I read that scientists said that the explosion will definitely happen before 2016. Since the end of March 2014, an increase in seismic activity has been noted there. In addition, local geysers have become noticeably more active. Large ungulates began to scatter from the territory of the national park. According to scientists, the force of the explosion of the Yellowstone volcano will be 2500 times stronger than the eruption of Etna 8 thousand years ago, when the resulting tsunami distorted the coasts of three continents in a few hours. When Yellowstone explodes, its consequences will be possible compare only with the explosion of a dozen at once atomic bombs. The earth's crust will rise several meters, and the soil will warm up to a temperature of +60 degrees. Pieces of earth rock will be thrown onto greater height, and then they will cover a huge part of the earth. Then the atmosphere itself will change - the content of helium and hydrogen sulfide will increase. Within a few hours after the explosion of Yellowstone, an area of about 1000 km2 will completely burn out. It's about about the northwestern United States and a small part of Canada. More than 10 thousand sq. km. will be buried under streams of hot mud, or as it is also called a pyroclastic wave, it will burn everything in its path with a powerful avalanche. It is this that is most deadly during an eruption.
AS IT WILL BE
A few days before the explosion, the earth’s crust above the supervolcano will rise by several tens, or even hundreds of meters. The soil will heat up to 60-70°C. The concentration of hydrogen sulfide and helium in the atmosphere will increase sharply.
The first to erupt is a cloud of volcanic ash, which will rise into the atmosphere to a height of 40-50 km. Then lava will begin to erupt, pieces of which will be thrown to great heights. As they fall, they will cover a gigantic area. The explosion will be accompanied by a powerful earthquake and lava flows reaching speeds of several hundred kilometers per hour.
In the first hours of a new eruption in Yellowstone, an area within a radius of 1000 kilometers around the epicenter will be destroyed. Here, residents of almost the entire American northwest (Seattle) and parts of Canada (Calgary, Vancouver) are in immediate danger.
On an area of 10 thousand square meters. kilometers, streams of hot mud, the so-called, will rage. “pyroclastic wave” This most deadly product of an eruption will occur when the pressure of lava shooting high into the atmosphere weakens and part of the column collapses on the surrounding area in a huge avalanche, burning everything in its path. It will be impossible to survive in pyroclastic flows. At temperatures above 400°C, human bodies will simply cook, the flesh will separate from the bones.
The hot liquid will kill about 200 thousand people in the first minutes after the eruption begins. In addition, a series of earthquakes and tsunamis triggered by the explosion will cause huge losses. They will already claim tens of millions of lives across the globe. This is provided that the North American continent does not go under water at all, like Atlantis. Then the ash cloud from the volcano will begin to spread wider. Within 24 hours, the entire US territory up to Mississippi will be in the disaster zone. At the same time, volcanic ash represents no less dangerous phenomenon. Ash particles are so small that neither gauze bandages nor respirators protect against them. Once in the lungs, the ash mixes with mucus, hardens and turns into cement...
As a result of falling ash, territories located thousands of kilometers from the volcano may be in mortal danger. When the layer of volcanic ash reaches a thickness of 15 cm, the load on the roofs will become too great and buildings will begin to collapse. It is estimated that between 1 and 50 people in each home will die immediately or be seriously injured. This will be the main cause of death in the areas around Yellowstone bypassed by the pyroclastic wave, where the ash layer will be no less than 60 cm.
The Yellowstone giant will trigger the eruption of several hundred ordinary volcanoes around the world. Other deaths will follow from poisoning. The eruption will continue for several days, but people and animals will continue to die due to suffocation and hydrogen sulfide poisoning. During this time, the air in the western United States will be poisoned so that a person will be able to breathe in it for no more than 5-7 minutes.
Thousands of cubic kilometers of ash ejected into the atmosphere will cross the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by air in 2-3 weeks, and a month later will cover the Sun across the entire Earth.
NUCLEAR WINTER
Soviet scientists once predicted that the most terrible consequence of a global nuclear conflict would be the so-called. "nuclear winter". The same thing will happen as a result of the explosion of a supervolcano.
First, incessant acid rain will destroy all crops and crops, kill livestock, dooming the survivors to starvation. Two weeks after the sun disappears into dust clouds, the air temperature will be earth's surface will fall in different areas of the globe from -15° to -50°C and below. The average temperature on the Earth's surface will be about -25°C.
