What Would Happen If Yellowstone's Supervolcano Erupted?

The volcano that sits under the surface of Yellowstone National Park could do massive damage, but it isn't likely to erupt anytime soon. Learn more about it in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/what-if/what-if-yellowstone-supervolcano-erupted.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren Bogabam. Here A Yellowstone isn't just an American treasure.
It's the world's oldest national park. Established in eighteen seventy two,
Yellowstone stretches across three thousand, four hundred and seventy two

(00:22):
square miles that's eight thousand, nine and eighty seven square
kilometers in three states. The park welcomes around three million
visitors a year, who flocked to the area to take
in a stunning natural landscape that includes the Old Faithful
Geyser and a plethora of hiking trails, mountain peaks, and
hot springs. And that's not even to mention the variety

(00:43):
of wildlife that calls the park home, including grizzly bears, moose, elk, beavers,
and bighorn sheep. Below the surface of this outdoor paradise
lurks another natural wonder, however, one that has the potential
to wipe the park off the map. The Yellowstone Supervolcano

(01:04):
is a massive source of granitic magma that rests miles
under the park's surface. Although it's not likely to erupt
anytime soon, a full explosion would be bad news for
nature enthusiasts and a slew of folks anywhere near the park.
If the Yellowstone supervolcano were to erupt, it would happen
like this. The heat rising from deep within the planet's

(01:27):
core would begin to melt the molten rock just below
the ground surface. That would create a mixture of magma, rocks, vapor,
carbon dioxide, and other gases. As the mix amast and
rose over the course of thousands of years, the pressure
would eventually push the ground up into a dome shape
and create cracks along the edges. As that pressure was

(01:51):
released through the cracks, the dissolved gases would explode, emptying
the magma across the park. The eruption could be expected
to kill as many as ninety thou people immediately and
spread a ten foot that's three meter layer of molten
ash as far as a thousand miles from the park.
That's about six kilometers and far enough to cover from

(02:14):
the California coast all the way to Dallas, Texas and Minneapolis, Minnesota,
and north to Edmonton, Canada. Rescuers would probably have a
tough time getting in there. The ash would block off
all points of entry from the ground and The spread
of ash and gases into the atmosphere would stop most
air travel, just as it did when a much smaller

(02:35):
volcano erupted in Iceland. Equally frightening would be the winter
that some experts say could blanket the United States and
other parts of the world. If Yellowstone were to blow,
Sulfur gases released from the volcano would spring into the
atmosphere and mix with the planet's water vapor. The haze

(02:56):
of gas that could drape various areas wouldn't just in
the sunlight. It would also cool temperatures. Falling temperatures and
a dimmed sun would do a number on our food supply,
decimating crops and throwing the whole food chain out of whack.
After all, if sun dependent plants and microorganisms can't grow,
then larger organisms can't eat them. In fact, that's what

(03:21):
many climate scientists believe happened in five C after a
supervolcano erupted in what's now Java. The good news is
that an eruption of this scale isn't likely in any
of our lifetimes. Yellowstone last erupted about sixty thousand years ago,
and the U S Geological Survey says that the probability

(03:42):
that it'll blow its top again is about zero point
zero zero zero one each year. Today's episode is based
on the article what of the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted? On
how Stuff Work stock Com, written by John Donovan. Brain
Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with

(04:04):
how stuff Works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang.
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