THE SUPER VOLCANO: YELLOWSTONE
The Yellowstone Volcano, also known as the Yellowstone Caldera, is a super volcano located in the National Park of the states of Wyoming and Montana U.S
The Yellowstone Volcano is one of the largest volcanic areas in the world. The park contains about half of the Earth’s geothermal features and about 60 percent of all the world’s geysers.
The volcano was created during an eruption that took place about 640,000 years ago. The caldera is over a spot where hot, molten rock rises towards the surface.
Major eruptions of the Yellowstone Volcano happen about every 600,000 to 800,000 years. Two of the past explosions have been among the most powerful ever recorded.
The magma is the reason for the many geysers and hot springs in the park. Yellowstone has over 300 geysers, and over 10,000 hot springs and bubbling mud holes.
A geyser is created when the steam is forced through the surface by the high temperatures beneath the surface. Old Faithful is the most famous geyser at Yellowstone and erupts almost every 91 minutes.
The huge magma chamber in the Yellowstone Volcano is at least 50 percent larger than first thought. It measures about 37 miles long, 18 miles wide and up to 7 miles deep in parts.
Yellowstone is considered to be the world’s first National Park. Its 3,468 square miles of mountains, canyons, forests, geysers and hot springs attract 2 million tourists every year.
There are between 1,000 and 2,000 earthquakes each year at the Yellowstone Volcano. In early 2010, there were over 1,600 small earthquakes within the space of a few weeks.
A major volcanic eruption at Yellowstone is not likely to happen soon. Geologists studying volcanic activity at the park predict that it might not happen for at least another 30,000 years.
The Yellowstone Volcano is one of the largest volcanic areas in the world. The park contains about half of the Earth’s geothermal features and about 60 percent of all the world’s geysers.
The volcano was created during an eruption that took place about 640,000 years ago. The caldera is over a spot where hot, molten rock rises towards the surface.
Major eruptions of the Yellowstone Volcano happen about every 600,000 to 800,000 years. Two of the past explosions have been among the most powerful ever recorded.
The magma is the reason for the many geysers and hot springs in the park. Yellowstone has over 300 geysers, and over 10,000 hot springs and bubbling mud holes.
A geyser is created when the steam is forced through the surface by the high temperatures beneath the surface. Old Faithful is the most famous geyser at Yellowstone and erupts almost every 91 minutes.
The huge magma chamber in the Yellowstone Volcano is at least 50 percent larger than first thought. It measures about 37 miles long, 18 miles wide and up to 7 miles deep in parts.
Yellowstone is considered to be the world’s first National Park. Its 3,468 square miles of mountains, canyons, forests, geysers and hot springs attract 2 million tourists every year.
There are between 1,000 and 2,000 earthquakes each year at the Yellowstone Volcano. In early 2010, there were over 1,600 small earthquakes within the space of a few weeks.
A major volcanic eruption at Yellowstone is not likely to happen soon. Geologists studying volcanic activity at the park predict that it might not happen for at least another 30,000 years.
What happened during the last eruption of a super volcano?
The last eruption of a super volcano was in Toba, Sumatra, 75,000 years ago. It had 10,000 times the explosive force of Mount St. Helens and changed life on Earth forever. Thousands of cubic kilometres of ash was thrown into the atmosphere - so much that it blocked out light from the sun all over the world. 2,500 miles away 35 centimetres of ash coated the ground. Global temperatures plummeted by 21 degrees. The rain would have been so poisoned by the gasses that it would have turned black and strongly acidic. Man was pushed to the edge of extinction, the population forced down to just a couple of thousand. Three quarters of all plants in the northern hemisphere were killed.