Scientist are warning that a Yellowstone supervolcano is a nuclear timebomb just waiting for the ideal conditions to go off … again.
If it does, those experts claim the force of magma, hot vapors, carbon dioxide, and other volatile gases exploding together would be equal to about 1000 Mount St. Helen eruptions, and kill almost 100,000 people instantly.
Thereafter, airborne volcanic ash would spread over a 1000 miles in all directions, bringing on a nuclear winter that would choke the life out of millions more US citizens during the sunless year/s that followed the poisonous mega-blast.
Making matters worse: “The ash would block off all points of entry from the ground, and the spread of ash and gases into the atmosphere would stop most air travel, just as it did when a much smaller volcano erupted in Iceland in 2010.”
Then: “Sulphuric gases released from the volcano would spring into the atmosphere and mix with the planet's water vapor.”
Then: “The eruption makes its own winds that can overcome the prevailing westerlies, which normally dominate weather patterns in the US.”
Then: “The haze of gas that could drape the country wouldn't just dim the sunlight, it also would cool temperatures.”
And: It would ultimately wipeout America’s infrastructure -- including transportation, electronic communication and water systems -- as well as crops and the world’s food supply.
Such apocalyptic hypothesizing arose this spring after researchers from the University of Utah discovered a heretofore unknown chamber deep beneath Yellowstone National Park. And in it enough molten lava to “fill the Grand Canyon 11 times.”
The supervolcano is dormant at the moment and Yellowstone hasn’t blown its top in over 70,000 years but, annually, there’s about a one in 700,000 chance of it happening now.
Or, simply put, way better odds than you have of winning the state lottery.
