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The 3,472-square-kilometer park, known for its wildlife and geothermal features, is located in the western United States. The park is located on a supervolcano – Yellowstone Caldera – that could kill up to 100,000 people and change the planet’s climate if it erupted.
A ‘super-eruption’ at Yellowstone Park is not the biggest concern for humanity, volcano expert Clive Oppenheimer said. According to the scientist, people should not worry about the Yellowstone Caldera as it is unlikely to break out in the near future. “The one [eruption] which people get excited about and crave for the chance of a colossal eruption – which we can call a super eruption – but it is a very rare event. “The likelihood of that is extremely low, probably less than one in a million a year,” he told the Daily Express.
Oppenheimer noted that people need to worry more about other things that volcanoes can cause. Magma beneath the earth’s surface produces heat and volcanic gases that drive the park’s famous hot springs and geysers. The expert believes that steam explosions are more likely to occur.
“We all know of the famous geysers there and now and then as the water flickers harder, it can blow out rock and can make a crater ten to a hundred meters transverse.”
Steamboat Geyser is located in the Norris Geyser basin of Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is located in one of the most seismically active areas in the United States, with approximately 700 to 3,000 earthquakes occurring there each year. Most of them, however, are not felt. The U.S. Geological Survey has been monitoring the park’s super-volcano since 2001. Experts say a ‘super-eruption’ will be preceded by earthquakes, landslides and unusual volcanic activity. However, Oppenheimer says there is not enough data to predict when exactly this will happen.
How dangerous is the yellowstone caldera?
During its history, it has had three major eruptions – the last being about 640,000 years ago. Each time the volcano changes the landscape around it.
Dr Jerzy Zaba, a geologist from the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, said if a ‘super-eruption’ occurs, it would destroy most of the United States. There is no way to prevent it. The expert said that the only way to save animals and humans is to evacuate them. Despite regular seismic activity, scientists say there is little chance that the supervolcano will “speak” again in the near future.