God, Yellowstone and the mysteries of the universe

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

In the United States – Yellowstone National Park stands as a great mystery. This park is nearly a 3500 square mile wilderness recreation area, atop a volcanic hot spot; which finds thousands of tourists each year. Mostly in Wyoming, the park spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho too. Yellowstone features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs and gushing geysers, including its most famous, Old Faithful. It’s also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope. Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. Aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. Management and control of the park originally fell under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, the first being Columbus Delano. However, the U.S. Army was subsequently commissioned to oversee management of Yellowstone for a 30-year period between 1886 and 1916. In 1917, administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than a thousand archaeological sites.

Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened.  The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly one third of the park was burnt. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing and sightseeing. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobiles.

But, despite its extremely romantic and eye-soothing beauty, Yellowstone – the super-volcano is a sleeping danger – a grave threat to half of the world. This volcano erupts after every 600,000 years, leaving tremendous threat to the world we live. Such eruption can destroy half the world. Yes it is true, and in 2017, scientists witnessed indications that the volcano would erupt very soon – an indication of imminent danger. To stop this, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists are proposing a solution that could save half the world while admitting that their intervention could initiate the explosion it was intended to prevent.

In 2017, during June to September, more than two thousand three hundreds tremors were recorded in Yellowstone. Though geologists assured, saying the activity was “normal for the site”, another series of quakes and unusual eruptions beginning in February, increased fears that the super-volcano was waking up. An investigation revealed magma filling up in the underneath chamber of the super-volcano. In July, a massive, 100 ft.-wide fissure opened up in the Grand Teton National Park near Yellowstone, further increasing fears.

Eruption of Yellowstone super-volcano would pose grave threat to the inhabitants of the United States. Over 87, 000 people would be killed immediately and two third of the country would become uninhabitable. The large spew of ask into the atmosphere would block out sunlight, resulting in an artificially long and intense winter worldwide. This would lead to inhibiting agriculture and ultimately result in global starvation. Brian Wilcox of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology explained to the BBC, “I came to the conclusion during that study that the super-volcano threat is substantially greater than the asteroid or comet threat.”

According to experts, NASA scientists came to the conclusion that the most logical solution would be to simply to cool the magma down while it is still underground. The solution is similar to cooling industrial power plants. Yellowstone is estimated to generate heat equivalent to six industrial power plants. The caldera currently expels about 60 percent of its heat into the atmosphere via water which seeps into the magma chamber through cracks. The remainder builds up underground inside the magma, generating volatile gases and dissolving surrounding rocks. Once this heat reaches a certain threshold, then an explosive eruption is inevitable.

Professor Natan Aviezer, a physics professor at Bar Ilan University who is a learned and devout Jew, commenting on NASA’s ongoing efforts in stopping eruption of the Yellowstone said, scientists were playing with the God.

In that case, question is – how this catastrophic disaster that would happen within the Yellowstone super-volcano can be stopped? How lives of thousands of people and most importantly two-third of the United States can be saved from the imminent consequence. While Americans are busy in mud-throwing and indulging into wrong practices of character assassination of people – through dubious allegations of sexual harassment of letting some rowdy leaders like Hillary Clinton in leading the nation towards a huge disgrace; the degree of threat posed by the Yellowstone is becoming an issue of gravest concern. But, majority of the Americans either are ignorant of this imminent danger, or are thinking, NASA can stop anything – even act of the God. Such wrong thoughts are gradually distancing them from the kindness and forgiveness of the God.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a multi award winning anti militancy journalist and editor of Blitz. He can be contacted at: Facebook.