The “billionaire” countries – India and China – will suffer the most from famine. Here, in the coming months after the explosion, up to 1.5 billion people will die. In total, in the first months of the cataclysm, every third inhabitant of the Earth will die.
Winter will last from 1.5 to 4 years. This is enough to forever change the natural balance on the planet. Due to long frosts and lack of light, vegetation will die. Since plants are involved in the production of oxygen, it will become difficult for the planet to breathe. Animal world The earth will die painfully from cold, hunger and epidemics. Humanity will have to move from the surface of the earth for at least 3-4 years...
For the population North America chances of survival are minimal. In general, the inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere will be almost completely destroyed. The greatest chances for central part Eurasia. Most people, according to scientists, will survive in Siberia and the Eastern European part of Russia, located on earthquake-resistant platforms, remote from the epicenter of the explosion and protected from the tsunami.
Yellowstone is a supervolcano in the United States. For several years now, the world has been disturbed by the news that it is about to wake up, a catastrophe will happen, America will come to an end, and the world will plunge into nuclear winter. While the supervolcano is sleeping.
Worst case scenario
The most pessimistic scenario for the awakening of a supervolcano is this: it will be an explosion comparable to the explosion of 1000 atomic bombs. The ground part of the supervolcano will collapse into a crater with a diameter of fifty kilometers. will happen on Earth ecological catastrophy. For the United States, the eruption of Yellowstone would mean the end of existence.
The saddest thing is that not only alarmists, but also experts talk about such consequences. Jacob Löwenstern from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (USA) said that during all previous eruptions of the supervolcano (there were three), more than 1 thousand km³ of magma fell out. This is enough to cover most of North America with a layer of ash up to 30 cm (at the epicenter of the disaster). Löwenstern also noted that the air temperature throughout the Earth will drop by 21 degrees, visibility for several years will become no more than half a meter. An era similar to nuclear winter will come.
Hurricane Katrina showed that the US civil defense system is not prepared for such large-scale disasters - and no country’s defense system can prepare for them.
Domestic scientists never tire of predicting the eruption of a supervolcano. Nikolai Koronovsky, head of the Department of Dynamic Geology, Faculty of Geology, Moscow State University, in an interview with Vesti, told what would happen after the eruption:
“Winds are predominantly westerly, so everything will go to the eastern United States. Will cover them. Solar radiation will decrease, which means the temperature will have to drop. Famous case The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in the Sunda Strait in 1873 lowered the temperature by about 2 degrees in the equatorial region for a year and a half until the ash dissipated.”
Supervolcano
Such forecasts are not surprising if we remember that we are facing a supervolcano. What is it? Supervolcanoes can be called the most dangerous zones on the globe.
Yellowstone is a huge caldera hidden underground. Its area is 4000 km 2. For comparison: the area of Moscow is 2500 km 2, that is, Yellowstone is one and a half times larger than the capital of Russia, twice larger than Tokyo, and four times larger than New York.
Scientists did not know about the existence of supervolcanoes until the first geosatellites were launched. Yellowstone is so huge that it doesn't even form a cone, so it doesn't look like a typical volcano.
The threat is near
Alarming predictions of an imminent eruption come from the scientific community. Geology professor Bill McGuire, who constantly monitors the park, assesses the situation this way: “America is literally living on a powder keg. Satellite images and movements of the earth's crust indicate that active processes are taking place deep in the depths. There are other signs that he may wake up. The surface of Yellowstone Park emits 30 to 40 times more thermal energy than the rest of the continent."
The peak of panic came last spring. Since the beginning of 2014, 60 tremors have been recorded in the area of the volcano. The strongest - on the morning of March 30 - its magnitude was 4.8 - a record since 1980.
The Internet community did not stand aside either. A video of bison rushing away from the park has received millions of views on YouTube. However, the reserve workers immediately stated that this was seasonal migration and there was nothing to worry about.
Casey says
The prediction of the legendary Edgar Cayce, one of the most prominent predictors of the 20th century, who predicted both world wars in his time, does not bring peace of mind either. Qumran scrolls and the rise of China.
He also predicted a catastrophe that could destroy the United States during the reign of America's 44th president. Barack Obama is 44th.
Is it all that serious?
What is happening now in the Yellowstone National Park? Apparently, everything is relatively calm. CBS News, citing the National Park Service and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, reported in March 2014 that the probability of a super eruption at that time was 0.00014%. That is, it “almost certainly will not happen.”
As it was before
Yellowstone's last major eruption occurred approximately 640 thousand years ago. Its force was 2,500 times greater than that of the largest eruptions of Mount Etna, and as a result, the ocean coastline changed and the Mediterranean Sea froze.
