"How could a naughty alien race trigger Yellowstone?" Topic

Suppose an alien race, of not all that advanced technology, trigger a massive eruption of the Yellowstone super volcano?
No death rays, just plain old ballistics and or … whatever?

They have noticed us, and do not have the technology to hurl the Earth into the Sun, but they do want to slow us down for a couple hundred years.

Plausible deniability might be an issue too. After all, there is the Galactic Guild to answer to!

"Nuke'm from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Drop a rock on it. A big rock. A big space rock. You get the idea.

If they have the tech to get here they'd probably be able to kick our butts.

Why would they do that when it would be easier to ally themselves with a lesser nation on Earth. The larger nations would fight the smaller one but they would have the tech edge given to them by there new alien overlords. They could cut a deal where the smaller nation would rule over Earth but be loyal to the alien race. This way, they could control earth without having to set foot her or even fight a big war with us.

Simple. The aliens pay off some (un)witting/greedy corporations to set up deep fracking operations at strategic points in the Y caldera. The resultant mini-quakes and weakened crust should cause it to blow like a popped balloon. ;-)

build a mag launcher on the moon and start lobbing chunks of metallic ore at the 'super caldara' that is yellowstone…..any that we managed to 'deflect' would do major damage elsewhere….but if they managed to 'trigger' the magma chamber UNDER yellowstone:

(The Moon is a Harsh Mistress!)

Here's a CONSERVATIVE estimate of damage of a caldara eruption:
link

and here's what the original ash cloud, fragments would probably DO:

and here's how it would compare to earlier events!

You could POSSIBLY trigger it with nukes or just lots of explosives, strategically placed….like in 'View to a Kill' with 007

Take Zephyr1s post. Replace "aliens" with any earth nation with a grudge against the US and deep pockets. Houston, we have a problem.

Take Zephyr1's post. Replace "aliens" with any earth nation with a grudge against the US and deep pockets. Houston, we have a problem.

Ranger Smith would put a stop to their plans of world destruction. Hey Boo Boo, give me a hand with this" picknick basket"!

Regards Allan

An asteroid strike would probably be child's level billiards to them.

A Russian scientist was just advocating they do that a week or two ago, with their ICBMs, so perhaps if the aliens ask them nicely, promise to support the ruble, or give them simple tech, etc., they'd probably play ball.

That's make Putin and Russia top dog in the world, so he'd probably be on board.

so, is this a scenario you are looking to game? At what scale? I see it as alien prospectors, not an entire race. Find a planet with some wealth, but occupied. Intergalactic law prohibits extermination of native species.. but.. plausible deny-ability.. if a catastrophe happens.. well

So perhaps a series of skirmishes. Landing party vs YS campers. Landing party vs. Grizzles they try to "recruit". Rangers (YS) vs aliens, investigating. Scientists brought in. MIB. Muldor and Skully. could be a hoot.

aliens must not leave evidence of aliens, so bodies must be recovered.

I'll be headin for Rocky Point. Nice of us to spare Canada the carnage, don't ya think?

"A Russian scientist was just advocating they do that a week or two ago, with their ICBMs, so perhaps if the aliens ask them nicely, promise to support the ruble, or give them simple tech, etc., they'd probably play ball.

That's make Putin and Russia top dog in the world, so he'd probably be on board."

Didn't know Russian academics had such a suicidal streak in them. You are aware that an eruption of that magnitude would probably take Russia (and most of the Northern Hemisphere) out, too. Permanently…

The Russians would be jseverely damaged by the climate disruption, so I do not think that they would be lending a hand.

"After all, there is the Galactic Guild to answer to!"

Oh man…. Not them again… A bunch of buzzkills…

Fracking could set the thing off.

This might do it.

I'm aware, but apparently the guy was hoping for a NovoSiberia to go with the NovoRossiya, and perhaps he likes it cold.

After the fireball, and enbers die down, perhaps all the ash and clouds generated will solve that little "global warming" issue some are so concerned about.

Apparently not closing a fire door in the Institute for the Sane Study of Mad Science would be enough – skin-horse.com/comic/can-you-2

Great ! Something else to worry about !!!!

Water.

Back in the 1970s, the idea of triggering volcanic eruptions by injecting water into volcanoes was mooted by DARPA and others, and the geotechnicians involved worked out the math. Much of the factual details were used in the otherwise overlooked Bond movie A VIEW TO A KILL in which relocating a lake is proposed to set off a massive earthquake on the San Andreas, to destroy Silicon valley and corner the worlds tech market.

One problem- it would take millions of cubic metres of water, and several weeks to do the job. And a pumping rig is pretty obvious, unless you say you are doing "exploration" . . . Still, no radioactivity, and no messy plasma shockwave and resultant radiation from a dropped rock either.

Conspiracy theorists believe Russian has the Yellowstone caldera targeted with nukes, if things go from bad to worse they nuke it setting off the volcano ending the US as a major world power.

Dang, I've been listening to Alex Jones too much lately.

Fun stuff, in my solo RPG thread – Tephra Falls, aliens use a higher tech solution to triggering the super volcano and keeping it active. The net result is an immediate kick in the teeth to the US and 'nuclear winter' in the northern hemisphere. Fifteen years later, billions of people have died, the remainder migrated south, the oceans have receded (large polar ice sheet.) The US and Canada have moved to the deep southern states and did a soft invasion of Mexico. Flotilla fleets of lashed together ships and barges handle some of the overflow. The whole mess is called the United Alliance. The USSR and China took it hard after the crops failed and the world economy collapsed. Europe did a similar thing to North America and created the Mediterranean States. It was nowhere as peaceful as the formation of the UA.

By the way, if the aliens can drop space rocks on us, why the heck would they bother with the caldera? And if they've got FTL or near relativistic craft, they don't need to drop rocks. A handful of BBs tossed at us at relativistic speeds will do all the damage they need to do.

Planet: A big target in space. --- glossary, Manual of Intergalactic War (probably).

It might be a terra forming thing, any genocide might be bonus damage to making the planet more habitable for them. Or, maybe they don't have the high ground because they are dimension travelling rather than space travelling aliens.