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If a volcano explodes when the pressure gets to high, why cant we drill/use explosives to ease the pressure and let the lava (magma/whatever) flow in a direction of our choosing?
I'm sure if it was this easy it woulda been done by now, so, any reason why not?
There are several reasons. For one, it would depend where the pressure is located, in terms of how far beneath the surface, what sort of rock is above it, etc. It may be too far to get to/to difficult to get to/ and do you think it would be easy to get taxpayers to front drilling into a volcano? Another problem is, with the earths population, it would be difficult not to disturb people in the process, and alot of the pressure that would be released would be in the form of poisonous gases. Also, if you planned to release the pressure of the magma, that means you would be changing the structure of a large cross section of earth that is supported by this underground magma reservoir, which could cause severe earthquakes and create all sorts of problems as the land 'deflates' and its margins are forced to grip in and the center of the piece of land sinks down and cracks, etc. Also, there is the problem of scale. In the case of some massive volcanoes and plumes, there could be more than a 1000+ cubic mile 'bubble' of magma bubbling around down there, it's possible you could be getting more than you planned, and your drilling might destabilize the land enough to cause all sorts of undesirable occurances.
There are several reasons. For one, it would depend where the pressure is located, in terms of how far beneath the surface, what sort of rock is above it, etc. It may be too far to get to/to difficult to get to/ and do you think it would be easy to get taxpayers to front drilling into a volcano? Another problem is, with the earths population, it would be difficult not to disturb people in the process, and alot of the pressure that would be released would be in the form of poisonous gases. Also, if you planned to release the pressure of the magma, that means you would be changing the structure of a large cross section of earth that is supported by this underground magma reservoir, which could cause severe earthquakes and create all sorts of problems as the land 'deflates' and its margins are forced to grip in and the center of the piece of land sinks down and cracks, etc. Also, there is the problem of scale. In the case of some massive volcanoes and plumes, there could be more than a 1000+ cubic mile 'bubble' of magma bubbling around down there, it's possible you could be getting more than you planned, and your drilling might destabilize the land enough to cause all sorts of undesirable occurances.
dang!
I was watching the yellowstone special and thought, hey, thats a good place for that!
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