The Timebomb Under Yellowstone
A supervolcano in the heart of America’s northwest has the potential to blanket the US in a ‘nuclear winter’.
If it were to erupt, the Yellowstone supervolcano would be one thousand times as powerful as the 1980 Mount St Helens eruption, experts claim.
While it has lain dormant for more than 70,000 years, scientists say that we can’t rule out the possibility eruption this may some day take place – although they say the chances are extremely slim.
The volcano at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana sits atop a huge reserve of molten rock and last erupted 640,000 years ago.
It is one of the largest active continental silicic volcanic fields in the world. Silicic is used to describe magma or igneous rock rich in silica.
Experts say there is a one in 700,000 annual chance of a volcanic eruption at the site.
An in-depth report by HowStuffWorks has revealed the process that would take place if the volcano were to blow.
It says that a mixture of magma, rocks, vapour, carbon dioxide and other gases would eventually push out from the ground, creating a dome shape with cracks.
The dissolved gases would them explode, releasing the magmaacross the park.
This USGS graphic shows how a ‘super eruption’ of the molten lava under Yellowstone National Park would spread ash across the United States
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