The geological history of Yellowstone National Park worries many observers about a “supervolcanic” eruption that could destroy much of the United States.
Explaining Yellowstone’s Supervolcano
When Yellowstone National Park experienced its largest eruption 2.1 million years ago, massive volcanic depressions formed, known as “calderas.” The explosion also spewed volcanic ash over half of the United States, reaching areas of as far away as Texas, Louisiana, and southern California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Yellowstone’s many attractions include geysers, such as Old Faithful and hot springs. These are believed to be a result of the giant pool of magma that Yellowstone sits on.
Some call the enormous underground caldera, which measures approximately 28 by 47 miles, a “supervolcano.” The UnMuseum explains that supervolcano isn’t exactly a technical scientific term, but says it differs from a traditional volcano “in that there is often no mountain peak associated with it.”
The lack of a peak or potential outlet for gas, heat and pressure building underground increases the likelihood that “the entire surface above the underground chamber, which can be many miles wide, is blown away by a titanic explosion that can be thousands of times more powerful than that of a regular volcano.”
Volcanic eruptions can’t be predicted, and scientists wonder when Yellowstone will blow again. According to LiveScience, the caldera last blew up about 600,000 years ago.
Projections suggest that such an eruption would be catastrophic to most of the United States, with half the country being “covered in ash up to 3 feet deep,” LiveScience says, adding, “But those same researchers say nothing suggests such an eruption is imminent. They point out, however, that Yellowstone seems to blow its top about every 600,000 years.”
According to a BBC feature on such volcanoes, after an eruption, “The sky will darken, black rain will fall, and the Earth will be plunged into the equivalent of a nuclear winter.”
The Cascades Volcano Observatory calls the Yellowstone caldera “one of the largest and most active in the world.” The United States has other, smaller calderas throughout the west.
Supervolcanoes are also found in other parts of the world, according to the Discovery Channel. They include a 1,000-square-mile caldera in Bolivia, and Lake Toba in Indonesia, which the Discovery Channel describes as the world’s largest at 1,080 square miles.
Reactions: How doomed are we?
Sources in this Story
- U.S. Geological Survey: Steam Explosions, Earthquakes, and Volcanic Eruptions—What’s in Yellowstone’s Future?
- Cascades Volcanic Observatory Website: Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming
- The UnMuseum: Yellowstone Super-Volcano
- LiveScience: Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm Puzzles Scientists
- The Discovery Channel: Supervolcano
- findingDulcinea: Small Earthquakes Rattle Yellowstone and Its Volcano
- The Times of London: Fears over earthquake 'swarm' at Yellowstone National Park
- U.S. News & World Report: Yellowstone Earthquakes: Supervolcano Update
- Time: A Spurt of Quake Activity Raises Fears in Yellowstone
- The BBC: Supervolcanoes
Concern over the dangers of the Yellowstone caldera have been renewed recently by a series of hundreds of small earthquakes in the park that began at the end of December.
The earthquakes have all measured less than 4.0 in magnitude and haven’t caused any damage. But increased seismic activity at Yellowstone National Park raises the question: is the supervolcano going to erupt? Scientists say the string of 500-plus tremors that have been felt there in the past week is certainly atypical, according to the Times of London. Furthermore, the floor of Yellowstone caldera—a volcanolike formation usually formed by collapsed rock after an eruption—has risen about three inches a year for the past three years, “a rate more than three times greater than ever observed since such measurements began in 1923.”
Jake Lowenstern, Ph.D., Yellowstone Volcano Observatory’s chief scientist, who is also a member of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Team, does not think a supervolcano eruption will occur soon, according to U.S. News & World Report. “We don’t think the amount of magma exists that would create one of these large eruptions of the past,” he said. “It is still possible to have a volcanic eruption comparable to other volcanoes. But we would expect to see more and larger quakes, deformation and precursory explosions out of the lake. We don’t believe that anything strange is happening right now.”
On the other hand, Time magazine quotes a passage from Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything,” in which Yellowstone geologist Paul Doss indicates to Bryson that an eruption could very well happen now, for the simple fact that “Nobody was around the last time it blew, so nobody knows what the warning signs are.” There may be sporadic earthquakes, strange geyser patterns, or a lifting of the surface, but “nobody really knows.”
Reference: National parks and Montana travel; an interactive lesson on calderas
FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to National Parks covers the history of the nation’s parks, such as Yellowstone, along with Web sites to help you plan a trip there.
Source: findingDulcinea
Those interested in seeing more of Wyoming beyond Yellowstone National Park can read findingDulcinea's Web Guide to Wyoming Travel, which has information about places to stay and places to see in the Cowboy State.
Source: findingDulcinea
There’s more to Montana than Yellowstone, and findingDulcinea's Web Guide to Montana Travel has resources for seeing what else Big Sky Country has to offer.
Source: findingDulcinea
The Discovery Channel has an animated presentation that explains what a caldera is, how the Yellowstone caldera has evolved over the centuries, and what could happen if it explodes again.
