MEGAVOLCANO!
The Earth's crust is a notoriously unstable place. From the ring of fire around the Pacific ocean to the volcanoes of Iceland, the surface of our planet is constantly on the move. Here in the UK however, apart from the occasional minor earthtremor, we seem largely immune to these upheavals. But are we being complacent? Geological time is on such a hugely different scale to human time nothing can be taken for granted. So Professor Lockwood Wasdale of the University of Northfield In Birmingham Department of Armageddon Studies has recently conducted a risk analysis of potential seismic problems in the British Isles - and what he has discovered threatens not only the UK but the whole world.
Scientists around the world know that there are certain centres of volcanic activity which have the potential to wipe out enormous areas of the globe. And of course they watch these closely, monitoring for any signs which might be a precursor to a volcanic eruption so devastating that the whole of mankind would be affected. An example of such a place is the Yellowstone area - a huge caldera which will one day obliterate most of the western United States. Yellowstone is a good example to use - although it is known for it's hot springs, it shows few signs of the latent explosive tension beneath. Might not there be other, similar, geological features lying dormant, hiding, waiting undiscovered, ready to explode? And what if this volcano, not so much a time bomb, more armageddon waiting to happen, were lying not under the North American wilderness, but a little closer to home?
I decided to investigate this idea further. And the results were not merely disturbing, but positively frightening.
I began first by looking at Cornwall. This seemed the best place to start, as the Cornish peninsular has major outcrops of Granite: a rock formed by volcanic activity. Although the rock you see on the surface of Cornwall and Devon is very ancient, just what is going on beneath? Clearly, in Cornwall, we have absolute evidence of volcanic activity. Indeed, deep underground, this area is so hot that attempts have been made to tap into the energy to provide hot water and generate electricity.
Nevertheless, one area, despite clear indications of volcanism and still hot rocks, does not provide the full story. Next I travelled to South Wales.
The rocks of South Wales are somewhat different to those of Cornwall. There is little or no evidence of volcanic rocks here. Instead this is largely an area of sedimentary rocks, those laid down over thousands of millenia as silt and dead living organisms settled on an ancient sea floor. And when the area was above sea level, great swamps grew which as they died and then became covered themselves formed the great coal measures of South Wales. All this seems very benign, unlike the violent, volcanic past of Cornwall. But to see the importance of South Wales to our story, we have to look not to the past, but to the present, for South Wales is one of the most earth tremor prone areas in the UK. It is frequently rocked by small earth movements. Surely, this is a sign of some unrest in the Earth's crust.
The final destination on my tour of the South West of the UK completes the puzzle. It is the picturesque spa town of Bath. With it's delightful Georgian architecture, it hardly brings to mind the idea of Armageddon. But we need to look beneath this veneer, and down, into the earth. In Bath you need not look far to find the evidence required.
The Romans, and the ancient Britons before, found something remarkable in Bath. They found the things which gave the town it's name and it's prosperity: hot springs. Water from deep beneath the surface of the Earth bubbles up, not just warmed, but heated by what lies below. As Yellowstone has Old Faithful, we have Bath.
The triangle: 1 - Bath, 2 - Cornwall/Devon, 3 - South Wales
And so we have a triangle. Each point shows evidence of what lies below. But the vast majority of the area of our triangle lies out of sight, deep beneath the Bristol Channel. And the evidence is that the muddy waters of this great estuary hide Britain's very own Megavolcano, perhaps even now poised to explode.
When it comes, the effects of this explosion will be enormous. All matter above the crater will be vaporised, turned to white hot dust and blasted high into the upper atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. A huge fountain of lava would follow, perhaps reaching two or three miles in height, then falling back, devastating the surrounding area for tens, perhaps even 50 miles around. Sulphur Dioxide and similar noxious gases would belch into the air, poisoning anything living near by, and later causing acid rain which would affect the whole planet. And a cloud of hot, burning ash would spread around the globe, starting fires where it fell, even thousands of miles away.
Zones of destruction:
A: Total Anihalation - all matter vaporised.
B: Absolute Destruction - no chance of survival.
C: Severe Destruction - some chance of surviving initial eruption.
D: Damage - reasonable chance of surviving initial eruption.
An artists impression of the start of the eruption, seen from Bristol shortly before it is destroyed.
The initial blast would have created a tsunami such has never been seen before in human history, a raging wall of water still some 300 feet high when it hit the east coast of America. The shock wave from the blast would travel several times around the world, and the sound of the explosion would be the single loudest noise ever - even on the other side of the world in Australia it would be clearly audible.
The face of the Earth would be altered. Most of the south west of the UK would cease to exist, and a large part of the rest of the British Isles would be a lava spattered, smouldering wasteland. And as if this were not enough, a black cloud of ash and smoke would encircle the globe, reducing the amount of sunlight which could reach the surface. A "volcanic winter" would be triggered, a mini ice-age lasting years, perhaps even decades.
Map of UK after eruption of Bristol Channel Megavolcano.
In short, the very existence of life on Earth would be severely imperiled.
Currently, there is no way of telling when this will erupt. And even if we were able to predict such an eruption, there is no way mankind could do anything to dimish the enormous humanity threatening power of the Megavolcano.