Quote of the Day
Previous research using seismology found that a large reservoir of magma sat beneath the caldera. However, the recent study, using a method known as magnetotellurics that tracks the electric conductivity of magma, found something different.
“When we used magnetotellurics, we were able to see, actually, there’s not a lot there,” said Ninfa Bennington, lead author on the study and a research geophysicist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. “There are these segregated regions where magma is stored across Yellowstone, instead of having one sort of large reservoir.”
Bennington added that her team learned that the percentage of magma stored in the reservoirs was actually quite low. This means that none of the reservoirs are capable of producing an eruption anytime soon. Their research suggests the northeast region of Yellowstone wouldn’t expect to erupt again for hundreds of thousands of years.
Angeli Gabriel
January 2, 2025
Scientists reveal when a Yellowstone volcano super eruption could happen | Fox Weather
Although I knew it was unlikely, being within the severely impacted zone of a Yellowstone eruption has been an item of concern for me. I have seen the devastation of the Mount St. Helen’s eruption and that was barely a hiccup compared to a Yellowstone supereruption*. Yet the speed of the pyroclastic flow reached speeds of 670 MPH and may have even briefly been supersonic. Imagine the effect of a huge mass of rock, sand, and dirt on the countryside when moving across it at supersonic speeds. The death of all life blast radius of a Yellowstone supereruption would be hundreds of miles. My underground bunker in Idaho would not be a suitable refuge in the face of a such a natural disaster. It is only a little over 300 miles from the probable center of the Yellowstone eruption.
Hence, the projection of the next eruption being hundreds of thousands of years from now allows me some comfort. I can probably expect dealing with such an eruption is someone else’s problem. i can concentrate on the more immediate threats of economic collapse, tyrannical governments, and other man-made disasters.
* Mount Saint Helen’s ash was about 1.3 km3. A Yellowstone supereruption is expected to be over 1,000 km3. See also the comparison of the ash fall boundaries of Mount Saint Helen’s to the Yellowstone supereruptions of the past.