Supervolcano under Yellowstone

Hello everybody,

  Under Yellowstone National Park in the United States of America lurks a supervolcano so big that it could destroy the world. The volcano reaches into the mantle of the earth, and at the deepest part of the volcano, the magma there boils with an immense temperature approximately 1930 degrees Celsius. According to experts, the smallest eruption from the supervolcano was 280 times more voluminous than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

  So far, the volcano under Yellowstone has only erupted three times in the history of the planet, the first 2.1 million years ago, which was the biggest, followed by the second eruption 1.3 million years ago, and the most recent one, which was 640 000 thousand years ago. (Well, not so recent after all) These eruptions are known as prehistoric eruptions. The combined matter from these three events could fill the Grand Canyon in Nevada. The biggest eruption caused dust to be carried by wind around the globe, and ash piled up in drifts across the western half of the U.S. Near the site of the eruption, lava and debris hardened into layers hundreds of feet thick. For years pollutants chilled the climate, devastating ecosystems.

Artist's Rendition of Yellowstone Eruption

  According to researcher Alejandro Tumas, it is certain that somewhere in the future, the supervolcano will erupt again, however not during our time. Probably about 100 years down the road, in my opinion. The possibility of a giant asteroid hitting Earth is more likely, though. But they do know that it will erupt, so it's a question of when, not if. However, the largest volcanic eruption is known as the Siberian Traps event, and it occurred 250 million years ago.