Friday, March 6, 2009

Ancient Siberian Volcano Killed with Poison Gas

Released from its imprisonment behind the iron curtain, the remnants of the supervolcano that destroyed 90% of life on earth 250 million years ago, are being discovered by scientists, with some surprising results.

It had been theorized that the eruption caused
major global warming, and these findings support that contention. But in addition to that, it released a massive amount of poison gas:

But the team also wanted to know what happened when lava infiltrated the area's abundant salt deposits. When heated in a laboratory to 275 degrees Centigrade (527 degrees Fahrenheit), the salts released a host of toxic gases, chief among them methyl chloride, an efficient ozone-killer.

So as bad as the effects of such events are, sometimes it turns out they are even worse.

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