"Paul Hyett" wrote
SNIP
Maybe there's a nice big volcano waiting to go off, somewhere...?

We're being told by some geologists that the "supervolcano" in
Yellowstone, USA, is growing, but an eruption of that one would be
catastrophic and it's likely that many of us wouldn't be around for very
long afterwards to experience its effects.

Nearer to home, new ones have been identified as potentially forming just
south of Rome and another, north of Crete. Predicted timescales vary.

My favourite is much closer to home - the Eifel Volcanic Field in western
Germany, which I rarely see mentioned.
(see: http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame...ifel/eifel.htm ) It
is thought to be the result of a "plume" and is still classified as
"active", parts of it having last erupted c.13k years ago, spewing out 5
cu km of magma.

I think a repeat of that would be a little too close for comfort.


- Tom.