Perhaps there is no such person who would not have heard about the volcano. Its giant caldera, which occupies a third of the Yellowstone National Park, is the largest supervolcano in North America, and more recently, the object of close attention of scientists and fans of volcanology. Yellowstone is a dormant supervolcano, but in recent years its activity has been growing rapidly. Many researchers argue that it could happen as early as 2015-2016, and its consequences will be catastrophic for the population of our entire planet.
Location: Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, USA
Height: 3142 m
Type: supervolcano
Number of eruptions: 3
The structure and eruptions of Yellowstone
Yellowstone is located above the so-called hot spot, characterized by prolonged volcanism. For a long time it was believed that under the "lid" of the caldera there is one huge bubble of magma with a depth of over 8000 m, but more recently, scientists have discovered a much larger reservoir under the upper bubble, 4.4 times the first. The volcano is fed by a large plume (hot mantle flow with a temperature of 1600 °C), part of which melts into magma closer to the surface and contributes to the appearance of geysers and gas emissions.
Over the past 2.1 million years, the Yellowstone volcano has erupted 3 times:
- The Huckleberry Ridge eruption 2.1 million years ago was a catastrophe on a continental scale, during which over 160 km³ of rocks were thrown out. Stones rose to a height of about 50 km, and volcanic ash covered a quarter of the mainland.
- The eruption of the Mesa Falls volcano 1.3 million years ago, as a result of which 280 km³ of rocks were ejected.
- The eruption of "Lava Creek" 640 thousand years ago, which formed a huge caldera with a circumference of about 150 km.
Tourism in Yellowstone
Yellowstone Park is the first national park in the world, founded in March 1872. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and annually receives over 2 million tourists, attracted not only by the volcano's caldera, but also by many canyons, caves and reservoirs. More than 1280 geysers can be seen in the park, including the Old Faithful Geyser, which erupts every 63 minutes, as well as the Grand Prismatic Spring, which shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow thanks to colorful algae and bacteria. Although the probability of a volcanic eruption is quite high, tourists continue to come to the park and enjoy its beauties.
Morning in Yellowstone 06/15/2015
Geyser Old Faithful
HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF YELLOWSTONE
In 1870, a search expedition was sent to the central northern parts of the United States to explore the territory of the state. At the end of August, the researchers approached Mount Washburn, and on August 29, several people climbed its summit, but the first among them was Gustav Doan, a lieutenant in the American army. Looking from the mountain to the southern part, the military man saw a huge depression among the Rocky Mountains, which was covered with forests.
Dawn was interested in this territory and in his diary he wrote the following: "I found a large depression, most likely it is the crater of a long-extinct volcano, which has long been sleeping." And in fact, the lieutenant turned out to be right - Yellowstone is really a volcano, and gigantic in size and at the same time he does not sleep, he is sensitively awake and from time to time demonstrates his cool temper. Nowadays, in the territory of Yellowstone, hot water literally rises from the ground, as well as clubs of various gases.
For several years, the territory was explored, and in 1872, on March 1, Yellowstone National Park was created here. Today it is a large biosphere reserve, it was also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Moreover, in those years for the United States it was one of the very first national parks created by the state.
In total, the park covers a total area of 898 thousand hectares and is located immediately on the lands of three US states: Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
YELLOWSTON NATIONAL PARK AND PARK TOURISM
Yellowstone National Park is an amazingly beautiful place, local coniferous forests, caves, canyons, beautiful waterfalls, rivers, lakes, geysers, all this is literally mesmerizing.
According to many tourists, the real gem of the park is the lake of the same name, a feature of which is its location. This is one of the highest lakes in the world, as it is located at an altitude of 2135 meters above sea level.
Yellowstone Park has a special structure, as it is located on a plateau, and due to the presence of mountain ranges along the perimeter, a special microclimate is created here. Since through rather high mountains, on average 2500 meters above sea level, cold winds, and indeed winds in general, cannot roam much on the surface of the park.
The park itself is also located quite high - 2400 meters above sea level. The highest point in the park is Mount Eagle Peak, which is 3462 meters high. The plateau itself has been shaped by numerous and constant volcanic eruptions. Each eruption was accompanied by the ejection of lava, which eventually collapsed, eroded and a forest grew on its surface.
