Is the Yellowstone Caldera Volcano getting ready to Erupt?

Yellowstone Erupt? the Caldera Volcano getting ready to There are about YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK SuperVolcanos in the World... MONTANA 169 There are actually 169 active volcanos in the U.S. 57 of which are currently considered a possible threat. 57 Yellowstone National Park IDAHO WYOMING ...and Yellowstone is one of them! Most of these are located in a handful of western states Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming. 2.1M Years Ago 600mi Huckleberry Ridge "SuperVolcano" is a non-scientific term for any type of volcano that will likely eject more than 240 mi3 (1,000 km3) of volcanic material when it erupts. 640K Years Ago 240mis Lava Creek 1.3M Years Ago 67 mi? Mesa Falls While more powerful volcanos historically erupt less frequently– usually on the scale of hundreds of thousands of years – when they do erupt, "They have a devastating impact on Earth's climate and ecology." 4.3mi3 Krakatoa 1883 Volume of material ejected in mis 1980 24mi3 Mount St. Helens The Formation of the Yellowstone Caldera SuperVolcano Pre-collapse Eruptions & Collapse Further Collapse & Fill Current Erosion Level Caldera volcanos are created partially due to the rapid release of magma, which typically collapses the original volcano cone as well as nearby mountains, causing a depression that sometimes fills with water. The Yellowstone Caldera (35 miles wide by 50 miles long) was created by an eruption some 640,000 years ago that spread ash west to California, south to Mexico, north to Canada, and east to Mississippi. Western U.S. Volcanos + A History of the Yellowstone Region A. U.S. Volcanos Mount St. Helens Potentially Active Inactive B. Hotspot Track "vears Ago Movement or "track" of the Yellowstone Volcanic Hotspot as the North American Plate slowly shifts. McDermitt 16-15.1 Owyhee-Humboldt 13.8-12 Bruneau-Jarbidge 12.5-11.3 Twin Falls 10-8.6 Picabo 10.2 Heise 6.6-4.4 Yellowstone 2-0.6 C. Ash Bed Distribution Lava Creek 0.6 Y Ago O Huckleberry Ridge 2.1 Mlion Yrs. Ago Mesa Falls 1.3 Wgo Mount St. Helens 1980 Refs.14, 15, 16. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Volcanic Monitoring The USGS's Volcano Hazards Program utilizes 5 observatories (3 in the continental Western U.S. and one each in Alaska and Hawaii) to provide arly warning of WASHINGTON MONTANA CVO ending ents. OREGON Yellowstone Volcano Observatory· – YVO (Monitors AZ, CO, MT, NM, UT and WY) YVO IDAHO 4. WYOMING Cascades Volcano Observatory – CVO (Monitors ID, OR and WA) NEVADA A CalVO USGS Observatory California Volcano Observatory -CalVO Caldera Volcano (Monitors CA and NV) Funding issues, however, have produced gaps in monitoring & readiness. But the USGS has proposed the National Volcano Early Warning System plan to properly monitor the greatest threats. DD Potentially Active A Inactive Monitoring Boundary Warning Signs and Impact of Another Yellowstone Eruption 32,004 Number of Earthquakes in the Yellowstone Region by Year) 3500 2500 Total Quakes (Jan. 1994 to Dec. 2013) Some believe an eruption is imminent due to increased activity and larger quakes: 1500 March 30th, 2014 - 4.8 Magnitude August 21st, 2014 - 4.4 Magnitude 500 While earthquakes are common in Yellowstone – 1,954 in 2013 alone – most are small. Even "swarms" aren't unusual, but can be a concern. Changes in the Region That Some See as Signs of Concern Helium Gas Emissions Landscape Rising Magma Chamber 1,000x+ + 50-250% Higher Than Normal From Magma Expansion Larger Than Realized Given that the last 3 volcanic events in the Yellowstone region have occurred approximately every 640,000-700,000 years some feel the Yellowstone caldera is "overdue" to erupt.Most experts agree, however, that a catastrophic caldera-forming eruption is not likely to occur for tens of thousands of years. Distribution of Lava, Tuffs, Tuffites and Sills . Siberian Traps i Boundaries Even if a large Yellowstone event were to occur, it would be nothing like the outcome of the extended Siberian Traps event, which took place about 250 Million Russian Federation years ago, lasted for about a million years, and wiped out an estimated * Moscow Kaalchatan Mongolia of all Turkey 90 life on Earth. fran Pakstan Saudi Arabia India Siberian Traps Even so, a large Yellowstone event would be devastating for planet Earth, and potentially ruinous financially. The USGS says a significant eruption would affect the entire globe for many months – or even a few years. We need only look at the financial impacts of two of the more well-known but comparatively tiny eruptions, to realize how much damage a large event could cause: $1 Billion in total Mount St. Helens, U.S.A. - May 18th, 1980 $5 Billion.- in lost Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland - April 14th, 2010 If there was another caldera-forming eruption at Yellowstone, the USGS said, "Thick ash deposits would bury vast areas of the United States." Plus, the eruption would inject "huge volumes of volcanic gases into the atmosphere," which could drastically affect the world's climate. On top of the tragic loss of human life would be the immediate & ongoing damage to crops, livestock, flora & fauna, telecommunications, and transportation. The financial impact would be in the Trillions of Dollars Fortunately, YVO scientists are monitoring volcanic activity to try and minimize the potential damage of any event. And, the much more likely Yellowstone event we could experience is a non-explosive lava flow which has happened 30-40 times since that last caldera-forming event 640,000 years ago. References Some of the information for this article comes from the following Web sites and pages. 1. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-25598050 2. http://news.discovery.com/earth/weather-extreme-events/top-10-volcano-eruptions-in -geological-history.htm 3. http://www.firstresearch.com/Industry-Research/Airlines.html 4. http://io9.com/why-arent-we-fully-monitoring-these-active-volcanoes-in-1628168551 5. http://www.plunkettresearch.com/sports-recreation-leisure-market-research/industry -statistics 6. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs036-00/fs036-00.pdf 7. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3024/ 8. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/yvo_news_archive.html 9. http://www.quake.utah.edu/EQCENTER/LISTINGS/OTHER/yellowregion.htm 10. Russian Federation Map - http://www.your-vector-maps.com 11. Image "Mount St. Helens' eruption" - Henrik Thorburn April 18th, 2010 12. Image "Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming" - nikitsin.smugmug.com/Shutterstock 13. Some other images are derivative illustrations adapted from USGS photo archives. 14. Adapted from http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3024/images/fs2005-3024_fig_12.jpg 15. Adapted from http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vsc/images/image_mngr/0-99/img4_350w_276h.jpg 16. Adapted from Topinka, USGSICVO, 1999, Modified from Brantley, 1994, Volcanoes of the United States: USGS General Interest Publication. Infographic created by: Dubs&Dash Strategy Creativity Results www.d2-group.com CALIFORNIA