In case you are running short of something to worry about,
Yellowstone National Park has been rumbling a lot lately. There is a chance that a volcanic eruption could follow and that a super volcano could be in our future.
This, of course, would mean the end of North America as we know it. The last Yellowstone super volcano, which erupted more than a half million years ago, is believed to have sent debris flying into the Gulf of Mexico. Think Mount St. Helens, then multiply it 1,000 times. All of the flying ash could block the sun and
cause a widespread freeze. But other than that, no huge issues here.
Time reports:
Jake Lowenstern, Ph.D., YVO [Yellowstone Volcano Observatory's] chief scientist, who also is part of the USGS [United States Geological Survey] Volcano Hazards Team, told
Time that a supervolcano event does not appear to be imminent. "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." Last summer YVO installed new instrumentation in boreholes 500 to 600 ft. deep to better detect ground deformation. Says Lowenstern: "We have a lot more ability to look at all the data now." (
See an interactive graphic depicting how scientists monitor volcanoes.)
The USGS said last week:
Over 500 earthquakes, as large as M 3.9, have been recorded by an automated earthquake system since the inception of this unusual earthquake sequence that began Dec. 27, 2008. More than 300 of these events have been reviewed and evaluated by seismic analysts. Depths of the earthquakes range from ~ 1km to around 10 km. We note that the earthquakes extend northward from central Yellowstone Lake for ~10 km toward the Fishing Bridge area, with a migration of recent earthquakes toward the north. Some of the dozen M3+ earthquakes were felt in the Lake, Grant Village and Old Faithful areas.
See how volcanoes work and how
scientists forecast activity.
See a map of the latest Yellowstone activity.
Now, c'mon. That supervolcano, WHEN is it going to happen...