In addition to the beautiful lake, beautiful landscapes, there are a large number of hot geysers and springs on the territory of Yellowstone Park. Also here is the largest geyser, with the name Excelsior. Steam and a column of boiling water from time to time bursts upward from the ground with great noise, and rises to a height of approximately hundreds of meters. Steam rises even higher, about 300 meters.
Moreover, the appearance of a water column and a column of boiling water occurs quite unexpectedly, and a sudden cessation of the release also occurs. Another geyser, the Old Faithful, is also very popular. It has its own peculiarity - the geyser is very punctual, with a frequency of 65 minutes it throws a jet of hot water into the air, which rises to a height of 50 meters. The Old Faithful has a rather long eruption of water and takes five minutes, after which everything stops and resumes again after 65 minutes.
Yellowstone Park has a wide variety of flora and fauna. Here you can meet many representatives of the animal world: several species of bears, deer, elks, bison, lynxes, wolves and many other four-legged animals roam the park.
In the numerous rivers and lakes of the park, there are about 20 species of fish, even some of which are rare. A very large number of representatives of the feathered world - about 300 species of birds in the park, most of them breed chicks here during the warm period.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Yellowstone National Park attracts a huge number of tourists every year to its territory. Despite the fact that hunting is prohibited here, and in some periods there is a restriction on fishing, there is no end to those who want to visit this place.
This is understandable, since the local infrastructure is literally "sharpened" for tourist flows. Tourists are offered various tours, different in complexity, length of stay, mode of transportation, etc.
The most popular is the tourist route, the duration of which is from three to 5 days. During all this time, tourists are offered to see various parts of the national park, while introducing them to representatives of flora, fauna, and natural attractions. Without fail, each tour includes a visit to all the main attractions of Yellowstone National Park, from Mammoth Terraces to the supervolcano.
YELLOWSTON VOLCANO
Yellowstone supervolcano or as it is also called the Yellowstone Caldera - refers to the entire name of the volcano, located on the territory of Yellowstone National Park. A feature of this volcano is that it is located in the very center of the tectonic plate, more precisely the North American one, which is not quite typical for volcanoes, because they like to be in the place where these very tectonic plates are connected. To date, the volcano has been very poorly explored and scientists have more questions than answers about it.
It is worth noting that the Yellowstone Volcano has a not quite typical, traditional shape for volcanoes. Firstly, it is very huge, and secondly, it completely lacks a cone, in fact, it is such a volcano on the contrary. And this is due to the fact that its upper part sank into the lower ground level of the local territory. After the failure, a large depression formed, which in the circle of scientists is also called a caldera. This word has Spanish roots and translated into Russian, the Spanish word Caldera means a cauldron.
The Yellowstone volcano throughout its territory has a thinned earth's crust. Under a small thickness of this very crust is a huge amount of red-hot magma. The dimensions of this supervolcano are amazing - the diameter of the caldera is within 60 kilometers.
Recent studies by scientists have shown that before that, representatives of science were slightly mistaken in the real size of the volcano and its potential danger. In fact, both the area and volumes of red-hot magma inside the Yellowstone volcano must be multiplied by at least two and a half times.
YELLOWSTONE ERUPTION SCENARIO AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
In fact, Yellowstone is a practically dormant volcano; for more than one hundred thousand years it has not shown serious signs of life. Despite this, under the thin crust there is a large volume of magma that boils, moves and wants to break out. As a result of regular research and observations of the park, it became known that its entire territory rises by several centimeters every year. This is indisputable evidence that the volcano lives some kind of life of its own and it is gradually increasing.
Since the Yellowstone volcano does not have a well-known crater, like mountains, hot lava is injected over almost the entire surface area of the volcano. It is for this reason that increased geothermal activity is observed here, it is on the territory of Yellowstone Park that half of all geysers and geothermal sources of the Earth are located.
Recent studies by scientists have led them to the conclusion that the supervolcano erupts almost every 600 thousand years. At the same time, the last time the eruption occurred quite a long time ago - 640 thousand years ago. That is, the Yellowstone volcano is in a rather long hibernation and every year the likelihood that it will wake up increases, but unfortunately no one knows when this will all happen.
Moreover, this can be provoked by a major earthquake, from which a break in the earth's crust will occur and ... 38 thousand cubic meters of hot steam will break out, and after it huge reserves of lava. According to scientists' forecasts, if this happens, then there will be nothing alive around Yellowstone within a radius of one thousand kilometers.
So what will be the scenario for the development of the eruption of one of the largest supervolcanoes on Earth?
