Yellow Stone Caldera
The Yellowstone caldera also called the Yellowstone Super volcano, is a volcanic mountain or caldera that is located in the Yellowstone National Park in the Western part of the U.S. It is situated at the northwestern part of Wyoming and extends to the eastern part of Idaho. First, a caldera is a large volcanic crater leading to the mouth of the volcano. The Yellowstone is about 2800m in height. The type of eruption that may occur at Yellowstone is the Hydro-thermal explosion. A hydrothermal explosion is a type of explosion that happens when very hot water stored within the earth’s crust changes to steam quickly which disorganizing the rocks enclosed within.
Yellowstone Eruptions.
The caldera has experience three different eruptions in the past millions of years since it existence. The most recent eruption was 64, 000 years ago. The first eruption occurred about 2 million years ago while the second happened about a million years ago. The Yellowstone caldera has been a major source of some apocalyptic events that has happened. In the first eruption that happened 2 million years ago, caused so much lava to flow on the earth surface that a large hole was created in the ground. The hole created by the lava was about 37 miles wide.
The second eruption which occurred about a million years ago at the south-western part if the park. This eruption created a hole about 15 sq. Miles wide. The third and most recent eruption which happened about 64,000 years ago, caused a massive hole too which is now part of the park and visible till today.
When next will the Yellowstone caldera erupt?
Like it was written in the previous paragraph, you may be thinking of the next time this occurrence might happen. Don’t fret. Keep calm. It won’t happen anytime even though the last time it happened was 64, 000 years ago. The caldera is not yet due for an eruption. Its time is not yet now. One thing we should know is we cannot really predict when a volcano might erupt. They do not have a time-table or a time-schedule they follow. If you have notice, the difference in the years of explosions between the three explosions, is about 700,000 years. If we are to predict the next time of explosion through this method, we can say the explosion won’t happen until a long time. However, this approach is not reliable as we have said, you cannot predict the exact time everything will go blank I.e. explosion will occur.
What happens if it erupts?
yellowstone eruption
Let us just hope it doesn’t. The Yellowstone caldera’s eruption is enough to engulf the entire cities surrounding cities, towns or villages like Wyoming, and Idaho and possibly extend by thousands of miles. If the super volcano decides and tells itself ‘this is the right time ti erupt’ and it erupts, there will be trouble for everyone residing around those areas. The molten magma will break through from below the surface. The magma that breaks through called lava contains very hot rocks otherwise known as molten rocks. The lava spreads as far as it can quickly. Do yo remember the word we talked about, Hydro-thermal explosion. The rapid movement of the lava is because of the type of explosion, the Hydro-thermal explosion. As the lava spreads it digs the earth crust deep down even below the crust and the mantle and creates a large hole. Note that with all these said, there is a very little chance it may happen. Just know that for now, it won’t.
