Geography - The Restless Earth - Supervolcanoe - Yellowstone CASE STUDY

Yellowstone Supervolcano CASE STUDY

Background · Yellowstone National Park is located in the North West of the USA in the state of Wyoming, although it extends slightly into Montana and Idaho. · It was the first National Park in the World and is very volcanically active due to the hotspot beneath it. · The Supervolcano at Yellowstone is almost 100km across. The magma chamber is currently 80km long and 40km wide and 8km deep. This means when the eruption occurs, the caldera that is left will cover roughly the same area as London. · Small eruptions have occurred every 20 to 30000 years at Yellowstone, however these are usually to do with the hot springs and geysers and the known geothermal activity in the area

Cause of the Super Volcano · Underneath Yellowstone is a hot spot, where magma moves upwards in the Mantle, hits the base of the Earth’s crust and melts it creating a huge chamber of magma. The hot spot is static but the Earth’s crust moves over it. · The mountain range around Yellowstone is interrupted by the 2.1 million year old caldera from the last explosion – this swallowed 80km worth of mountains. · Since then, there have been 2 more explosions, 1.3 million years ago and one 640,000 years ago.

Possible consequences of an explosion · When considering the Yellowstone supervolcano, one of, if not the largest supervolcano in the World, the effects could be catastrophic and change the face of the planet as we know it. · Currently, there are 3,000 earthquakes in the area each year and along with various other changes; it had led scientists to worry that an eruption could occur soon. · Some of the effects are predicted to be: o 10,000km3 of land erupted o 25 mile high ash cloud o Everything within a 100 mile radius of the eruption will be destroyed. o The ash in the atmosphere could lower global temperature by 200C o 1,000 miles away, the layer of ash that will be deposited on the ground will be up to 10ft thick. o Two thirds of the USA will be uninhabitable o 87,000 people could be killed o 1 in 3 people affected would die o Huge impact on transport, energy, electricity, agriculture, and general production. o The UK would receive the ash cloud 5 days after the eruption. o The global economy would be placed under huge pressure and likely collapse due to the damage o the USA.