One scenario has already been played in the past. Then, 640 thousand years ago, the Yellowstone volcano exploded, in an instant, a huge volume of earth and everything that was on it rose several kilometers into the sky. In just a few minutes, the entire territory of the supervolcano was completely destroyed, only a huge caldera remained at the site of the explosion - 48 by 72 kilometers.
At the time of the explosion, the volcano managed to raise about a thousand cubic kilometers of dust, sang and stones into the sky, for comparison, the eruption in 1980 of Mount St. Helens is a thousand times less. But then, in the early 80s, there were 57 victims from the eruption.
As a result of the explosion of Yellowstone 640 thousand years ago, a lot of dust and ash was formed, which covered everything around for thousands of kilometers. It is worth noting that this was not the most powerful eruption, the most powerful eruption occurred 2 million years ago and it was twice as powerful.
The scenario for the development of the Yellowstone eruption in our time may look like this. First, gases and water vapor will be released from a crack in the earth's crust, after which the turn of hot magma will come, which will spread throughout the entire park.
Within a few minutes after the explosion, according to analysts, 90 thousand people will die immediately. Further, within a radius of one and a half thousand kilometers from Yellowstone, up to three meters of hot ash will fall literally in a day. It is this ash that will cause the death of a large number of people and all living things, it will literally bury milestones.
Then a huge volume of volcanic ash will begin to spread across the Earth, blocking any movement of air transport, since aircraft simply cannot fly in such a density of microparticles.
Also, during the eruption of a supervolcano, a lot of sulfuric volcanic gases will rise into the Earth's atmosphere and they will react with water vapor in the lower layers of the atmosphere. As a result, the whole planet will be enveloped by a kind of gas haze, which will entail changes in the climate. Firstly, because of this haze, less sunlight will begin to reach the earth's surface, and secondly, as a result of the receipt of less heat on the Earth, the average temperature will drop, and significantly - by 15-20 degrees.
Due to the lowering of the temperature regime on the planet in many regions, part or the entire crop of cultivated plants will die, the crops will turn into huge fields of rotten plants that simply did not have time to ripen. It is for this reason that there may be a large shortage of food throughout the world.
Also, according to most scientists, states will be destroyed on almost the entire continent of North America - the United States and Canada will suffer the most.
True, there are more optimistic options for the development of the scenario after the explosion of the supervolcano. Only a few hundred kilometers around Yellowstone will be significantly affected by them.
Some time ago, information appeared that the Yellowstone volcano, which is located on the territory of the United States of America, began to show extraordinary activity.
Experts attribute this to the fact that recently there was an earthquake in Alaska. Residents of the country are worried about the actions of the supervolcano. However, experts from the United States are ready to prevent the impending disaster.
So, scientists intend to act in two ways. You need to cool the lava with cold water or make wells near the base of the caldera. Thus, the pressure in the volcano will be reduced. The main reason that holds back scientists is the lack of money. The planned project will cost about three and a half billion rubles.
For quite a long time, NASA experts have been trying to implement their plan to prevent a catastrophe that the largest volcano in the world can bring. AT recent times alarm bells began to appear that warn that something large-scale is approaching.
In some places, seismic activity is increasing, which indicates that the volcano is starting to wake up. In addition, there is an increase in temperature at the bottom of the lakes in the reserve. Animals began to move from their permanent territory.
If the volcano nevertheless explodes, there will be no comforting forecasts for the inhabitants of the United States of America. Lava can burn everything that gets in its way, and its divergence radius will be quite large.
After that, "volcanic winter" will come. Ashes will cover a large area, which will lead to the fact that nothing living can live. Since the sun will be covered with ash, breathing in such conditions will be unrealistic.
Currently, scientists are worried that bison have completely disappeared from the reserve, the site reports. Even though they were behind a fence, park guards still can't find them.
In addition, it became known that the national park has been closed since the twenty-second of January. After an earthquake occurred in Alaska, special sensors showed that the magma in the volcano began to move more actively. Many Americans are worried about the current situation.
Scientists noted that the situation is quite tense. On January 23, an earthquake was recorded near the state of Montana. The source was located at a depth of five kilometers. Now experts are asking people not to panic, because there is no exact information about the eruption.
However, some scientists believe that the explosion of the volcano may be a harbinger of the end of the world, although this fact remains controversial among scientists from around the world.
In September last year, one hundred and fifteen earthquakes were recorded in the national park. However, the first earthquake took place in the early summer of that year.