It’s difficult to visualize, but for the Earth it was a disaster.
The build-up of information noise around Yellowstone is becoming seasonal and started quite deliberately. So, in the 80s in the USSR and Eastern Europe It was common to say that the USA was about to be destroyed by the AIDS epidemic. Meanwhile, there is still controversy in medicine about whether HIV is the infectious agent of AIDS.
In the case of Yellowstone, the situation is similar. As we know, the objective probability of a catastrophe is calculated in tiny percentages, but every time the media starts their “Yellowstone Campaign,” sales in stores increase, and newspapers with fresh news about the supervolcano are taken off the shelves in entire circulations.
The most pessimistic scenario for the awakening of a supervolcano is this: it will be an explosion comparable to the explosion of 1000 atomic bombs. The ground part of the supervolcano will collapse into a crater with a diameter of fifty kilometers. An environmental disaster will occur on Earth. For the United States, the eruption of Yellowstone would mean the end of existence.
The saddest thing is that not only alarmists, but also experts talk about such consequences. Jacob Löwenstern from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (USA) said that during all previous eruptions of the supervolcano (there were three), more than 1 thousand km³ of magma fell out. This is enough to cover most of North America with a layer of ash up to 30 cm (at the epicenter of the disaster). Löwenstern also noted that the air temperature throughout the Earth will drop by 21 degrees, visibility for several years will become no more than half a meter. An era similar to nuclear winter will come.
Hurricane Katrina showed that the US civil defense system is not prepared for such large-scale disasters - and no country’s defense system can prepare for them.
Domestic scientists never tire of predicting the eruption of a supervolcano. Nikolai Koronovsky, head of the Department of Dynamic Geology, Faculty of Geology, Moscow State University, in an interview with Vesti, told what would happen after the eruption:
“Winds are predominantly westerly, so everything will go to the eastern United States. Will cover them. Solar radiation will decrease, which means the temperature will have to drop. The famous eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in the Sunda Strait in 1873 lowered the temperature by about 2 degrees in the equatorial region for a year and a half until the ash dissipated.”
Volcanoes have attracted people since ancient times. They considered them gods, worshiped them and made sacrifices, including human ones. And this 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 if it awakens. And this is not an exaggeration. Thus, the Pinatubo volcano, which is several times weaker than its American “colleague,” when erupting in 1991, contributed to 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 assigned this object the status of a supervolcano. Known all over the world due to its megalithic size. During his last large-scale awakening, all top part The volcano simply collapsed, forming an impressively sized 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 Pacific Ocean). Since the 80s of the last century, the Geological Survey of America reports that the number of tremors, the strength of which so far does not exceed three points on the Richter scale, has been steadily increasing every year.
What does the state think?
All this is far from fantasy. The seriousness of the scientists' statements 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, and FBI.
History of the study
When do you think the caldera itself was discovered? At the beginning of the colonists' exploration of America? No matter how it is! It was found only in 1960, while studying aerospace photographs...
Of course, the current Yellowstone Park was explored long before the advent of satellites and airplanes. The first naturalist to describe these places was John Coulter. 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 “Colter’s hell.”
In 1850, hunter and naturalist Jim Bridger also visited Wyoming. The state greeted him in the same way as his predecessor: with clouds of steam and fountains of boiling water that burst right out of the ground. However, no one believed his stories.
Finally, after Civil War the new US Government still funded full-scale research in that region. In 1871, the area was studied by a scientific expedition led by Ferdinand Hayden. 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 weren’t lying at all. At the same time, Yellowstone Park was created.
Development and learning
Nathaniel Langford was appointed as the first director of the facility. The situation around the park was not very optimistic at first: the manager and a handful of enthusiasts were not even paid a salary, not to mention any scientific research this territory. Everything changed after a few years. When did the Northern Pacific become operational? Railway, a stream of tourists and people who were sincerely interested in this natural phenomenon poured into the valley.
The merit of the park's management and the country's government 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 this area.
Pundits were especially attracted by the small volcanic cones that continue to form in this area from time to time to this day. Of course, the greatest fame for the national park was brought not by the Yellowstone supervolcano (they didn’t even know such words then), but by the 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 fairly 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 and solidifies, it quickly forms a characteristic cone.
But supervolcanoes are such that they are not even close to their “younger 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 accumulated products are released from time to time. However, most often there is not even a visible hole there: there is a volcanic caldera, which many people mistake for an ordinary hole in the ground.
