(WASHINGTON, DC) -- A
giant slab of stone that stretches along the eastern seaboard would be
calamitous to the electrical grid if a major solar flared smacked the Earth, a
forthcoming government report is expected to say.
The sleeper awakens:
The soon-to-be-released report by the U.S. Geological Survey found a
300-million-year-old rock beneath the surface of the eastern seaboard could
serve to amplify the effects for the next big solar storm, Bloomberg is
reporting.
Rock of ages: The
rock extends beneath the surface of the Earth from Washington to Maine.
Bounce back: The
makeup of the rock would cause the solar energy from a storm to ricochet back
to the surface instead of being absorb by the soil, doubling the impact in the
region.
Active problem:
"It’s an active problem that a lot of people are trying to solve and
understand," Space Weather Prediction Center scientist Christopher Balch
told Bloomberg.
Blackouts: It is
believed that the type of geomagnetic storm capable of obliterating the
electricity grid happens once every century, but a worst-case scenario might
result in widespread blackouts that could last for months, the Space Weather
Prediction Center told Bloomberg.