Specialists from the Geological Survey of the United States of America said that in October last year, the volcano showed practically no activity. According to experts, during all this time there have been more than two and a half thousand earthquakes.
The tremors that occur due to the volcano could indicate that a huge fireball filled with magma will soon wake up. Its depth is at least eight thousand kilometers, and the temperature of the melt is more than eight hundred degrees.
Currently, the Yellowstone volcano is the most dangerous for our planet. Experts believe that if he wakes up, all life within a radius of one hundred kilometers will be destroyed.
It's hard to predict the behavior of a volcano, but the Geological Survey watch what happens and note any changes in the volcano's behavior.
Some say that the dust and gas from the volcano is enough to block out the sun and start a "volcanic winter".
Currently, strange things are happening in the park, rivers are boiling, and the earth is rising. The animals that live in the park are worried. They feel that danger is coming, so they try to run away.
Experts believe that the awakening of the supervolcano was strongly influenced by the seismic activity of the Long Valley volcano, which is located in California. In the early autumn of last year, its activity was noticed here, after which there were more earthquakes.
Yellowstone Volcano, Supervolcano or Yellowstone Caldera are all names for a volcano located in Yellowstone National Park, in northwestern Wyoming, USA.
Yellowstone Volcano is not located at the junction of tectonic plates, as is usually the case, but in the center of the North American plate. This is a mysterious and as yet unexplored "hot spot" located in the heart of America.
Yellowstone Volcano (Yellowstone) is gigantic and has no cone. Its upper part seems to have sunk into a giant cavity in the bowels of the Earth. The depression formed after the failure is called the caldera (Spanish: Caldera - boiler). This is a huge area of thinned earth's crust, under which hot magma pulsates. The size of the Yellowstone caldera is 55 by 75 kilometers.
Yellowstone supervolcano, USA.
According to scientists, over the past 17 million years, the Yellowstone volcano has shown its strength more than 100 times. The last two eruptions were about 2 million and 640 thousand years ago.
The Geological Society of America predicted a new awakening of the American supervolcano not earlier than in 20 thousand years. But, already at the end of the last century, on the basis of computer calculations, the date of the approaching catastrophe is postponed to 2075. However, in 2003, a group of scientists came to new conclusions: the eruption of a supervolcano could begin as early as between 2012 and 2016.
The ancient and, by all accounts, not dangerous Yellowstone volcano, on which the paradise valley of the same name is conveniently located, suddenly began to show signs of activity.
The first signs of activity were the appearance of new geysers. Further, seismologists revealed a significant rise in land in the national park. For twenty years, the rise of the soil has amounted to no more than 10 cm, and over the past four years - 178 cm.
The largest volcano in the world - Yellowstone Caldera, located in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States, according to many volcanologists, can erupt at any moment.
This supervolcano has not shown its power for more than 600 thousand years, and its eruption, according to American scientists, can wipe out more than half of the US territory.
Today, hidden from view, the life of the volcano is the source of numerous hot springs and geysers in the Yellowstone National Park. But, if the eruption of the Yellowstone volcano nevertheless begins, the consequences will be catastrophic for the whole world. In addition to the immediate loss of an eruption, such as a wide area of volcanic ash fallout, a supervolcano eruption will release a large amount of ash into the stratosphere, and a real "volcanic winter" can come to our entire Earth.
But there is another group of volcanologists who argue that the very fact of the growth of the caldera is not an unambiguous signal of an imminent eruption. The growth of the caldera is akin to blowing bubbles. Its increase can be caused both by magma growing and pressing on the caldera, and by the gases formed in the process. The hydrothermal fluids heated by the magma also put a lot of pressure on the caldera. According to this group of scientists, whatever the reason for the growth of the caldera, this is not a sufficient signal for an imminent eruption of a supervolcano. According to them, “these restless calderas are constantly growing and falling. But this in itself does not mean that we should expect an imminent eruption.
For more information about the supervolcano, you can watch the video from the BBC:
BBC. Supervolcano. The Truth About Yellowstone
Movie information:
Release year: 2005
Country: UK
Genre: Documentary
Director: Tony Mitchell
Cast: Michael Riley, Gary Lewis, Shanon Johnston, Adrian Holmes, Jennifer Copping, Rebecca Jenkins, Tom McBeath, Robert Wisden
This may sound a little inappropriate in this case, but enjoy watching:
Which of them is right - time will tell. In the meantime, we live and enjoy - every minute we live, every day we live 😉
Volcanoes have attracted people since ancient times. They considered them gods, worshiped them and made sacrifices, including human ones. And such an attitude is quite understandable, since even now the incredible power of these natural objects simply amazes the imagination of even trained researchers.
