collapse, when a caldera collapses, it is usually
triggered by the emptying of the magma chamber beneath the volcano, as the result of a large
volcanic eruption. If enough magma is ejected, chamber will not be able to support the weight of
the volcanic edifice. That part in the movie sat a little unrealistic because we did not see any
Definitely, every person knows that the impact of ash columns from volcanoes is huge. In
volcanic eruptions, the ash column can grow up to several kilometers, affecting a large radius
area. According to the authors, the diameter of these dust particles may consist of fine glass
beads, less than two micrometers. Moreover, the scientists can identify the chemical components
depending on size or amount of magna. In ash, dusts can contain quite a lot of Silicon, Iron,
Magnesium, and so on. Major gases produced during active volcanic activity are carbon dioxide,
sulfur dioxide, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen chloride. They have
different effects but most are harmful to human health if someone is exposed. However, the
ominous thing is that volcanic ash has a very high dispersion rate. Longitudinal dispersion is
influenced by strong winds and ash that can deposit from hundreds to thousands of kilometers
from the volcanic site. Additionally, the toxic gases from the eruption of the volcano when
inhaled into the body can go into the periphery of the lungs and cause problems with breathing,
especially, the most worrying for people with asthma or respiratory diseases. Based on the
research of Longo, B. M., & Longo, A. A., during the eruption, the toxicity becomes stronger by
the dispersion the acidic gases in the volcanic ash causing many infectious diseases through the
air. For example, the chronic respiration effects are silicosis, from exposure to particles of free
crystalline silica. Minerals that are associated with silicosis include quartz, cristobalite, and
tridymite, all potentially present in volcanic ash. The capacities of the immune system also
diminish. It is very likely, given how close the people in the movie are to the eruptive crater and
the sudden inhalation of hot volcanic ash, gases and other materials, the victims would go into
cardiopulmonary arrest due to their lungs being overwhelmed by the sudden quantity. According
to a new study by Lombardo, burns, phobia, and fragmentation could have likely caused shock,
causing cardiac arrest and death come ischemic heart and myocardial infarction.
A investigation made by the University of Cambridge Clinical School in 2005 shows the
impacts on buildings of three pyroclastic surges that struck three separate villages on 25 June, 21
September and 26 December, 1997, during the course of the andesitic dome building eruption of
the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, which began on 18 July, 1995. A detailed analysis of the
building damage of the 26 December event was used to compare the findings on the flow and
behavior of dilute pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) with the classical reports of PDCs from
historical eruptions of similar size. The main characteristics of the PDC, as inferred from the
building damage, were the lateral loading and directionality of the current; the impacts
corresponded to the dynamic pressure of the PDC, with a relatively slow rate of rising and
without the peak overpressure or a shock front associated with explosive blast; and the
entrainment of missiles and ground materials which greatly added to the destructiveness of the
PDC. The high temperature of the ash, causing the rapid ignition of furniture and other
combustibles, was a major cause of damage even where the dynamic pressure was low at the
periphery of the current. The vulnerability of buildings lay in the openings, mainly windows,
which allowed the current to enter the building envelope, and in the flammable contents, as well
as the lack of resistance to the intense heat and dynamic pressure of some types of vernacular
building construction, such as wooden chattel houses, rubble masonry walls and galvanised steel-
sheet roofs. Marked variability in the level of damage due to dynamic pressure was evident
throughout most of the impact area, except for the zone of total loss, and this was attributable to
the effects of topography and sheltering, and projectiles, and probably localised variations in
current velocity and density. A marked velocity gradient existed from the outer part to the central
axis of the PDC, where buildings and vegetation were razed to the ground. The gradient
correlated with the impacts due to lateral loading and heat transfer, as well as the size of the
projectiles, whilst the temperature of the ash in the undiluted PDC was probably uniform across
Climate change is happening now and all over the United States, and as the world is
warming global sea level is rising, and some types of extreme weather events are becoming more
frequent and more severe. These changes have already resulted in a wide range of impacts across
every region of the country and many sectors of the economy would be affected for that reason.
Climate change is any significant long term change in the expected pattern of average weather of
region or the whole world Earth, as well as abnormal variations to the climate, and the effects of
these variations on other parts of the Earth. Evidence collected from differents institutions
scientist and engineers from around the world confirm an unambiguous reality the planet is
warming , and over the last half century, this warning has been occur primarily by human activity
and is affecting the american people in far reaching ways never happen before, human heath,
food security, agriculture,water supply, energy,flora, fauna, and the ecosystems. As tis impacts
become more prevalent American need to take and important decision how to be ready and
preparedness and proactively managing all the risks can reduce the impacts and cost overt the
time overcomes. There are many reasons that large volcanic eruptions have a such far reaching
effect on global climate. When volcanoes erupt, they emit a mixture of gases and particles in to
the air, and some of them, such as ash and sulphur , have a cooling effect, because they or the
substances cause reflect sunlight away from the earth. In a supervolcanic eruption, billions of
tons of ash are expelled into the atmosphere- which blocks out the sun and can reduce the global
temperature for years. In 1815 Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted in the largest volcanic event
in recorded history. The following year was known in Europe as the year without summer, as the
ash from the eruption had cooled the planet so much that the growing season was cut in half,
with thousands of people dying of starvation from an eruption that had happened a year ago on
the other side of the world (UCAR, 2018). If Yellowstone were to erupt, something similar
would happen on an even more massive scale- billions could starve to death from the resulting
impact on the climate The Volcano de Fuego erupted about twenty seven miles from Guatemala
City on Sunday, and it is one of the most active volcanoes. Fuego is the latest to erupt, killing a
least twenty five people, and injuring hundreds more. It is considered as one of the most active
volcanoes in Central America. Will climate change lead to more volcanic eruptions? We don't
know that yet. But they are many ways the volcanoes can impact a country, region, or indeed, the
world. As the impacts of climate change become more frequent, Americans face decisions about
how to plan and respond, and by using information to prepare for climate change, and create
opportunities, and take action managing the risk that can reduce impacts and cost in the future.
References cited
Longo, B. M., & Longo, A. A. (2013, August 07). Volcanic ash in the air we breathe. Retrieved
from https://mrmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2049-6958-8-52
Baxter, P.J., Boyle, R., Cole, P. et al. Bull Volcanol (2005) 67: 292.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-004-0365-7
Onyanga-Omara, J. (2018, June 05). Death toll rises to 69 in eruption of Guatemala's Volcán de
Fuego; many victims hard to identify. Retrieved from
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/06/05/guatemalas-volcan-de-fuego-
eruption/672175002/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/06/05/guatemalas-volcan-de-fuego-
eruption/672175002/
ttps://www.globalchange.gov/climate-change
How do volcanoes affect the climate? (2011, February 09). Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/feb/09/volcanoes-climate
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/feb/09/volcanoes-climate
Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/mount-tambora-and-year-without-summer