
A massive volcano that scientists can't find - dimitrov
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170630-the-massive-volcano-that-scientists-cant-find
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Pitarou
> they estimated that Kuwae’s eruption had released vast quantities of magma,
> enough to fill the Empire State Building 37 million times over

This is a unit of journalistic measurement I have never come across before.

~~~
ygra
Apparently the volume of the ESB is about 1e6 m³. So that's about 37e12 m³ of
magma. But yeah, using a weird unit of measurement no one even knows and using
37 million as a factor pretty much guarantees that no one can relate this to
anything.

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _using a weird unit of measurement no one even knows and using 37 million as
> a factor pretty much guarantees that no one can relate this to anything_

Manhattan has a land area of 59.1 square kilometers [1]. 37e12 m³ of magma
would fill the land area of Manhattan to over 600 kilometers, _i.e._ well past
the boundary of space.

Alternatively, it would fill California's 424,000 thousand square kilometers
to 100 meters, or about halfway to the top of the Transamerica Pyramid [2].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica_Pyramid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica_Pyramid)

~~~
wfunction
> Alternatively, it would fill California's 424,000 thousand square kilometers
> to 100 meters

That sounds like a hell of a lot more than 37 million times the volume of the
Empire State Building.

~~~
Retric
The Empire State buildings base is almost 2 acres x 443.2 m tall and a square
km is 247 acres. 2 * 443m * 37 million / 424 million (424,000 thousand) / 247
~= 0.3m so covered to the depth of 1 foot. Which seems more reasonable.

ED: Ahh, they had wrong area for California. It's 424,000 square kilometers
not "424,000 thousand square kilometers"

~~~
dmurray
That 424million should be 424,000, so we are back at 300m deep. Except the ESB
doesn't fill anywhere near all of the (2 acres x 443m) cuboid, so 100m is
closer.

~~~
Retric
Yea, I was thinking they where off by 1000 somewhere. Checking
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California)
gives (423,970 km2).

And yea, 1/3 of the volume is a better approximation but the numbers where so
far off that seemed less useful.

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jsmthrowaway
Imagine observing these events and trying to explain them with rudimentary
scientific understanding. At the time, the best explanations for volcanoes
involved wind causing friction in narrow canyons or subterranean rivers of
fire, but nobody really knew. One can appreciate mythology more in this light,
given the titanic scale of volcanic eruptions and an entire species agape in
wonder.

Cool stuff. Really drives home that we are guests of this planet.

~~~
thaumasiotes
Subterranean rivers of fire is pretty close to how we understand them today.

~~~
Pitarou
River of fire comes out of the ground. Hmm. Where did it come from?

~~~
strictfp
There must be a real hellhole down there...

~~~
em3rgent0rdr
The concept of Hell, being inferred from volcanic eruptions, is not terribly
unscientific.

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agucho
Mighty interesting, sure. Still, I can't stand these awe-driven narratives.
The formula is getting old and in the jumping from one wow to the next a lot
of the real questions and facts are left half-explained. And as somebody
already pointed out, the units... football fields, Hiroshima bombs and the
area of California... they should standardize those already, right?
Journalists could use abbreviations and the rest of us would get to write unit
converters when learning a new programming language.

~~~
pokemongoaway
Exactly! When future historians read back at writing from our time period - if
it is still around - then how do you think they'll characterize it?

~~~
agucho
ha! Good question, I guess they'll say its magical realism with strong late-
cuneiform influences, judging from what little is left from the devastating
eruption from a vulcano no one ever found.

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mrb
They say it could have been caused by an asteroid, but don't explain why this
theory is seemingly discarded.

Edit: 2min of googling and I find a not very well know 20km impact crater
dated at exactly the right time (mid 15th century):
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahuika_crater](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahuika_crater)

~~~
Taniwha
You'll notice that Wikipedia includes it in:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unconfirmed_impact_c...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unconfirmed_impact_craters_on_Earth)

it's existence/size/effects is controversial to say the least, TV shows about
it show up on the History channel along with all the ancient aliens crap

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DuskStar
Spoilers: The volcano is unlikely to still be massive. Probably a good sized
crater or two though.

(Ice core evidence shows a pair of eruptions around the 1460s, likely the
cause of major famines across the planet in following years. The locations of
the eruptions are still unknown, though.)

