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The 3,472-square-mile park known for its wildlife and geothermal features is located in the western United States. The park is located on a supervolcano, the Yellowstone caldera, which if exploded, experts say, could kill up to 100,000 people and change the planet’s climate.
A “super eruption” in Yellowstone Park is not the biggest concern for humanity, said Clive Oppenheimer, a volcano expert. According to the scientist, people should not be worried about the Yellowstone boiler, as it is unlikely to explode in the near future. “The only [eruption] that people get excited and understand is the possibility of a colossal eruption (what we might call a super eruption), but it is a very rare fact. The probability of this is extremely low, probably less than one in a million a year, ”he told the Daily Express.
Oppenheimer noted that people should worry more about other things, which can be caused by volcanoes. The magma beneath the Earth’s surface produces heat and volcanic gases that feed the park’s famous hot springs and geysers. The expert believes that steam explosions are more likely to occur.
“We all know the famous geysers there, and every now and then when that water flickers to vaporize more violently it can explode the rock and make a crater several tens or hundreds of meters away.”
Steamboat Geyser is located in the back basin of the Norris Geyser Basin in 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 each year. Still, most don’t feel it. The U.S. Geological Survey has been tracking the park’s supervolcano since 2001. Experts say a “super eruption” will be preceded by earthquakes, landslides and unusual volcanic activity. Still, Oppenheimer says there is not enough data to predict when exactly it will occur.
How dangerous is the Yellowstone boiler?
Throughout its history, it had three major eruptions: the last about 640,000 years ago. Each time the volcano transformed the surrounding landscape.
Dr. Jerzy Zaba, a geologist at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, said that if a “super eruption” occurs it will destroy most of the United States. There is no way to prevent it, the expert said, noting that the only way to save animals and people would be to evacuate them. Despite frequent seismic activity, scientists say the supervolcano is unlikely to “talk” again in the near future.