How many of them are there?
To date, at least 20-30 such formations are known. Their relatively small eruptions, which most often occur by "using" ordinary volcanic offshoots, can be compared to the release of steam from the valve of a pressure cooker. Problems begin at the very moment when the steam pressure is too high and the “boiler” itself flies into the air. It should be noted that the volcano in the USA (like Etna, by the way) belongs specifically to the “explosive” category due to its extremely thick magma.
That's 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 could die. In principle, even the most optimistic forecasts do not differ too much from such a gloomy scenario.
He is waking up?
Increased activity is recorded throughout last decade. Many residents of America do not even realize that from one to three underground excavations are recorded annually. So far, many of them are recorded only with special equipment. Of course, it’s too early to talk about an 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 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 there are tens of times more seismologists, geologists, biologists and other researchers.
There are other dangerous volcanoes in the United States. In Oregon, there is also a caldera of the giant Crater Lake, which was also formed as a result of volcanic activity, and it may be no less dangerous than its “colleague” from Wyoming. However, literally fifteen to twenty years ago, scientists believed that supervolcanoes take centuries to awaken, and therefore it is always possible to predict a catastrophe in advance. 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 observing manifestations of volcanic activity around the world. Not so long ago, she said that seismological researchers had completely revised their views on the timing of the awakening of the planet.
But this is very bad news. Our knowledge for last years have expanded significantly, but there is no relief from this. Thus, a large volcano in the United States constantly demonstrates increasing activity: there were moments when the ground 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 during next pair centuries does not threaten humanity. Really? After the enormous tsunami that literally washed away Fukushima, they stopped issuing their forecasts. Now they prefer to get rid of annoying journalists without doing anything. meaningful terms general meaning. So what are they afraid of? The onset of a new Ice Age as a result of a huge eruption?
First worrying forecasts
To be fair, it is worth noting that scientists knew about the gradual reduction in the time between cataclysms before. However, given the astronomical timing, humanity cared little about this. Initially, Yellowstone in the United States was expected to occur approximately 20 thousand years later. But after studying the accumulated information, it turned out that this will 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 said in 2008 that “... as long as the magma is located at a depth of 10 kilometers from the vent (with a constant rise of 8 centimeters per year), there is no reason to panic... But if it rises to at least three kilometers , we will all be in trouble." That's why Yellowstone is dangerous. The United States (more precisely, the country's scientific community) is well aware of this.
Meanwhile, back in 2006, Ilya Bindeman and John Valey published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science, and in the publication they did not indulge the public with comforting forecasts. Data over the past three years, they say, indicate a sharp acceleration in the rise of the lava, with new fissures constantly opening through which hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide are released to the surface.
This sure sign that some big trouble is sure to happen. Today, even skeptics agree that this danger is quite real.
New signals
But why did this particular topic become the “trend” of last year? After all, people have already had enough hysteria with the year 2012? And all because in March there was a sharply increased seismic activity. Even geysers, which were considered to have fallen asleep for a long time, began to wake up more and more often. Animals and birds began to migrate en masse from the territory of the national park. But all of 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, something that had never happened even once in the memory of even the Indian aborigines. All these movements of animals look especially strange in light of the fact that no one hunts in the park. However, people have known since ancient times that animals perfectly sense signals foreshadowing major natural disasters.
The available data further increases the concern of the international scientific community. In March last year, seismographs recorded tremors with a magnitude of up to four points, and this is no longer a joke. At the end of March, the area was noticeably shaken with a force of 4.8. Since 1980, this has been 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?
During the decades during which any study of this area was carried out, scientists for a long time It was assumed that the Yellowstone caldera was no longer dangerous: the volcano had allegedly died out a long time ago. 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 sure that this reservoir extends as much as 80 kilometers in length and 20 in width. Robert Smith, a geophysicist from Salt Lake City, found this out after collecting and analyzing a huge amount of seismological data. At the end of October 2013, he made a report about this in the city of Denver, at the annual scientific conference. His message was immediately replicated, and almost all the leading seismological laboratories in the world became interested in the research results.
Opportunity Assessment
To summarize his findings, the scientist had to collect statistical data 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 had been underestimated by more than half in past years. 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 is molten magma, but this is still a very, very large amount. 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 volcano showed itself brightly for the first time about 2.1 million years ago. A quarter of all North America at that time was covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash. In principle, nothing on a larger scale has happened since then. Scientists believe that all supervolcanoes manifest themselves once every 600 thousand years. Considering that last time The Yellowstone supervolcano exploded more than 640 thousand years ago, there is every reason to prepare for trouble.