But among them there are those that stand out even against such a noticeable background. This is, for example, the Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming, USA. The power that lies dormant in this supervolcano is such that it may well contribute to the complete destruction of our civilization in the event of its awakening. And this is not an exaggeration. Thus, the Pinatubo volcano, which is several times weaker than its American "colleague", during the eruption in 1991, contributed to the fact that the average temperature on the planet dropped by 0.5 degrees, and this continued for several years in a row.
What characterizes this natural object?
Scientists have long given this object the status of a supervolcano. Known throughout the world due to its megalithic size. During his last large-scale awakening, the entire upper part of the volcano simply collapsed down, forming an impressive failure.
It is located right in the middle of the North American plate, and not on the border, like its "colleagues" in the world, which are concentrated along the edges of the plates (the same "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific Ocean). Since the 1980s, the Geological Survey of America has reported that the number of tremors, the strength of which so far does not exceed three on the Richter scale, has steadily increased every year.
What does the state think?
All this is far from fantasy. The seriousness of the statements of scientists is confirmed by the fact that in 2007 an emergency meeting was created, which was attended by the President of the United States and the heads of the CIA, NSA, FBI.
History of study
When do you think the caldera itself was discovered? At the beginning of the development of America by the colonists? Yes, no matter how! They found it only in 1960, exploring aerospace photographs ...
Of course, the current Yellowstone Park was explored long before the advent of satellites and aircraft. The first naturalist who described these places was John Colter. He was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In 1807 he described what is now Wyoming. The state amazed him with incredible geysers and many hot springs, but upon his return, the "progressive public" did not believe him, mockingly calling the scientist's work "Coulter's hell."
In 1850, hunter and naturalist Jim Bridger also visited Wyoming. The state met him in the same way as his predecessor: clouds of steam and fountains of boiling water that burst right out of the ground. However, no one believed his stories.
Finally, after the Civil War, the new US Government did fund full-scale exploration of the region. In 1871, the area was explored by a scientific expedition led by Ferdinand Heiden. Just a year later, a huge colorful report was prepared with many illustrations and observations. Only then did everyone finally believe that Colter and Bridger were not lying at all. At the same time, Yellowstone Park was created.
Development and study
Nathaniel Langford was appointed as the first head of the facility. The situation around the park at first was not too optimistic: the leader and a handful of enthusiasts were not even paid a salary, not to mention any scientific research on this territory. Everything changed after a few years. When the Northern Pacific Railway was put into operation, a stream of tourists and people who were sincerely interested in this natural phenomenon poured into the valley.
The merit of the leadership of the park and the government of the country is that, having contributed to the influx of curious people, they still did not turn this unique area into a cluttered tourist attraction, and also constantly invited eminent scientists from all over the world to these parts.
Pundits were especially attracted by small volcanic cones, which continue to form in this area from time to time to this day. Of course, the most famous national park was brought not by the Yellowstone supervolcano (then they didn’t even know such words), but by huge, incredibly beautiful geysers. However, the beauty of nature and the richness of the animal world also did not leave people indifferent.
What is a supervolcano in the modern sense?
If we talk about a typical volcano, then most often it is a rather ordinary mountain in the shape of a truncated cone, at its top there is a vent through which hot gases pass and molten magma flows out. Actually, a young volcano is just a crack in the ground. When molten lava flows out of it and solidifies, it quickly forms a characteristic cone.
That's just the supervolcanoes are such that they don't even look like their "little brothers". These are a kind of "abscesses" on the surface of the earth, under the thin "skin" of which molten magma seethes. On the territory of such a formation, several ordinary volcanoes can often form, through the vents of which from time to time the accumulated products are ejected. However, most often there is not even a visible hole there: there is a volcanic caldera, which many people take for an ordinary sinkhole in the ground.
How many of them exist?
To date, at least 20-30 such formations are known. Their relatively small eruptions, which most often occur by "using" conventional volcanic offshoots, can be compared to the release of steam from a pressure cooker valve. Problems begin at the very moment when the steam pressure is too high and the “boiler” itself takes off into the air. It should be noted that the volcano in the United States (like Etna, by the way) belongs to the “explosive” category because of the extremely thick magma.
