Not long ago, the western United States suddenly occurred in the western part of Montana, the strongest earthquake in 20 years. The magnitude 5.8 earthquake caused people to worry about the existence of super volcanoes in the Yellowstone National Park, which is linked to Montana, and it could be re-awakened. If this super volcanic eruption, it will be out of the lava volume will be more than just from Antarctica Larsen C ice shelf off the giant iceberg.
However, the earthquake will not lead to the Yellowstone Park super volcano big outbreak. Although scientists believe that this super volcano will not be in the case of no warning of a sudden outbreak, but there is always a very small possibility. According to a scientific study, in the next 7200 years, the probability of a big outbreak is only 1%.
What is a super volcano?
Super volcanic devastating, usually in a eruption at least 1000 cubic kilometers of magma, to reach the highest level of volcanic eruptions (8). In contrast, the eruption of the San Helen volcano in 1980 (which resulted in the number of casualties in the history of the United States and the devastating volcanic eruptions of the economy) spilled only 2.9 cubic kilometers of magma, equivalent to five eruption.
Super volcano eruption will not form a mountain, but the formation of a huge caldera. As the surface of the magma reservoir through the crust of the gap upward spray a lot of gas, volcanic ash and lava, causing the ground to sink to fill the bottom of the hole.
Where there have been super volcanic eruptions?
The above map shows some of the major volcanic events of the Earth in the past tens of millions of years, and the earlier volcanic events have been erased by geological movements. Red in the figure indicates a 8-level super volcanic eruption, and a smaller orange indicates a 7-level event.
From the figure you can see, the United States has repeatedly appeared super volcanic eruptions. According to geological research, the Yellowstone Park Super Volcano had a major outbreak of 2.1 million, 1.3 million and 630,000 years ago, two of which reached the highest level of eight.
About 28 million years ago, the southernmost major volcanic eruption occurred in southern Colorado. The incident erupted 5,000 cubic kilometers of magma, the equivalent of 5 times the super volcanic eruption.
However, there is no evidence that in the current generation or the next few centuries, there will be a super volcanic eruption on Earth. But if the Yellowstone Park super volcano in the future really a big outbreak, it will lead to the entire US mainland covered in toxic dust, and lead to catastrophic climate change, destruction of environmental systems for centuries.