[Kevin Curry]

What would be the effect of an eruption?

Immediately before the eruption, there would be large earthquakes in the Yellowstone region. The ground would swell further with most of Yellowstone being uplifted. One earthquake would finally break the layer of rock that holds the magma in - and all the pressure the Earth can build up in 640,000 years would be unleashed in a cataclysmic event.

Magma would be flung 50 kilometres into the atmosphere. Within a thousand kilometres virtually all life would be killed by falling ash, lava flows and the sheer explosive force of the eruption. Volcanic ash would coat places as far away as Iowa and the Gulf of Mexico. One thousand cubic kilometres of lava would pour out of the volcano, enough to coat the whole of the USA with a layer 5 inches thick. The explosion would have a force 2,500 times that of Mount St. Helens. It would be the loudest noise heard by man for 75,000 years, the time of the last super volcano eruption. Within minutes of the eruption tens of thousands would be dead.

The long-term effects would be even more devastating. The thousands of cubic kilometres of ash that would shoot into the atmosphere could block out light from the sun, making global temperatures plummet. This is called a nuclear winter. As during the Sumatra eruption a large percentage of the world's plant life would be killed by the ash and drop in temperature. Also, virtually the entire of the grain harvest of the Great Plains would disappear in hours, as it would be coated in ash. Similar effects around the world would cause massive food shortages. If the temperatures plummet by the 21 degrees they did after the Sumatra eruption the Yellowstone super volcano eruption could truly be an extinction level event.

[Porterville]

Or it could be a much smaller blast with a continuous weeping of magma, with little or no effect.

[PAR35]

This story misses the good news - the eruption would cancel out "global warming'.

[Happy2BMe]

"Immediately before the eruption, there would be large earthquakes in the Yellowstone region."

Check post #48.

(I'm selling my timeshare outside Yellowstone first thing next week.)

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Oh. Stupid me. I thought that a volcanic eruption could NOT cause "nuclear winter," but that only a NUCLEAR event could. Thanks for the information! ;)

[CindyDawg]

Volcanic ash would coat places as far away as Iowa and the Gulf of Mexico

I thought this was just an "up north" concern. We can handle ash though. We get that from Mexico when they burn fields:')

[ServesURight]

Great post as always, KC...

[Lazamataz]

Yellowstone super volcano eruption could truly be an extinction level event.

Is this why I always see Al Qaeda there with pickaxes and shovels?

[Axenolith]

You know what's really disturbing? The fact that an eruption of that magnitude would probably neutralize our land and most of our air based nuclear deterrent...

[aruanan]

One thousand cubic kilometres of lava would pour out of the volcano, enough to coat the whole of the USA with a layer 5 inches thick.

That's 5.02 inches for just the continental U.S. or 4.2 inches for the entire U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii and possessions.

[RussianConservative]

How long ash stay in air? Most ash heavy particle and would fall out with rains. Also prevelent wind pattern determine where fall and where go. Enough grain grown in other areas (Russia) to feed US, plus food stock. Anyway, volcanic ash very very fertile substance.

[chudogg]

Im not scientist, but that report is just a little hysterical.

One thousand cubic kilometres of lava would pour out of the volcano, enough to coat the whole of the USA with a layer 5 inches thick.

Give me a break! This is worse than the Y2k reports.

[chudogg]

Oh wait, just saw the source, Rense!

[Zeein]

"It would be the loudest noise heard by man for 75,000 years"
So is the North Star is 60 light years away.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Now remember....

All of those things "could be" true.

And then again, maybe not. Just because the worst-case scenario "might" happen, is no guarantee that it "will" happen.

Sure, it's best to be prudent, to be careful, and to have a fallout/fallback/cover-up plan.... Even more important the closer you are to the park.

Or other natural hazard, such as the Mt's outside Seattle. Or the earthquake regions in CA. Or the volcanos on the island of HI itself.

but that's prudent anyway.

And, given some basic precaution to help your own family.... What can you do to stop it anyway?

[GeekDejure]

What would be the effect of an eruption?

Geez... what ever happened to the a b c and druptions? And when can we expect to experience an fruption? ;-))

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