That is why they are so dangerous. The power of such natural formations is such that they may well have enough energy to pulverize an entire continent. Pessimists believe that if a volcano in the United States does explode, 97-99% of humanity may die. In principle, even the most optimistic forecasts do not differ too much from such a gloomy scenario.
He is waking up?
Increased activity has been recorded over the past decade. Many residents of America do not even realize that from one to three underground rumors are recorded annually. So far, many of them are fixed only with special equipment. Of course, it is too early to talk about the explosion, but the number and strength of such tremors are gradually growing. The facts are disappointing - the underground reservoir is probably filled with lava.
In general, for the first time, scientists paid attention to the national park in 2012, when dozens of new geysers began to appear on its territory. Just two hours after the scientists' visit, the government banned access to most of the national park for tourists. But seismologists, geologists, biologists and other researchers have become dozens of times more.
There are other dangerous volcanoes in the USA. In Oregon, there is also the caldera of the giant Crater Lake, which was also formed as a result of volcanic activity, and it can be no less dangerous than its “colleague” from Wyoming. However, literally fifteen or twenty years ago, scientists believed that supervolcanoes needed centuries to wake up, and therefore it was always possible to predict a catastrophe ahead of time. Unfortunately, they were clearly wrong.
Research by Margaret Mangan
Margaret Mangan, one of the prominent scientists of the Geological Survey of America, has long been closely monitoring the manifestations of volcanic activity around the world. Not so long ago, she said that seismologists have completely revised their views on the timing of the awakening of most of the planet.
And this is very bad news. Our knowledge has expanded considerably in recent years, but there is no relief from this. Thus, a large volcano in the USA constantly demonstrates increasing activity: there were moments when the earth near the caldera heated up to 550 degrees Celsius, a lava dome began to form in the form of a hemisphere of rock protruding upward, and the lake gradually began to boil.
Just two years ago, some seismologists vied with each other to assure everyone that volcanic activity did not threaten humanity over the next couple of centuries. Really? Already after the grandiose tsunami, which literally washed away Fukushima, they stopped issuing their forecasts. Now they prefer to get rid of annoying journalists with meaningless terms of a general meaning. So what are they afraid of? The onset of a new Ice Age as a result of a grandiose eruption?
The first worrying predictions
In fairness, it is worth noting that scientists knew about the gradual reduction in the periods between cataclysms before. However, given the astronomical time frame, humanity cared little. Initially, Yellowstone in the United States was expected in about 20,000 years. But after working through the accumulated information, it turned out that this would happen in 2074. And this is a very optimistic forecast, since volcanoes are extremely unpredictable and very dangerous.
A researcher from the University of Utah, in 2008, said that “... as long as magma is located at a depth of 10 kilometers from the vent (with its constant rise of 8 centimeters per year), there is no reason to panic ... But if it rises at least to three kilometers , we all will not do well. That's why Yellowstone is dangerous. The United States (more precisely, the scientific community of the country) is well aware of this.
Meanwhile, back in 2006, Ilya Bindeman and John Valei published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science, and in the publication they did not indulge the public with comforting forecasts. The data for the last three years, they say, indicate a sharp acceleration in the rise of lava, constantly opening new crevices through which hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide come to the surface.
This is a sure sign that some major trouble is about to happen. Today, even skeptics agree that this danger is quite real.
New Signals
But why did this topic become the “trend” of last year? After all, people already had enough hysteria with the year 2012? And all because in March there was a sharply increased seismic activity. Increasingly, even geysers, which were considered long asleep, began to wake up. Animals and birds began to migrate en masse from the territory of the national park. But all these are real harbingers of something very bad.
Following the bison, the deer also fled, quickly leaving the Yellowstone Plateau. In just a year, a third of the livestock migrated, which has never happened even in the memory of Indian natives. All these movements of animals look especially strange in the light of the fact that no one hunts in the park. However, people have known since ancient times that animals perfectly feel the signals that portend major natural disasters.
The available data further increase the alarm of the scientific world community. In March last year, seismographs recorded tremors up to magnitude four, and this is no longer a joke. At the end of March, the area shook significantly with a force of 4.8 points. Since 1980, this is the most powerful manifestation of seismic activity. Moreover, unlike the events of thirty years ago, these tremors are strictly localized.
Why is the volcano so dangerous?
