Blog note.
Jesus indicated that ‘fearful sights’ (various natural disasters) would occur
leading up to the time known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation (a
combined seven year period of great destruction on earth). Although these types
of things have occurred in the past for centuries and thousands of years, they
could be identified as the ‘season of the times’ due to the ferociousness of
these events. They would be occurring in greater intensity, severity,
frequency, size, duration, scope … just like the pains that a woman experiences
in labor the farther along she is in the labor process. We are in the ‘season
of the times’ that comes just before the seven (7) year Tribulation/Great
Tribulation period
… And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
(Luke 21:11).
… And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and
upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves
roaring; (Luke 21:25)
… Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which
are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken; (Luke 21:26)
… This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy
3:1)
Jesus is giving a series of prophecies about what to look for as the age of
grace comes to a close. These verses are several of many such prophecies from
throughout the Bible. 2017 was the worst year in recorded history for the
intensity, frequency, severity, duration and occurrence of a large number of
severe natural disasters worldwide. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes,
typhoons, cyclones, torrential flooding, unprecedented wildfires in unusual
places, devastating droughts, excessive/scorching heat setting records
everywhere, record snowfalls in Europe and Russia. Snow in the Arabia. This
list can go on. Most studied Eschatologists believe these ‘fearful sights’ and
massive natural disasters are all part of the ‘CONVERGENCE’ of signs that this
Biblical and prophetic age is closing. Most people who study prophecy are
familiar with the routine reference(s) made that these things will be like
a woman having labor pains, growing in intensity, frequency, size and duration.
Scientists have figured out how to better predict where and when volcanoes will erupt — and their models accurately pinpointed disasters of the past
Aylin Woodward Business Insider•July 31, 2019
A new study reports how computer modeling can forecast future magma pathways through the Earth, and help geologists predict the locations of potential vents in volcanically active areas.
These predictions could help cities that sit near active volcanoes, like Naples, Italy, better prepare for future eruptions.
Not every volcanic eruption is a Mount Vesuvius-like catastrophe, with rivers of fire and flying rock that rains down on unsuspecting Pompeiians.
Sometimes, volcanoes’ summits collapse, forming miles-wide depressions called calderas, which are peppered by eruptive vents. When rivulets of magma force their way out of these vents, those small eruptions can spew dangerous amounts of lava and gas.
But the locations and threat levels of these vents are difficult to predict — eruptions can sometimes occur miles from the caldera’s center. That leaves cities located on or near volcanic fields, like Naples, Italy, facing a constant risk of poisonous volcanic gas, ash, and explosive bursts of lava.
Now, however, a group of scientists have figured out how to accurately pinpoint where on a volcano’s surface or in a caldera’s volcanic fields these damaging vent eruptions are likely to occur.
“Calderas have fed some of the most catastrophic eruptions on Earth and are extremely hazardous,” the scientists wrote in a new study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. That hazard is often underestimated by local populations, they added.
Mount Kilauea in Hawaii, which erupted last year, is speckled with such vents. The eruptions forced nearly 1,500 people to flee their homes, CBS News reported.
“These vents have lava coming out of them like fountains, which then leaks across the landscape like a slug,” Eleonora Rivalta, the lead author of the study, told Business Insider.
The scientists hope that insights from their new model could help communities like Hawaii’s better prepare for and anticipate future eruptions.
Magma’s fickle pathways
Magma, the liquid or semi-liquid rock under the Earth’s crust, makes up most of our planet’s mantle (its intermediary layer). When magma pushes its way to the surface, that causes a volcanic eruption.
Magma likes to take the path of least resistance as it surges upward. So figuring out what that path is can enable scientists to predict where it will next breach our planet’s surface. That’s what Rivalta’s team set out to do.
The easiest path, the researchers found, is for magma to move through rocks that are more “stretched out” than their nearby counterparts — less compressed, in other words. Although many geologists thought the path of least resistance would be through an existing pathway or fault, Rivalta’s team found that vents are often “single-use only,” meaning magma erupts through them once and never again.
Rivalta and her colleagues used these discoveries to make computer models of future magma paths to the surface. They compared the predictions of their model to the known eruptive behavior of vents across Italy’s Campi Fleigrei, outside of Naples. This 8-mile-wide active volcanic field — known as the “burning fields” — first erupted almost 50,000 years ago, though the most recent major eruption was in 1538.
Rivalta’s model accurately mapped Campi Flegrei’s 70 eruptions over the past 15,000 years, including the highly damaging Monte Nuovo eruption in 1538.
Predicting the next Yellowstone eruption
Between 1600 and 2017, 278,880 people around the world were killed by volcanic activity and the consequences of those eruptions, like starvation or tsunamis.
Since the 1980s, deaths related to volcanic eruptions have been rather limited, as geographer Matthew Blackett reported in The Conversation. This isn’t because scientists have gotten better at predicting eruptions — it’s a matter of chance, since recent eruptions have been far from heavily populated areas.
So Rivalta hopes to leverage her group’s new research to give cities like Naples more information about impending eruptions. She also wants to apply this new model to Mount Etna in Sicily, and use it to examine the supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park.
That enormous volcano last erupted more than 640,000 years ago. If it were to erupt again, the supervolcano would spew ash across thousands of miles of the US.
Following the Yellowstone volcano’s last eruption, it collapsed on itself, creating a 1,500-square-mile caldera that’s ripe for new appearances of magma.
“Yellowstone is a caldera with tons and tons of vents,” Rivalta said. “The question of where the next one might appear is very relevant to this caldera