And now everything could 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 volcano's caldera. This is a cyclopean crater that arose as a result of an unimaginably powerful earthquake that occurred 642 thousand years ago. It is unknown how much ash and gas was released then, 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 eruption from the caldera, caused a huge tsunami. Archaeologists find traces of it throughout the Mediterranean. It is assumed that it was this 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. Residents of the Atlit-Yam settlement were luckier, but even their descendants continue to talk about the enormous 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 what got there after the last awakening of Krakatoa, when about 40 thousand people died.
Eruption is not the main thing
Smith himself has repeatedly emphasized that the eruption is the tenth thing. He and his fellow seismologists say the main danger lies in subsequent earthquakes that will be clearly more powerful than eight on the Richter scale. Minor tremors still occur almost every year on the territory of the national park. There are also harbingers of the future: in 1959 there was an earthquake with a power of 7.3 points. Only 28 people died, since the rest were evacuated in a timely manner.
All in all, the Yellowstone Caldera is sure to bring many more disasters. Most likely, lava flows will immediately cover an area of at least one hundred square kilometers, and then flows of gases will suffocate all life in North America. Perhaps a huge ash cloud will reach the shores of Europe within a couple of days at most.
This is what Yellowstone Park hides within itself. When the scale will happen, no one knows. We can only hope that this will not happen very soon.
Approximate disaster model
If a volcano explodes, the effect can be compared to the detonation of a dozen powerful intercontinental missiles. The earth's crust will rise tens of meters high over hundreds of kilometers and warm up to approximately a hundred degrees Celsius. Chunks of rock in the form will bombard the surface of North America for several days in a row. The content of carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous compounds in the atmosphere will increase thousands of times. What are the other consequences of the Yellowstone volcano eruption?
Today it is believed that an explosion will instantly burn out an area of about 1000 km2. The entire northwestern United States and large parts of Canada will become a scorching desert. At least 10 thousand square kilometers will immediately be covered with a layer of hot rock, which will change this world forever!
For a long time, humanity believed that today civilization faces only mutual destruction nuclear war. But today there is every reason to believe that we have in vain forgotten about the power of nature. It was she who organized several Ice Ages, during which many thousands of species of plants, animals and birds became extinct. You cannot be so self-confident and think that man is the king of this world. Our species can also be wiped out from the face of this planet, as has happened many times over the past millennia.
What other dangerous volcanoes are there?
Are there still active volcanoes on the planet? You can see a list of them below:
Llullaillaco in the Andes.
Popocatepetl in Mexico (last erupted in 2003).
Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Kamchatka. Erupted in 2004.
Mauna Loa. In 1868, Hawaii was literally washed away by a giant tsunami caused by its activity.
Fuji. Famous symbol of Japan. The last time “pleased” the Land of the Rising Sun was in 1923, when more than 700 thousand houses were almost instantly destroyed, and the number of missing people (not counting the found victims) exceeded 150 thousand people.
Shiveluch, Kamchatka. It erupted at the same time as Sopka.
Etna, which we have already talked about. It is considered “asleep”, but the tranquility of a volcano is a relative thing.
Asso, Japan. For the whole famous story- more than 70 eruptions.
Famous Vesuvius. Like Etna, it was considered "dead", but was suddenly resurrected in 1944.
Perhaps we should end here. As you can see, the danger of an eruption has accompanied humanity throughout its entire development.
For many centuries, humanity has been watching with interest and concern one of the most extraordinary and threatening creations of nature - volcanoes. There is a huge diversity of them all over the planet, among which there are both dormant or extinct and active specimens. For example, in the United States alone there are about 100 volcanoes of varying degrees of activity, including the largest of them, Yellowstone.
Where is
In the northwestern part of North America, in the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park is an international reserve that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was created in March 1872, considered the very first national park, covering an area of about 898.3 thousand hectares. It is here that the most dangerous volcano in America is located, having simply enormous dimensions (about 72 km by 55 km), while occupying almost a third of the entire area of the park.
Yellowstone Caldera is an active volcanic system that is one of 20 supervolcanoes around the world. The power of the eruption of each of this list can provoke dramatic climate changes on planet Earth.
Caldera - pit large sizes, which looks like a circus arena, is of volcanic origin, steep walls and a flat bottom. Formed after the collapse of the crater walls during a giant ejection.