For decades, during which at least some study of this area was carried out, scientists have long assumed that the Yellowstone caldera is no longer dangerous: the volcano, supposedly, has long since died out. According to new data from geodetic and geophysical exploration, there is approximately twice as much magma in the reservoir under the caldera as indicated in the most pessimistic reports.
Today it is known for certain that this reservoir extends as much as 80 kilometers in length and 20 in width. Robert Smith, a geophysicist from the city of Salt Lake City, learned this by collecting and analyzing a huge amount of seismological data. At the end of October 2013, he made a report on this in the city of Denver, at the annual scientific conference. His message was immediately replicated, and practically all the leading seismological laboratories in the world became interested in the results of the research.
Opportunity Assessment
To summarize his findings, the scientist had to collect statistics on more than 4,500 thousand earthquakes of varying degrees of intensity. This is how he determined the boundaries of the Yellowstone caldera. The data showed that the size of the "hot" area in past years was underestimated by more than half. Today it is believed that the volume of magma is within four thousand cubic meters of hot rock.
It is assumed that "only" 6-8% of this amount falls on molten magma, but this is very, very much. So Yellowstone Park is a real time bomb on which the whole world will someday explode (and this will happen anyway, alas).
First Appearance
In general, the first time the volcano showed itself brightly about 2.1 million years ago. A quarter of all of North America at that time was covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash. In principle, nothing more ambitious has happened since then. Scientists believe that all supervolcanoes manifest themselves once every 600 thousand years. Considering that the last time the Yellowstone supervolcano exploded more than 640 thousand years ago, there is every reason to prepare for trouble.
And now things can be much worse, because in just the last three hundred years the population density of the planet has increased many times over. An indicator of what happened then is the caldera of the volcano. This is a cyclopean crater, which arose as a result of an earthquake of unimaginable power that occurred 642 thousand years ago. How much ash and gas was then thrown out is unknown, but it was this event that greatly influenced the climate of our planet for the next millennia.
For comparison: one of the relatively recent (by geological standards) eruptions of Etna, which occurred six thousand years ago, and which was hundreds of times weaker than that ejection from the caldera, caused a grandiose tsunami. Archaeologists find traces of it all over the Mediterranean. It is assumed that it was it that served as the basis for the legends about the Biblical flood. Apparently, our ancestors really experienced many tragic events then: hundreds of villages were simply washed away in a few moments. The inhabitants of the Atlit-Yam settlement were more fortunate, but even their descendants continue to talk about the grandiose waves that crushed everything in their path.
If Yellowstone behaves badly, then the eruption will be 2.5 thousand (!) Times more powerful, and 15 times more ash will be released into the atmosphere than got there after the last awakening of Krakatoa, when about 40 thousand people died.
Eruption is not the point
Smith himself repeatedly emphasized that the eruption was the tenth thing. He and his fellow seismologists say that the main danger lies in subsequent earthquakes, which will be clearly more powerful than eight on the Richter scale. On the territory of the national park and now almost every year there are small tremors. There are also harbingers of the future: in 1959 there was an earthquake with a power of 7.3 points at once. Only 28 people died, as the rest were evacuated in a timely manner.
All in all, the Yellowstone Caldera is sure to bring more trouble. Most likely, lava flows will immediately cover an area of at least one hundred square kilometers, and then gas flows will suffocate all life in North America. Perhaps a grandiose ash cloud will reach the shores of Europe within a couple of days at most.
This is what Yellowstone Park hides. When the scale will happen, no one knows. It remains to be hoped that this will not happen very soon.
Approximate model of the disaster
If the volcano explodes, the effect can be compared with the detonation of a dozen powerful intercontinental missiles. The earth's crust over hundreds of kilometers will rise tens of meters high and warm up to about a hundred degrees Celsius. Pieces of rock in the form will bombard the surface of North America for several days in a row. The content of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous compounds will increase thousands of times in the atmosphere. What are the other effects of the Yellowstone volcano eruption?
Today it is believed that an explosion will instantly burn out an area of about 1000 km 2. The entire northwest of the United States and much of Canada will become a scorching desert. At least 10 thousand square kilometers will immediately be covered with a layer of red-hot rock, which will forever change this world!
For a long time, mankind believed that today civilization is threatened only by mutual destruction during an atomic war. But today there is every reason to believe that we have forgotten about the power of nature in vain. It was she who arranged several Ice Ages on the planet, during which many thousands of species of plants, animals and birds died out. One cannot be so self-confident and consider that a person is the king of this world. Our species may also be wiped off the face of this planet, as has happened many times over the past millennia.
