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That predictive capability may be tested in the future. As the USGS study on volcanic risks points out, the violence that has racked the U.S. in the past is likely to happen again. This time, however, the consequences could be far more serious. Mammoth Lakes and many of the West's other volcano zones are now the hub of busy recreation centers, many of whose residents are only vaguely aware of the peril that may be building in the ground beneath them. It will be up to the scientists to give them accurate forewarnings of he danger.