Dormant volcano near Route 66 is still dormant August 3, 2011

In recent days, the U.S. Geological Survey put out a press release about Pisgah Crater, a dormant volcano off Route 66 near Ludlow, Calif. The agency said:

Inquiries have come to the USGS regarding a potential eruption in the vicinity of Lavic Lake Volcanic Field (LLVF) in Southern California. The inquiries stem from a citizen report noting a plume-like feature on NEXRAD radar imagery from July 23, 2011. USGS volcanologists evaluating the situation find nothing to indicate that the NEXRAD feature results from volcanic activity. Satellite images from the same period do not show the steam or ash clouds that accompany volcanic activity, and there is no seismicity in the vicinity indicative of volcanic unrest/eruption. No earthquakes were located within 20 miles of LLVF during the last week (USGS-Caltech Seismic Net update 14:10 PDT July 27, 2011 ). No reports of eruptive activity have come in from ground observers (LLVF is within 2 miles of Interstate 40) or from regional pilots (Barstow Daggett County Airport is within 10 miles of LLVF).

Chris Clarke at KCET-TV explains why the USGS thought such a statement was necessary:

Why? Because a fellow going by the name of Dutch Sinse, a conspiracy buff far from the Mojave Desert, viewed NEXRAD doppler radar videos of what would seem to be monsoonal storm cells and declared them to be “volcanic plumes” — an eruption, of sorts, in progress. [...]

Sinse states that the “plume” cannot possibly be a wildfire, in part because there have been no news reports of wildfires in the area. (The similar lack of news reports on volcanic eruptions two miles off Interstate 40 escapes mention.) [...]

In all likelihood, what Sinse pointed out in the above and subsequent videos were local storm cells, a wave of which has been running roughshod over the California Deserts in recent weeks. [...]

Sinse’s prognostications spread quickly throughout the net. Within four days of the July 23 “eruption” I’d received three or four questions about it from different sets of online acquaintances. For one reason or another, this particular conspiracy theory gained traction, even inspiring some people to go out and document the plumes for themselves — like these women, who ended up filming what looks like a convective updraft at what they thought was Pisgah Crater — but which was actually Amboy Crater about 35 miles east of Pisgah.

I’m not linking to Sinse’s video. That dope already has received far too much unwarranted attention.

But this episode shows how a distressingly significant number of people are uncritical thinkers. It seems every conspiracy theory is given credence, no matter how implausible or fact-free.

(The “truthers” who believe the World Trade Center towers in 2001 were bombed from the inside by the U.S. military and the “birthers” who believe the current president was born in Kenya, I’m looking at you.)

If a long-dormant volcano starts spewing steam and ash within eyeshot of an incredibly busy highway such as Interstate 40, you will hear about it on television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet. Thousands of scientists, journalists and gawkers with smartphones would be high-tailing it to the Mojave Desert to see, record, report and study this. That, unlike Sinse’s wild theory, is indisputable.