The hot molten rock laying dormant beneath Yellowstone National Park is actually much, much bigger — 55 miles long, 18 miles wide and as far as 9 miles below the surface — than originally thought, and it could erupt with a force more than 2,000 times as powerful as Mount St. Helens, the Associated Press reported.
“To our knowledge there has been nothing mapped of that size before,” the University of Utah’s Jamie Farrell, Ph.D., lead researcher on this study, told BBC News.
By measuring the seismic waves from earthquakes, Farrell and others from the University of Utah were able to determine the size of Yellowstone’s hidden magma chamber. Turns out, it’s more than double the size of original estimates, according to the AP. “That means there is enough volcanic material below the surface to match the largest of the supervolcano’s three eruptions over the last 2.1 million years.”
New data shows that the magma chamber hidden below Yellowstone is much larger than originally estimates and it could erupt soon. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)
The effects will be felt globally. “Large amounts of ash and pulverized rock from the eruption will get lofted into the atmosphere and then fall back slowly to Earth,” National Geographic reported. “Furthermore, volcanic material and gases that linger in the atmosphere will block sunlight, resulting in a global temperature decrease.”
U.S. Geological Survey data show that the last time Yellowstone’s supervolcano erupted was 640,000 years ago. Although scientists still can’t tell precisely when the next eruption will take place, their instruments will tell them when unusual seismic activity is happening, according to Farrell. Added Bob Smith, Ph.D., also of the University of Utah, to BBC News: “We’ve been working there for a long time, and we’ve always thought it would be bigger ... but this finding is astounding.”
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