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Mahma Comparisons – Biggest volcano eruptions known

An evening pause: I run this at 2x speed, but if you aren’t impatient enjoy it as it is. The size difference between the smallest and largest is quite daunting. Note too that this video only lists the known giant eruptions, explosive events that happened suddenly. It does not include some of the Earth’s largest long term volcanic events, such as the Deccan Traps, that happened repeatedly lasting millions of years that is thought to have possibly contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Hat tip Alton Blevins.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

13 comments

  • Col Beausabre

    Since I never heard of “VEI”, I went and looked it up

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_Explosivity_Index

    Bit of a surprise that Thera, which killed Minoan Civilization, isn’t included. It was four times bigger than Vesuvius

    British Classicist/Historian Bettany Hughes looks at Minoan Crete and addresses Thera from roughly 33-00 in this video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJUpw_wd-7I

    A 100 foot tsunami, followed by 40 meters of ash! The Gods must have been totally blind with rage….who blew that year’s sacrifices?

  • Alex Andrite

    NEXT !!

  • wayne

    You Are There-

    Mt St. Helens: Audio from Gerry Martin
    “”gentlemen, the camper and the car just north of me is covered…it’s going to hit me too.”
    https://youtu.be/1fBxCrglvts?t=94

    “Gerry Martin, 64, was a volunteer ham radio operator monitoring Mt. St. Helens for the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. The day before the eruption, he drove his motor home onto a ridge a couple miles north and slightly higher than the geologists’ observation post….”

  • Jeff Wright

    Thera was most likely the Atlantis myth source. Japan’s Kikai was up there as was Mazama, and Kapi…what ancient Krakatau was called. My favorite name is Kick em Jenny

  • wayne

    here we go, very topical…

    “Tonga Eruption Updates and New Surprising Discoveries…”
    Aton Petrov (May 17, 2022)
    https://youtu.be/tRSyW1TxAw4
    11:11

  • Jay

    Wayne,
    I was a kid when Mt St. Helens erupted. I lived about 250 miles away from it and could not go outside for two weeks. The ash blocked out the sun and it was dark as night during the day.
    I still have a jar of the ash, it is as fine as talcum powder. When I dig about a foot below the ground now, I see the layer of ash.

  • Col Beausabre

    Bit of a correction – Thera was ten times the power of Vesuvius and four times that of Krakatoa

  • Max

    On the border of Utah and Nevada is a supervolcano responsible for the largest known explosive eruption on the planet. This supervolcano covered a vast area with up to 3 miles thick of volcanic rock in a single eruption. Although it is extinct, its eruptions forever changed the surrounding landscape. The supervolcano I am referring to is called Wah Wah Springs, which produced an eruption 5,900 times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens. This video will discuss this fascinating volcanic system, and state how it formed.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tWEjZd2C0ZI

    And
    20 Ancient Supervolcanoes Discovered.
    http://www.sci-news.com/geology/science-supervolcanoes-utah-nevada-01612.html

    There are old volcanoes throughout the West, extending from Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska all the way down to Shiprock New Mexico.
    (Most likely associated with the upthrust of the rocky mountain range)
    A 20 mi.² stand alone “pine valley mountain” in southern Utah, thought to be granite, but with a layer of red sediment sandstone rock beneath it raised a lot of questions. It was determined that this mountain was a massive volcanic plug, the remnant of a super volcano. It is surrounded by baby volcanoes some less than 800 years old.
    Near Saint George, they’ve uncovered dinosaur tracks in the Sandstone. 15 miles away, you can pick up preserved seashells and mollusks from a limestone deposits that predate the dinosaurs.
    Truly, a geologist playground…

  • Greg the Geologist

    Good timing, as the Mt. St. Helens main eruption was 42 years ago today.

    We redirected our summer 1980 high school geology club field trip to get up there, and about 3 weeks after eruption got a good look at the Toutle River still very ashy, but otherwise cloud cover obscured the mountains. For some reason the authorities wouldn’t let us get very close . . .

  • TL

    It looks like they got the captions wrong on Crater Lake. They list it as:
    Crater Lake, 5677+/-50 BC
    VEI 7, 150km3
    Pujilli Canton, Ecuador

    The actual location on the map, eruption date, and VEI 7 number refer to Crater Lake in Oregon which formed from an eruption of Mt. Mazama. Crater lake in Ecuador formed from a VEI 6 eruption of Mt. Quilotoa in 1280 according to Wikipedia.

  • wayne

    Jay / Greg–
    extremely interesting!

    Q: what does that ash do to the air filter on your auto??

    [I’m in Michigan, we have no volcanos, no sharks, and our Lakes have no salt. We do however have a whacky governor.]

    The car and camper referred to by Gerry Martin, was USGS scientist Dr. David Johnston.

    “Mt St. Helens: David Johnston”
    https://youtu.be/c2oX5UAQBbM?t=182

  • Max

    Wayne said;
    “I’m in Michigan, we have no volcanos, no sharks, and our Lakes have no salt. We do however have a whacky governor.”

    You may also soon have a spaceport!

    “Analysts at IQMRI wrote a 148-page “strategic operating picture on the current status and emerging opportunities in the U.S. Space economy for Michigan stakeholders” incorporating the insights of “over 80 senior executives, military leaders, and experts within the U.S. Space economy ecosystem.”

    “Currently, U.S. public-private partnership spaceports that are not subsidized by state or federal funding are struggling to remain economically viable,” the study concluded”

    https://thecurrentga.org/2022/05/10/what-a-spaceport-study-in-michigan-means-for-camden/

    Did you notice the build back better, Nazi progressive language? The opposite of capitalism in space.

  • Greg the Geologist

    Wayne – we were mostly west of the eruption several weeks later and unaffected by airborne ash or dust. However folks I’ve talked to who were downwind said the ash got into absolutely everything. Probably some of it gets past a car’s air filter, but in any case you’d need to replace the filter in short order, as it would be useless fairly quickly depending on how thick the ashfall is at that location. Recall airliners had to divert around Iceland a few years ago to avoid the cloud of erupted ash – it would have made a mess of the engines.

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