LONDON: 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 that eruption may someday take place — although they say the chances are extremely slim, reports the Daily Mail.
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 (magma) volcanic fields in the world. Experts say there is a one in 700,000 annual chance of avolcanic eruption at the site.
A mixture of magma, rocks, vapour, carbon dioxide and other gases could eventually push out from the ground, creating a dome shape with cracks. The dissolved gases would then explode, releasing the magma across the park.
The eruption, the say, could kill as many as 90,000 people almost instantly and release a 10-foot layer of molten ash 1,609 km from the park.
The haze of gas that could drape the country wouldn’t just dim the sunlight — it also would cool temperatures, damaging our food supply, destroying crops and causing a worldwide food shortage.
