Imminent Volcano May Wipe Out America

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Some experts believe that a super volcano in the United States may soon erupt with  such force as to lay waste much of North America. Moreover they believe that such an  event may now be imminent and would constitute a major catastrophe whose effects  would be felt around the world and push Mankind to the very brink of extinction.

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According to the National Geographic website, the volcano in question is the  Yellowstone Super Volcano in the United States of America. This is a relatively  young volcano but its immense size and the power of its previous eruptions – amongst  the largest in recorded world history – mean it poses a threat of considerable  proportions.

Some indication of the enormity of the power involved in these eruptions, thousands  of times more powerful than a normal volcano can be judged from the first  astonishing eruption of the Yellowstone around 2.1 million years ago. This was so  potent that it gouged out a crater 85 kilometres long by 60 kilometres wide – a  truly phenomenal eruption that had it happened today would have come close to  obliterating the whole of the United States. That isn’t to mention the broader  implications for the world as a whole, with volcanic ash obscuring the Sun and  likely to have enormous consequences on world weather, agriculture, and quality of  life.

So one thing is for certain – if there were another volcanic eruption of these  dimensions it would fundamentally alter the world as we know it. But is such an  eruption imminent? If so when is it likely to occur? To answer this let us look at  what we know.

The Yellowstone Volcano is relatively young, in fact surprisingly young. Moreover  during the course of its two million years of life it has erupted with astonishing  periodicity around once every 600,000 years. Some experts feel that another eruption  is well overdue. But how justified is this claim?

The fact is that until recently the Yellowstone has not attracted much concern. In  the 1970’s however scientists noticed there had been a two feet rise in the vertical  level of the Caldera and this prompted closer investigation of the Yellowstone which  is now monitored around the clock. From this study we know that the caldera rises  and falls over time and is now said to be bulging towards the Southwest. In addition  the north side is estimated to have bulged around 170 feet in the last 50 years. But  are these bulges indicative of a coming eruption? Experts say not, explaining that  these rises and falls are merely a normal part of the volcanoe’s life cycle.

Although most experts agree that the Yellowstone volcano will erupt at some point in  the future, they claim there is little evidence of this happening any time soon.  Nevertheless bulges in volcanoes are proof of enormous pressures building up beneath  the surface and in the case of the Yellowstone these pressures make sober if not  alarming reading.

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It is thought that 5 miles beneath the surface of the Yellowstone lies an immense  red hot reservoir of magma around 30 miles long, 20 miles wide, and 6 miles deep.  This magma is what powers Yellowstone’s fantastic geysers and hot springs, but it is  the pressures associated with this build-up that could one day prove lethal with an  explosion of unparalleled proportions that some experts believe would not only  obliterate much of North America but push the entire human race to the brink of  extinction.

The main question concerning the Yellowstone is not if it will erupt but when?  Geologist Ilya Bindeman thinks this will happen in the near geologic future. But  since this undoubtedly means anytime within the next 25,000 years we are left none  the wiser regarding the present likelihood. What does worry Bindeman is the near  clockwork series of past eruptions that suggest the next one will be sooner rather  than later. He warns: “These magmas usually erupt in a very catastrophic way. By  comparison, the eruption of Mount St. Helens sent about two cubic kilometres of ash  into the atmosphere. These catastrophic types of eruptions send thousands of cubic  kilometres of ash skyward.”

The last eruption of the Yellowstone was 600,000 years ago and blasted 1,000 cubic  kilometres of volcanic rock into the atmosphere which would have settled as ash over  more than half of the United States.

Across the world the last eruption of a super volcano was the Toba volcano in  Indonesia. This erupted around 75,000 years ago spewing out tremendous quantities of  rock and ash and is thought to have reduced global temperatures by up to 21 degrees  centigrade.

Super volcanoes may also throw fresh light on the Atlantis mystery. Amongst those  who believe that Atlantis once existed as an Atlantic Island there is a growing  belief that it too may have fallen victim to an immense super volcano.

According to the Greek philosopher Plato, Atlantis fell victim to immense volcanic  eruptions and within a single day and night disappeared beneath the waves to be  forever lost. Until recently such claims may have been regarded as nonsense. An  island in an Ocean would simply vanish. On a continent much of the land would be  swamped to form a lake such as can be found in the Yellowstone National Park.

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