The Yellowstone Super Volcano: Where It Is Likely to Erupt
by Charles Q. Choi
The currently dormant supervolcano at Yellowstone may erupt with lava flows in the future, and scientists are working to pinpoint where exactly this might happen.
Their findings may improve eruption forecasting in this vast area of volcanic unrest, the researchers said.
Supervolcanoes are capable of eruptions dwarfing anything ever recorded by humanity, spewing out thousands of times more magma and ash than even the catastrophic Krakatoa eruption of 1883.
The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Parkwas responsible for the fourth-largest eruption known to science about 2 million years ago, and its activity continues to fuel the park’s famous geysers. The most recent giant eruption in the area, which happened about 640,000 years ago, created the oval-shaped, 40- by 25-mile (64- by 40-kilometer) Yellowstone caldera. [Infographic: The Geology of Yellowstone]…
(read more: OurAmazingPlanet) (photo: NPS)