The territory of the system is located above a hot spot - a place where hot liquid mantle rock moves towards the Earth's surface; this area is covered by a plateau. Scientists' observations show that the hot spot is moving to the eastern and northeastern part of the continent, and the entire North American plate is shifting towards the west and southwest.
How it works
In the 1960-1970s, when studying satellite images of the territory biosphere reserve Ruins of the Yellowstone crater were spotted. Upon further study, experts found that underneath there is a huge bubble of hot magma, and its depth is more than 8000 m. The temperature of the magma inside is 800 degrees Celsius, which allows heating thermal springs and release water vapor, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from under the earth's crust.
Here is also the largest valley of geysers in the world, one of the five largest around the globe.
The power source for the volcanic system is a huge vertical plume, which is a flow of molten solid mantle rock with a temperature of about 1600 degrees Celsius.
Melting of part of the plume into magma in upper layers closer to the earth's crust contributes to the emergence of mud pots and geysers. The plume section is a 660 km long column with branches on the sides, which has a funnel-shaped expansion at the top.
Eruptions
Experts, while studying the activity of the largest volcano in the United States, came to the consensus that there have already been 3 global eruptions, which are striking in their scale and number of victims.
The ash that covers the entire surface of the earth after the explosion prevents the passage of light from the Sun, resulting in a period called “volcanic winter.”
First
The eruption, which occurred about 2.1 million years ago, created the Island Park caldera and the Huckleberry Ridge tuff formations. It is believed that it was so powerful that a fourth of the American continent was covered in ash from the explosion, the height of the magma ejection reached upper layers stratosphere (50 km above ground level), and mountain ranges were torn apart.
Second
About 1.3 million years ago, Yellowstone ejected about 280 cubic kilometers of volcanic mixture, after which the large Henrys Fork caldera formed.
Third
It happened 640,000 years ago, experts believe that it was 2 times weaker than the first. The consequence of this disaster was the collapse of the crater top and the formation of a caldera. This huge depression has a circumference of almost 150 km. The Lava Creek tuff terrain was also formed.
The eruption of a supervolcano is considered the second most powerful and damaging global cataclysm, second only to the impact of an asteroid in terms of destruction.
Earthquakes
Every year earthquakes occur in the park, their number varies between 1000-2000 times, but they are so insignificant that visitors practically do not notice them.
Despite the danger and threat of release, thousands of tourists from all over the world come to this amazing place every year to admire the beauty and bright colors nature, as there are simply incredible landscapes around.
New disasters and forecasts of seismologists
During the research, scientists established the likelihood of new disasters in Yellowstone national park— 0.00014% per year. The calculations were based on two periods of time between three large-scale emissions. However, experts in geology and seismology unanimously argue that processes of this kind in modern world are not regular and cannot be controlled, predicted or managed. However, every year, various information appears on the Internet and periodicals that the supervolcano is waking up. A disaster that could occur in the near future could deal a powerful blow to North America, destroying life and changing the climate.
The most pessimistic forecast of experts suggests that during the subsequent eruption of Yellowstone, a release of magma in a volume equal to 1000 cubic km is possible. Such a powerful burning avalanche could destroy life at a distance of 1600 km from the center of the disaster, covering a significant part of the country (2/3) with a 3 m layer of volcanic ash.
In November 2009, director Roland Emmerich presented the world with the science-fiction film “2012,” which depicts the colossal destruction caused by the Yellowstone eruption.
Measures to prevent new disasters
Scientists believe that, even despite the calculated low probability of new catastrophic situations, Yellowstone still poses a very serious threat to the United States. In the country, at the state level, under the control of NASA, a number of measures have been developed aimed at preventing new crashes.
Scientists of this organization have established that the main lever that restrains possible emissions is water, which carries away excess energy from the magma in the form of erupting geysers. It is calculated that about 70% of the energy is spent in this way, and the remaining 30% goes to melting rocks, which will ultimately lead to a new eruption. According to experts’ calculations, this residual amount is equal to the power of several gigawatts, which can be obtained by operating 6 thermal power plants.
Experts propose to begin construction of a new geothermal power plant in Yellowstone to further extract excess energy. However, to implement such a project it is necessary to spend a colossal amount of $3.5 billion and apply horizontal drilling technology in such a way as not to affect the caldera shell. Today the project is being discussed and finalized, and perhaps in the near future experts will finally approve specifications project for its subsequent implementation.