YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO

YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO

1. WHERE

   • The super volcano is located in \Yellowstone national park in Wyoming in USA
     • Norris Geyser Basin
       • Uplifts due to rising Magma and increase gas levels
         • In 2003, ground temperatures increased to 100 degrees meaning there was more frequent fissure eruptions, more gases from vents were entering the atmosphere, adding hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide which damaged trees and wildlife

2. WHY

   • Lies on a hotspot
   • Magma chamber 80 km long, 40km wide and 8 km deep
   • contains 5x the magma needed for a super volcano, 5000 cubic km of magma
   • 20,000-25,000 cubic km of magma

3. A super volcano is a volcano that has the capability of producing a MEGA eruption, with over 1000km3 of material

   • Super volcanos tend to be 50 to 100 km in diameter

4. WHEN

   • last eruption was 640,000 years ago
     • projected to erupt every 600,000 years

5. IMMEDIATE EFFECTS

   • cloud of volcanic ash rising 40-50km into the atmosphere
   • eruption equivalent to 1000 Hiroshima bombs per second
   • grounding of aircrafts due to ash in the jet stream
   • 2,5000 bigger than Mt St Helens
   • 75% of America will be directly affected
   • within 10,000 sq km of eruption there will be total destruction
   • extra rainfall due to particles, onto which water particles can condense

6. LONG TERM EFFECTS

   • drop in 12 degree in high latitudes - permanent snow
   • fall in agricultural yield
     • increased food price
       • Lack of food security
         • famine
           • conflicts
   • onset of glaciation - winter temperatures drop by 1-2.5 degrees