Questions tagged [volcanoes]
For questions involving volcanoes, volcanic eruptions, and related phenomena, whether or Earth or elsewhere.
70
questions
8
votes
6answers
207 views
Geothermal Oasis Alternatives on Ice Planet
I have an Earth analog that is nearly completely covered in ice and glaciers. I want to have oases of warmth scattered across the planet. These oases aren't tropical by any means, having just enough ...
3
votes
7answers
897 views
How could a tree survive a volcanic blast?
Background
I am working on a Role Play Video game, and I have a particular island called Morogar in my medieval fantasy. (Magic and Mythical Beasts run wild). Originally an island with forests and a ...
2
votes
2answers
126 views
What is a required for a creature to be capable of diving into lava lakes? [closed]
So far along the lines of this matter, I've decided that if they were 5'8" and humanoid, composed of something similar to Tungsten, so they don't melt or burn, they would weigh around 3,846lbs/1,744....
4
votes
2answers
224 views
A Dozen Cubic Miles of Volcanic Ash--How Big Would the Cloud Be?
On May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens made American history with an eruption that took 57 human lives and killed thousands of animals. It has released only a quarter of a cubic mile of ash, but it is ...
20
votes
2answers
4k views
A hang glider, sudden unexpected lift to 25,000 feet altitude, what could do this?
This is the third in a series of 5 (at this point) questions. It's not relevant to this question, but for anyone who's curious this was the first, this the second.
Conditions for this question are:
...
2
votes
2answers
155 views
Realistic placements of Mountains and the like
This question basically boils down to this: What would be the places on a given continent where one would find mountains? I have seen maps from games, movies, board games, books etc. where it would ...
3
votes
4answers
254 views
Perpetual Volcanic Eruption
As the title says, is it possible to have a volcano that is perpetually erupting, and how would it be achieved?
To be considered a "Perpetual Eruption", the volcano must emit moderate quantities of ...
7
votes
4answers
320 views
Can reckless idiots wake up a dormant volcano using mining equipment?
My story for a video game has some kind of "enemy" (think "the Others" from Lost—little is known about them; they have control over a small settlement or two and appear to be engaging in some manner ...
6
votes
4answers
748 views
Stopping a Volcano
I've seen in multiple forms of fiction the sort of joking notion of stopping a volcano from erupting by just... plugging up the top with something? Like, a large and sufficiently heavy rock?
While ...
6
votes
3answers
312 views
Effects and feasability of a modern-day Olympus and Hephestus
The time... a few years from now. On the laser-launch pad of one of the spacefaring nations of Earth, a spacecraft stands, the time until its launch counting down steadily. The launch vehicle weighs ...
3
votes
4answers
210 views
Defence against volcano?
Say I have a group of people who live next to a volcano for religious reasons. They will not move. This volcano erupts very regularly - almost once a week. What kind of defence or adaptability ...
6
votes
2answers
135 views
How to modify the human respiratory system to be able to breath in volcanic ash
Okay so in the novel I am writing there’s a Third World War fought by the nations of earth against a human space empire (I am overly simplifying this ) . Now the thing is the empire uses transhuman ...
-2
votes
1answer
64 views
New virus living in geothermal steam vents [closed]
Would a scenario be possible where an existing virus hybridizes with a still-undiscovered virus that previously lived only in geothermal features, such as deep ocean vents, geysers, mud pots, or ...
1
vote
1answer
95 views
Volcano near river mouth
When a volcano is under the sea, but close to the coastline, it creates islands.
I have a volcanic island near (less than 20km away) a river mouth.
Is this feasible? I couldn't find any real example.
...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
How long does it take for islands to form after an underwater volcanic eruption?
So, vaguely, I remember from earth science that when submarine volcanoes erupt they eventually form archipelagos. My question actually has several parts;
Starting with the first eruption to break ...
4
votes
3answers
529 views
Determination of reasonable volcanic island height from area?
My islands (in the world I'm building) were formed from a volcanic hotspot. I want to build realistic islands, so I was wondering how tall volcanic islands are generally in relation to their area. ...
4
votes
4answers
171 views
Could a large string of mountains stop volcanic ash from traveling any farther?
