Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
Wow!  Why is that? I would have thought that if it happened deep in the ocean with all the pressure and the cold water it tould just "fizz" quietly?  Are pressure and cold a bad mix with Magma? |
Water and magma don't mix...you'd have 4 degree water flowing onto 1200 degree molten rock, and the moment it hit the magma it would flash vapourise, build up pressure in the magma chamber and then pop like a cork. The water pressure would hardly affect the magma....especially in a chamber the size of the one at Yellowstone. It would probably make it worse, in fact, so far as the explosion is concerned. But once it went off, it'd be the equivalent of several hundred thousand megatons of explosive potential.