Yellowstone supervolcano eruption would cause 90k deaths and nuclear winter
04:39PM Mon 10 Aug, 2015
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.
The eruption, the say, could kill as many as 90,000 people almost instantly and release a 10 ft (3-meter) layer of molten ash 1,000 miles (1,609km) from the park.
'The ash would block off all points of entry from the ground, and the spread of ash and gases into the atmosphere would stop most air travel, just as it did when a much smaller volcano erupted in Iceland in 2010,' the magazine writes.
'Sulphuric gases released from the volcano would spring into the atmosphere and mix with the planet's water vapour.
'The haze of gas that could drape the country wouldn't just dim the sunlight — it also would cool temperatures.'
Daily Mail
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