I am adding a new area to my game (a free-roam RPG): the ashlands. I put a small volcano (only about 15ft wide and long, and about 20ft tall. Really, more of a lava vent) on the western edge and have ...
5
votes
1answer
156 views
Would it be feasible for a single planet to have both magma based volcanoes and cryovolcanos?
I took astronomy class last semester, and I became aware that there were not only magma based volcanoes, but ones run on colder moons in our solar system, called cryovolcanos that in essence spew ...
8
votes
2answers
321 views
Is there anything wrong with my plate tectonics map?
Here is a map I just produced of the plate tectonics of a world I'm working on. Does anyone familiar with the subject see anything wrong with it? If you can differentiate between the penciled and the ...
4
votes
2answers
264 views
Can Off-shore Calderas Exist?
A caldera is usually the remnant of a volcanic eruption powerful enough to collapse the structure surrounding the magma chamber. Many of our examples, like Yellowstone, Crater Lake, Toba and even ...
4
votes
3answers
348 views
How can the human race disappear in a few days? [duplicate]
Is it possible to eradicate the human race in one week? And if yes, by which way?
Of course, the human race should do everything to survive. What could be more powerful than our will to survive?
1. ...
7
votes
2answers
382 views
Three of the Four Kinds of Volcanic Eruptions…Underwater
A volcanic eruption is measured in two constants--gas and viscosity. For clearance, low viscosity is like squirting water off a nozzle, whereas high viscosity is like squirting caramel off a nozzle, ...
5
votes
2answers
526 views
What type of city-structure can survive a shield volcano?
So I have a continent by the name of Sho. It is highly inspired by Asia, but will have a few mixes in the fray to give it my own touch. There is a specific people that live near a shield volcano.
I'...
1
vote
2answers
225 views
Can a new volcano have metals inside?
If I were to use handwavium to raise a volcano in the middle of the sea, would it contain metals or ores large enough to be extracted by normal means, like mining with a pickaxe?
Everything apart ...
1
vote
1answer
116 views
Given an initially high concentration of CO2 and H2O, how efficient can I conceivably make a photosynthetic reaction?
I have been told that the high proportion of O2 and CH4 in my atmosphere are unsustainable unless constantly refreshed by an active process.
I would like to sustain the following atmospheric ...
4
votes
2answers
131 views
What is a plausible way to fuel highly active volcanism and seismic activity on my planet?
I thought that a large, close moon might help generate enough heat and stress to raise the average temperature on my world and stave off a Snowball Earth scenario. According to this article and this ...
8
votes
1answer
147 views
Where to find equations to calculate tidal heating in a binary planet/planetesimal system?
I'm building a very small homeworld (0.602 M$_e$) with a very large moon (0.0711 M$_e$) that orbit each other at a barycenter about 7.12 planetary radii (1 R = 0.870 R$_e$) from the primary's center; ...
6
votes
5answers
203 views
Boiling sea between volcanoes
In my world, there is a chain of offshore volcanoes which are the result of a smaller plate hitting a larger one. There are two to three active volcanoes.
My question is: two of these volcanoes are ...
3
votes
6answers
152 views
How do I use explosives to erupt a small volcano and cause a pyroclastic flow and large plume? [duplicate]
I am evil and wish to destroy a town near a volcano and kill all of its citizens.
The volcano is small - about 15 square kilometers in area. The town is even smaller.
The thing is that I don't live ...
23
votes
14answers
9k views
What wearable material do I need to survive a pyroclastic flow?
This question is inspired by Green's Volcanoes in Orbit! The premise is that there is a 50-mile-high shield volcano (again, let's ignore the height implausibility) with a slope of about 2-3 degrees, ...
10
votes
3answers
718 views
Volcanoes in Orbit!
Building on this question about space exploration on the slopes of a 50 mile high volcano, I'm curious what would happen when the volcano erupts.
The volcano is:
50 miles high, just on the edge of ...
35
votes
12answers
7k views
How can a human cause the Yellowstone to erupt?
The story is in contemporary earth and with same technology.
How can a single human make the Yellowstone explode with the tools available to us now (or with slightly advanced ones, but nothing too sci ...
2
votes
7answers
630 views
Lava behind a forcefield; How to solidify the lava in contact? [closed]
I have a volcano spewing a lavaflow over the countryside.
