The 4th THREAT of NINE

 

This is what I’ve called Geologic, the first of the Three Local Threats not from the sky above our heads, but the ground below our feet.

First up, Earthquakes. Like the big one in Japan in 2011, or in Sumatra in 2004, of course here, the one San Fran in 1906 … and ‘the beat goes on.’  Arguably, despite better building codes and warning systems, we are more vulnerable because we are so dependent on our infrastructure. It’s the collateral damage to buildings, nuclear power plants, electricity, gas lines, sewage pipes, etc.  We’ll be up to our proverbial in it and aftershocks. Then there always the chance of Tsunamis. Anyway, we know the next big one is coming … we just don’t know when or where.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/the-10-biggest-earthquakes-in-recorded-history.htm

Worse are Super Volcanoes, thousands of times larger than ‘normal ones.’  And yes, they do go off on a regular basis.  The largest confirmed such eruption was some 28 million years ago … in Colorado … about 2000 times larger than Mt. St. Helens. And we think there may have been larger still about 130 million years ago when South America and Africa were joined at the hip as part of Gondwana. Talk about a messy divorce!

Anyway, the damage here is not just to nearby flora and fauna from massive lava flows and hot gases, but worldwide from volcanic ash pumped into the atmosphere in huge quantities. Carried by high level winds, this eventually blankets the Earth blocking the sunlight and killing plants that support the food chain. Of course, the temperature drops so we’ll freeze in the dark with nothing to eat.

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_volcanic_eruptions

And we know a big one is coming soon. Yellowstone has been super-erupting every 600-700 thousand years for the last two million years. The last one was about 620 million years ago!

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/supervolcano-yellowstones-fury.html

Then there’s always the Magnetic field! We’re living next to an unshielded nuclear power plant (the sun) with only a ‘magnet’ for protection. Eventually this runs out; the Moon and Mars have already (mostly) lost theirs if you get my drift. Of course, this will take a while yet for us, but ours flips periodically between the North and South poles and in the process we lose protection for some period of time. Signs point to the fact that we’re overdue! How do you like your chicken … extra crispy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/03/earths-magnetic-field-overdue-for-a-chaos-causing-possibly-life-altering-flip/