Yellowstone Supervolcano

This is a subject that has fascinated me since I was in middle school, Super Volcanoes. Yup, we are so not talking about your ordinary Mt. St. Helen here people. I am talking about volcanoes like Taupo, Lake Toba, Aira, and, our own little bundle of lava, Yellowstone. See, a majority of Yellowstone national park is really a caldera that is roughly 34x45 miles. 

This Supervolcano has erupted three times in the past due to the hotspot that it is centered over. And this hot spot has generated a magma chamber that is about the size of Rhode Island under the park. So, what does this mean for us homo sapiens? Well, it means that Yellowstone is closely monitored.

And this is were the difference between your every day volcano, and a supervolcano is realized. 

While the eruption of Mt. St. Helen was destructive, an eruption from a supervolcano such as Yellowstone has the potential to plummet the world into an ice age. A Yellowstone eruption could be over 1,000 times more powerful then the Mt. St. Helen's eruption in 1980.

 Anything within 100 miles of the park would be instantly killed and much of the northwest would be destroyed. 

And here is the kicker for you, scientists are worried about this volcano. It has shown increasing signs of activity. And at this point, Scientists are concerned  of  the "when" of the next eruption, not the "if."