msnbc.msn.com/id/9227930/

BEND, Ore. - A recent survey of a bulge that covers about 100 square miles near the South Sister indicates the area is still growing, suggesting it could be another volcano in the making or a major shift of molten rock under the center of the Cascade Range. Recent eruptions at nearby Mount St. Helens in Washington state have rekindled interest in the annual Sisters survey and its findings. Oregon has four of the 18 most active volcanoes in the nation — Mount Hood, Crater Lake, Newberry and South Sister.

When one [or all] of these let go, it'll make NOLA look like band camp.

I was just reading that and was about to post it!  Too slow again.

I might get to see the formation of a volcano in my lifetime.  Very cool.  I could use another mountain to climb.


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The likely cause of the bulge is a pool of magma that, according to Deschutes National Forest geologist Larry Chitwood, is equal in size to a lake 1 mile across and 65 feet deep.

The magma lake is rising 10 feet each year, under tremendous pressure, and it deforms the Earth's surface as it expands, causing the bulge.

Other causes could be anything from the birth of a new volcano — a fourth Sister in the making — to a routine and anticlimactic pooling of liquid rock, researchers say.

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Yeah, maybe I'll see my ass get owned by a volcano in my lifetime.



Maybe I'm part of the 1%...
Got a bunch of goodies I've been waiting to use!