Greetings, Potentially Petrified Pompeii Posterity!
Enclosed below is an intriguing email from a long time reader.
I recommend reading it for those of us here in the West who would like to live to a hard-boiled old age, without becoming a bar-b-que'd entree on the way.
Sixteen million years ago, something catastrophic occurred just a few miles from where the present day Columbia River forms the border between Washington and Oregon.
An unparalleled apocalypse. One that began with little or no notice.
In this long ago era, lost in the mists of time, a hellish Armageddon of fire and brimstone began to stir miles beneath the feet of the unsuspecting and placid world above.
No one knows for sure what it was that finally awoke that slumbering army of demons from down deep inside the earth.
Evidence is mixed and different views still contend.
But all agree upon what it was that came to pass one terror filled day:
There was a great and sudden rending.
A tearing open of the helpless earth, pinioned in the merciless, clawing fury of death and destruction.
A fissure of nightmare proportions appeared.
And from it's 100 mile length issued an all-consuming wall of molten rock and fire.
The firey forge of hell had birthed the Columbia flood basalts!
Today, one can drive along the river and gaze in wonder at the towering walls of now solid rock that reach hundreds of feet skyward.
But the casual tourist little suspects that, like an iceberg,
the are only gazing at the the tip. A mere fraction!
In some areas, the flows accumulated to a depth of a mile and a half!
Time and again the fires rolled forth. They often moved quickly and destroyed every living thing in their path. It has been documented that several of the flows, ( the Rosa flood basalt's here in my area, for example) covered up to 10,000 square miles of land surface in less that a week!
Everything was buried under inconceivable tons of solid rock. Few animals were fortunate enough to escape, and entire subspecies of plants were extinguished.
To give an idea of the magnitude of this event, and how quickly it occurred, I have a neighbor who lives just 5 miles down the road from my home.
He is a rancher and in order to sufficiently irrigate his alfalfa, was forced to drill an exceptionally deep 12 inch diameter well.
Sitting on the mantle of his fireplace is a large, water filled glass jar. Inside the jar is a section of carbonized tree limb that was obtained intact from one of the high pressure "blow outs" that are necessary when drilling in basalt.
The carbonized tree had once grown and flourished two thousand feet below the spot where in now rests in a jar!
Local scientists estimate the tree was engulfed so quickly that it carbonized instead of burned!
Temperatures were 2,000 to 2300 degrees on the surface and the suddenly released heat caused major changes in the earth's weather.
It was not uncommon for 10 to 14 thousand square miles, to be buried hundreds of feet under a fast moving flow at any one time.
One of the largest flood-basalt flows extends from north-central Idaho all the way to Portland, Oregon. It covered nearly 20,000 square miles, and crossed a linear distance of more than 300 miles, doing so in a matter of days!
With this bit of background on geological history to consider, let us proceed to our email.
I hope that the information I have provided above, will lend itself to helping readers understand the nature of what it is that is about to be described below.
-CliffMickelson
***
Dear Cliff:
For several years I've been working with my own personal little theory and predicting certain geologic events that when Yellowstone Calera blows, that it's not going to blow "up" this time (well, not JUST up), but out, along new crustal cracks, long vents.
It will be a different eruption, more along the lines of an initial eruption followed by a continuous basalt flow such as can be seen in the Idaho Plateau. The eruption is long overdue and crustal formations are different from in previous ages. It's a small, almost ridiculous theory, that shockingly enough has actually been bearing fruit over the last several years.
Several years ago, one part of my theory came to pass when the Wasatch fault started to gas-off along the fault line in Salt Lake City.
Fresh fault lines are being discovered here. Granted, this by itself is no indicator of a valid theory, so I have merely compartmentalized it under 'interesting possibilities'.
But now, fresh fault lines are being discovered along more of my predicted coordinates, including giant, gaping surface cracks toward the South.
When the latest large quakes in Alaska set up microquakes all the way to the Yellowstone basin, another theory became valid.
I believe that one of the areas that will crack, raise and spill is along the Wasatch Front. ONE of the areas. My theory is far from complete and is a work in progress.
Having said that, there understandably will be extraordinary deformation great distances from, but along predictable trajectories, from the Yellowstone basin and new vents. Some of those trajectories being south towards Texas and Mexico (impacting even the New Madrid and it's surrounding daughter faults) and west towards the three-sisters area (impacting the old basalt plateau, perhaps flowing beneath it).
One addendum to my theory recently is the possibility of renewed geologically relative timed volcanic activity in that area as a result of Yellowstone activity. The recent Alaska/Yellowstone correspondences is bearing this out. (Sorry for sounding long winded, but I'm relatively alone in my research, with others only recently beginning to jump on the band wagon)
This is where you come in. Recently you mentioned some anomalies in your plants and animal activity. All that you mentioned are, indeed signs of pre-volcanic activity for a REGION, but something specific you mentioned directly involves one of my theories. You mentioned that your plums have ripened early, and your blackberries have failed to ripen, and cherries failed to set sugar(?).
These are indicators of gassing off in the ground directly beneath you. Now, I'm not saying that this is definitive proof of MY theories, but you are still far enough from your triple threats that you should not be experiencing an event relegated to volcanic slope locations and it IS following along the lines of some of my predictors.
If you have access to a seismologist (a buddy if possible) see if you can get tests done for gasses and geologic soundings. (possible magma movement or gas pockets beneath you).
I'm not asking you to find out these things to frighten you by any means; the final implications surrounding my theories are still very divergent.
A) With the initial eruption of Yellowstone, it could break the fault lines so completely and distribute magmatic forces equally, that the catastrophic spewing of material into the atmosphere would be (geologically relative) minimal, continuing like Hawaii so to speak.--this is the direction my theories tend toward--
or
B) The eruption will be larger than any previous and will eject most of western and southern Wyoming and parts of eastern Idaho into the atmosphere and only china will survive the chaos that will follow.--this conclusion I really, REALLY don't want to be the case, but in case I find the info pointing that direction, I plan on buying property there so I may spend my last days in one of the places I love most in the world.--
Either way, I'm am predicting increased volcanic activity in your neck of the woods simultaneously. Hopefully, the creation of the new volcano just off the coast of Oregon is a pleasant indication on the way your girls are going to blow.
This is not to say that I think they are all the same magma chamber, but even the crust can act fluid as if it were part of the same magma chamber.
Find some way to discover what might be going on beneath your feet. With the moon acting up, the lunar influences carry a great deal of weight geologically, it might be worth a check even if you think my theories --glossed over here for content--are utterly unfounded (I understand).
I will look forward to any information you might uncover/disclose, but be aware of where your sources might originate. There are a great many seismologists (especially in these days of dwindling funding) that will argue for non-activity for monetary and political reasons.
D.
***
(note to D)
Thanks for this information. You may be interested to know that I have a constant flow of air issuing from one of my wells. It exits at a volume high enough to create a hissing sound that can be heard 50 feet away. Well depth is 280 feet.
I suppose it isn't a good Idea to ask if this is a good thing?
Also, Please send me your email address again. The current one seems always come back as undeliverable.
CM
Serving Freedom
and Liberty
