User:Gran Altiplano/environment

The dos Correntes Contingency
Confederación Popular de Gran Altiplano (Comisaría del Interior y del Medio Ambiente) (Internal memorandum trans. R. López)

Geology and Geomorphology of Gran Altiplano re: Cordillera Central and Sierra Nevasiáni (dos Correntes Contingency)

Area of interest: Altiplano-kas Serezu Volcanic Field, specifically the Tufa Negrita supervolcanic caldera (last eruption dated to ~150,000Ma)

Recurrence interval: Estimates range from 120,000 to 180,000 yrs and there has been resurgence and uplift of the overlying terrain measured since 1871 following the integration of the Cantonal Surveying Office

Historical background: The Contingency was proposed in the late 1980s by Sierreño vulcanologist João dos Correntes as a plausible response to a potential eruption of Tufa Negrita: the focus was to channel destructive energy and pyroclastic flows away from the populated regions of Altiplano and away from the [] valley to the south-west, which could potentially channel volcanic materials and devastating volcanic mudflows (lahars) caused by substantial volcanic deglaciation towards the coastal regions and population centres of Averillas.

Details of the Contingency: The execution of the plan involved identifying the opening phases of an eruption based on seismic analysis of the magma chamber beneath the altiplano and the magnitude/depth of such earthquakes; when seismic activity passed a certain threshold and/or began creating additional faulting or fractures in the overlying terrain, directed nuclear blasts would be used to crack the overlying igneous layers and force an eruption in a north-westerly direction, to channel the eruption inland towards the [] River Basin and allow for easier dispersal of volcanic ejecta to prevent the ecological erasure of most species within the altiplano proper. . . Revised versions of the plan from as early as 1993 replace the use of tactical nuclear armaments with a shaped-charge projectile fired from a satellite and designed to more efficiently fracture the rock above the magma chamber.

Concerns and critiques: Critiques of the dos Correntes Contingency include the failure of the initial seismic analysis to account for poorly mapped groundwater aquifers, which have the potential to mix with subterranean magma and increase the explosiveness of the eruption. . . Historical modelling of the volcanic plumes from peripheral super-Plinian eruptions shows that the mountainous topography makes it difficult to isolate the directions in which the plumes could collapse, rendering the primary goal of directing pyroclastic flows somewhat ineffective. . . The northern valleys of the [] and [] Rivers were incised into Tufa Negrita pyroclastic deposits well after the eruption itself, so there is no historical evidence of how an eruption would affect the nothern reaches of the country. ..