What other dangerous volcanoes are there?
Are there other active volcanoes on the planet? You can see a list of those below:
Llullaillaco in the Andes.
Popocatepetl in Mexico (last eruption in 2003).
Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Kamchatka. Erupted in 2004.
Mauna Loa. In 1868, Hawaii was literally washed away by a giant tsunami that arose due to its activity.
Fujiyama. The famous symbol of Japan. The last time he “pleased” the Land of the Rising Sun in 1923, when more than 700 thousand houses were destroyed almost instantly, and the number of missing people (not counting the found victims) exceeded 150 thousand people.
Shiveluch, Kamchatka. It erupted simultaneously with Sopka.
Etna, which we have already spoken about. It is considered “asleep”, but the calmness of the volcano is a relative thing.
Asso, Japan. Over the entire known history - more than 70 eruptions.
Famous Vesuvius. Like Etna, it was considered "dead", but suddenly resurrected in 1944.
Perhaps this should end. As you can see, the danger of an eruption accompanied mankind throughout the entire path of its development.
Many have heard about the constant danger that it carries. Here you can find out what the supervolcano itself is, where the Yellowstone volcano is located and what consequences its eruption may have. Also here you will learn about yellowstone volcano breaking news today.
Yellowstone Volcano - where is it located, photo, description
Actually yellowstone volcano- this is not a cone familiar to us, in the form of which a volcano usually appears, but a huge funnel in the earth, called a caldera. Therefore, they learned about its existence only with the launch of satellites.
If you still don't know where yellowstone volcano, then I’ll clarify - in the western United States. The caldera is located in Wyoming. Its dimensions are amazing - 55 by 72 kilometers, and this is a third of the entire territory of the park. The area of the caldera is 4000 sq. km. - 4 times more than New York and 1.5 times more than Moscow.
Yellowstone Park itself is considered one of the most seismically active points on the planet - earthquakes constantly occur here. In the meantime, we are watching a video about the national park with an overview of fauna and attractions.
Yellowstone volcano (America) - previous eruptions
In total, science knows 3 powerful volcanic eruptions that occurred approximately every 600 thousand years: 2.1 million years ago, 1.27 million, and 640 thousand years ago. As a result of them, the Island Park and Henrys Fork calderas were formed.
The most powerful was the first eruption, which was 15 times the power of the Tambora volcano eruption in 1815 and more powerful than the eruption.
Scientists expect that in the coming years, the volcano will wake up and cause serious climate change and the destruction of most people and species of plants and animals.
Recently, many earthquakes have been occurring in his area, which can be the final push.
Therefore, I propose to watch a short video that tells about what awaits the planet during the eruption and what the disappointing consequences will be. In fact, America will be destroyed, and most people will die of starvation and epidemics.
In the meantime, I propose to learn about yellowstone volcano latest news.
Volcano Yellowstone in America today latest news: September 2018
At the end of August 2016, an increase in the number of earthquakes was noted near the Long Valley Caldera in California. All this can become an impetus for a supervolcano.
Also during this period, there was a massive fish kill in the Yellowstone River, which originates near the caldera. On August 19, 4,000 dead fish (trout and whitefish) were found. The authorities therefore closed a fairly large area to the public.
According to one version, on October 12, 2016, a lot of UFOs filmed on a webcam were seen over Yellowstone.
Since then, the situation around the volcano has not calmed down and keeps everyone on their toes (as of March 2018).
By the way, in the park itself works Webcam "Yellowstone", which online shows the situation with the volcano:
In view of the events that have taken place over the past 2 years, scientists think that the explosion could take place much earlier. There are enough reasons for this:
1 The water temperature in rivers and lakes has risen (in some places to the boiling mark), geysers have become more active.
2 The soil in the caldera area rose by 178 cm in mid-2014, later data not published.
3 In the park, cases of the appearance of helium-4 gas, which is formed before the eruption, began to be noted.
4 The number of earthquakes that can activate yellowstone supervolcano.
5 The general seismic activity has also increased in recent years.
6 In May 2015, an aggressive movement of magma was noted.
7 In April 2014, many animals began to run away from the park, such as bison, deer and bison.
It is possible that there is some grain of truth here, but humanity is unlikely to be able to prevent a catastrophe.
