The tale of the Magic Land, where a terrible tornado whisked away a young American girl, is known to all. However, unlike the fairy tale where the wicked witch Gingema unleashed a hurricane upon the people, the United States grapples with real natural disasters annually. Since the start of this century, approximately 130 significant natural disasters have struck the nation, including tornadoes, tropical storms, earthquakes, and floods. These calamities have resulted in the loss of over 4,000 lives and inflicted material damages nearing 500 billion dollars.
Americans are well-acquainted with the destructive force of tornadoes, often referred to as twisters. These occur over the vast, flat expanses of land between the planet’s two largest oceans, where air masses of varying temperatures collide. The area known as Tornado Alley, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, is particularly susceptible. Here, whirlwinds can become extremely violent in the spring, reaching speeds of up to 198 mph and demolishing farms, infrastructure, and even entire towns, often constructed from fragile materials.
Hurricanes, on the other hand, typically affect coastal areas. One of the most devastating recent hurricanes was Katrina, which struck Louisiana in August 2005. The levee separating New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain failed, submerging about 80% of the city, resulting in the deaths of 1,836 people, and leaving roughly 700,000 residents homeless. The authorities were ill-prepared for the catastrophe, with rescue efforts and humanitarian aid delivery being severely criticized. The disaster also led to numerous industrial accidents and widespread looting within the flooded areas.
Mysterious holes
These rampant elements are, in a manner of speaking, seasonal. They are anticipated annually, and methods to predict and cope with their consequences have been developed. However, of late, scientists have grown concerned about a far graver threat. Beneath America, unusual activity is occurring in the depths: the tension within the earth’s crust is intensifying, which, according to predictions, could soon lead to a colossal earthquake and trigger an unprecedented tsunami capable of devastating half the nation.
Texas geophysicists have recently identified peculiar holes on the Pacific Ocean floor, 50 miles off the California coast. These holes, although small at five centimeters in diameter, are numerous, with about four per square meter, and their quantity is steadily increasing. Hot jets, akin to underwater geysers and containing traces of boron, lithium, and other metals from the mantle’s upper layers, are erupting from these enigmatic holes. These holes are precisely situated at the convergence of the North American and Pacific lithospheric plates, which are moving and colliding with each other. Should the pressure surpass critical levels, an immense release of energy could occur. The potential underground shock could reach a magnitude of 9, categorized as catastrophic.
“Broken” Country
The San Andreas Fault, extending along the west coast of the United States for 800 miles, is considered one of the most hazardous faults on Earth. Scientists from the California Technical University have recently detected nearly two million microtremors along the fault, whose nature remains a mystery to seismologists. Should these tremors foreshadow a significant disaster, some projections suggest it could sever California from the North American continent or even submerge the state beneath the ocean.
Moreover, the reactivation of the San Andreas Fault could potentially trigger other faults in the United States, such as the Cascadia Fault in Oregon and Washington, and the New Madrid Fault in Alabama, which is significantly larger than San Andreas. With the last major earthquake occurring over two centuries ago, rising subterranean pressures and computer models indicate that Alabama and surrounding states may face substantial geological upheavals within the next twenty years. If such events occur, the projected casualties could reach into the thousands, with over a million people potentially losing their homes, access to water, and food supplies, resulting in damages surpassing $400 billion.
In addition to faults, the western United States is replete with dormant volcanoes, closely monitored by the National Geological Survey. Should the San Andreas fault trigger their activity, it could signal a dire situation for America. Moreover, the Yellowstone supervolcano could emerge as the primary threat to the continent.
Sleeping monster
Until the 1960s, the existence of this colossal entity remained unsuspected. It was a vast forested depression, spanning nearly 1,544 square miles, located in a renowned natural park in Wyoming. This anomaly was first detected with the aid of space satellites. Subsequent investigations revealed a vast reservoir of magma churning beneath the ancient volcano. Should a tectonic plate collision trigger an upward surge, the eruption’s force could be equivalent to 1.7 thousand megatons of TNT.
The aftermath would resemble an apocalyptic scenario. Far from the supervolcano’s epicenter, lava flows would incinerate everything in their path, resembling swift rivers of fire. Countless hot gases and ash, laden with sulfur dioxide particles, would ascend into the atmosphere, cloaking the North American continent in a thick veil that would block the sun’s rays for an extended period. The ensuing rapid temperature decline would devastate agricultural production, leading to widespread famine.
However, some researchers believe that not only America but all of humanity could be affected. The “warmer of the planet,” the warm Gulf Stream, might vanish, and the equator could become snow-covered.
The outlook is indeed grim. As a result, scientists are devising strategies to avert a potential disaster. For instance, NASA experts suggested drilling a well into the crater of the Yellowstone supervolcano to a depth of 6 miles and circulating water through it to cool the magma. However, they have estimated the costs to be prohibitively high—though it seems odd to skimp on the fate of one’s own country. Another idea is to neutralize the supervolcano with a controlled underground explosion. Yet, the exact processes occurring within the depths remain unknown—raising concerns that such an explosion could instead trigger a catastrophic eruption.
The renowned American mystic and clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, who once accurately predicted the onset of two world wars and several natural disasters, foretold an unimaginable natural disaster in the United States “in the first third of the 21st century” before his death. He made his predictions in a trance-like state, earning him the moniker “Sleeping Prophet.” At the time, the Yellowstone volcano was not yet known, and tectonic faults were poorly understood. If the prophet’s vision was indeed of an impending subterranean upheaval, then the occurrence may be imminent.