I have a small valley area protected by an advanced forcefield. It is an extended version of a space going ship's forcefields.
When lava ...
15
votes
6answers
9k views
Can lava still be red hot liquid underwater?
I want a lake which contains a crater of active volcano at the bottom, which the volcano has a lava lake and the lava is still red hot in liquid state, just like lava lake above water on Earth. Is ...
-2
votes
1answer
202 views
Could a super volcano cause ragnarok like events?
For the world I am creating I am trying to have an event like a super volcano explosion in its past. Generations of oral storytelling have resulted in the Norse mythology of Ragnarok making its way to ...
7
votes
1answer
134 views
The Geography and Ecology of a Supervolcanic Planet
What would be the geographical and ecological implications for an Earth-like planet that experienced intense volcanic and supervolcanic activity on a scale that, while decreasing over time, was far ...
3
votes
2answers
187 views
Would it be possible to have fresh water in a world where there was a major volcanic eruption which destroyed all civilisation apart from one city?
For an area in a world I am creating, 300 years prior to the present day, the northlands were destroyed by major volcanic eruptions. Would it be possible for there to be water accessible to a party ...
1
vote
2answers
158 views
Molten Whirlpool planet
Premise; A magma/lava planet tidally locked around its sun. The side facing the sun is always erupting lava, the dark side is a cooled shell, which sinks into the magma beneath in a global whirlpool. ...
7
votes
1answer
141 views
A layer of igneous rock over a large area
How big of a volcano would be needed for a large (Alaska-sized) area on an Earth-Like planet to be covered in a thick shell of igneous rock?
Would that volcano also destroy the world or make it ...
15
votes
5answers
1k views
Considerations for a Dwarven Volcano City
Related: Could a Dwarven Civilization Exist?
Background: A Dungeons and Dragons world (for all intents and purposes, Tolkein lore is close enough) in which a group of colonists far from home are ...
-3
votes
2answers
204 views
Volcanic winter related to moons?
My Kepler Bb planet has 4 moons and is habitable. So that is good. But all 4 of these moons are major moons which while indeed possible, could be a problem.
You see, these moons are in resonance so ...
5
votes
6answers
330 views
How could an island surrounded by scalding steams be accessible in medieval age?
Set in the medieval period, preferably around 15th century, there is a habitable island the size of New York surrounded by boiling water inside the mouth of a volcano. How could you explain that there ...
2
votes
3answers
130 views
Supervolcano Defense - 2100
In the year 2100 the population of the United States is close to near one billion people (thanks to refugees from the Great Islam War in Europe). Advanced seismic technologies have detected that the ...
1
vote
3answers
2k views
Benefits to Yellowstone Eruption today?
If the Yellowstone Supervolcano did happen to erupt within the next ten years or so, what benefits would there be to humanity? I understand that there would probably be many extinctions to other ...
19
votes
4answers
10k views
What would happen to Earth if Yellowstone Erupted
In a world I am building; Humanity has left the earth and now only the plants, animals and cities remain. Many animals continue life undisturbed, while other went extinct. But with the disappearance ...
3
votes
1answer
375 views
Russia's Alternate Geological History
Since the geological history of the world's largest nation is as big as the nation itself, and since I don't have a master familiarity with Russia's formation over hundreds of millions of years, I'm ...
4
votes
2answers
161 views
Californian Yellowstone
North America's largest and perhaps most popular volcano is the plume of mantle situated right beneath the surface of what we arbitrarily call Yellowstone National Park.
This image shows the two most ...
10
votes
3answers
573 views
Geopolitical and Economic Implications of a Large Eruption at Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is the site of a large supervolcano that is somewhat due for an eruption in the geological near term. I have seen slides and discussions to the effect that large portions of ...
4
votes
2answers
464 views
The Subductive Hotspot
On Earth, there are only two different ways to create major volcanoes.
One way is subduction. It occurs when older/heavier rock sinks beneath younger/lighter rock. As the rock descends, it ...
3
votes
6answers
3k views
Could I intentionally trigger a Yellowstone eruption?
I'm very interested in a post-eruption setting in the continental United States. Unfortunately, it looks quite unlikely that a serious caldera-forming eruption is in our near future.
However, we're a ...
