$140 million for something called “volcano monitoring.”

Never mind that the $140 million is actually for more than volcano monitoring, I’d just like to say that as someone who lives on an active volcano, Bobby Jindal can go fuck himself.

I want the USGS to monitor volcanoes. I want them to give warnings when a volcano is going to erupt. I want them to monitor gas output. I want them to monitor earthquakes.

I’ll bet I’m not alone. I’m sure people in Washington would like to know if Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, or Mount St. Helens are going to erupt. I’m sure people in Oregon would like to know if Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters, Newberry Volcano, and Crater Lake are going to erupt. I’m sure people in Northern California would like to know if Medicine Lake volcano, Mount Shasta, and Lassen Peak are going to erupt. I’m sure people in Alaska would like to know if any number of volcanoes are going to erupt, particularly Mount Redoubt. I’m sure people in Hawaii would like to know if Mauna Loa is going to erupt. I’m sure people in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho would like to know if Yellowstone is going to erupt.

Besides, it’s not just for volcano monitoring! One of the other things this money’s going towards is replacement and upgrades of stream gages. It might be nice knowing if a stream or river is rising. Useful to know if you need to prepare for flooding.

And he shrugs it off. “Volcano monitoring.” Pfft. Who needs to look at volcanoes?

Fuck you Bobby Jindal.

There are also warning signs about lava delta collapses, where huge chunks of land can just break off and fall into the ocean. To most visitors, this is a rather abstract warning, as the land looks incredibly stable. It’s rock, after all!

The main problem is that the lava bench isn’t built on a stable foundation. It’s typically formed covering jumbles of sand and smaller rocks formed by the lava entering the ocean. This unstable foundation eventually gives way under the enormous weight of the lava covering it, and the whole thing drops into the ocean.

Not surprisingly, the USGS has an excellent description of how lava deltas form and collapse. Pictures and descriptions still don’t give any sense of magnitude. Videos are much better.

Luckily the USGS caught a lava delta collapse on November 28, 2005. A 34-acre delta at the East Lae`apuki ocean entry collapsed in five hours, taking an additional ten acres of land with it.

Even more amazingly, the entire bench reformed in only four days.