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by Tondoteottotote on February 26th, 2006

Tondoteottotote

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Could a nuclear explosion deactivate an erupting volcano?

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  • by notmrjohn on February 27th, 2006

    notmrjohn

    It is possible. Depending on the size of the bomb, the volacano could collapse in on itself and plug itself up. The tremor or shock could cause the tube of magma coming up to close, or could close or otherwise affect the fault below. Perhaps the fault would lengthen and the magma, ash, etc would flow somewhere else and come up there. If the bomb was powerful enough and the eruption small enough maybe all the magma and other ejecta would be vaporized.
    But on the other hand it could make it worse, even if we just ignore the effects of a nuclear blast itself. Instead of collapsing and plugging the volacano it could blast the walls away and release an entire crater's worth of molten lava or change the flow path. The blast could open the tube or the fault allowing even more magma to rise. It could loosen or vaporise solidified plugs in other tubes, or open connections to other 'pockets' of magma. It could change the shape or direction of the faults, allowing a new volcano to erupt in an even worse place.
    It might have no real effect on the volcano itself other than to make the lava radioactive, and go flowing off to become a solidified radioactive lava flat. Radioactive ash could spread all around the world,coming down nearby as radioactive ash fall, farther away as radioactive rain, contaminating ground water and the earth.
    All in all not such a good idea. Please do not submit the idea to the government. I can see FEMA making plans to use WMD's as soon as possible in as many situations as possible.. Why, we could drop one into the next hurricane, we could drop one into a flood and instantly vaporise all that terrorist water. The possibilities are limitless.

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