Thursday, 12 December 2013

How big???!!!???


Yellowstone is a big volcano - a really big volcano - so big a volcano we call it a supervolcano.  It turns out that Yellowstone is actually much bigger than we had previously thought - 2.5 times bigger according to Professor Bob Smith from the University of Utah.  This means that the magma chamber contains a staggering 200-600 cubic kilometres of molten rock.

Seismic surveys of the volcano have reavealed the true extent of the magma source, created by a sub-continental hot spot.  Don't worry too much though, supervolcanoes don't erupt very frequently and Yellowstone doesn't look like it will erupt imminently....probably.

You can check out the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory and assess the risk yourself.

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