A supervolcano is defined as a volcano that ejects more than a trillion tons of material when it erupts. Supervolcanoes can cover an entire continent in ash. A supervolcano explosion is about 30 times stronger than the strongest volcanic eruption in recent history, which occurred at Krakatoa.
The last time a supervolcano exploded was at Toba in Sumatra around 71,000 years ago. Ash blotted out the sun's rays, and humanity came close to extinction. Anthropologists estimate that only about 5,000 humans survived to reproduce in the aftermath of this event.
Another famous supervolcano is located directly underneath Yellowstone National Park, in the USA. The caldera is 40-50 kilometers (25-31 miles) long, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) wide and about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) thick. It is so large as to be visible from space. The supervolcano explodes about once every 600,000 years. It last exploded more than 630,000 years ago.
A supervolcano sends hundreds to thousands of cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere, changing the climate for hundreds to thousands of years. When Yellowstone last exploded, a pack of fossilized rhinos was discovered 1000 km (621 miles) away from the blast zone. They choked to death underneath the heavy ash. A supervolcano is the most powerful known destructive force on the planet. Only asteroids or other cosmic events are potentially powerful enough to exceed their magnitude.
The difference between volcanoes and supervolcanoes is in the way the magma underneath each comes to the surface. In a normal volcano, a thin magma chamber leads to a towering cone, with a relatively thin layer of rock shielding the magma from the surface. When pressure underneath builds up sufficiently, the magma is shot upwards.
In a supervolcano, magma comes up close to the surface, but a large mass of rock prevents it from breaking free. This rock forms the top of a large depression called a caldera. Over hundreds of thousands of years, magma from beneath builds up in a huge lake of tremendous pressure immediately under the caldera. When this pressure reaches a critical threshold, it blasts the entire caldera sky-high, ejecting hundreds of cubic kilometers of molten lava.
"A million times more powerful than Hiroshima, a super volcano may exist under Yellowstone"
I remember reading somewhere that the eruption Sumatra and it's resulting effects on humans lead to why we actually don't have as much diversity in our genetics (i.e. people with purple eyes, things like that)
Anyway, yeah I really hope the one in Yellowstone doesn't erupt until I'm no longer walking this earth
I remember reading somewhere that the eruption Sumatra and it's resulting effects on humans lead to why we actually don't have as much diversity in our genetics (i.e. people with purple eyes, things like that)
Anyway, yeah I really hope the one in Yellowstone doesn't erupt until I'm no longer walking this earth
That's interesting. There may have been people with real Lady Gaga/Nicki Minaj hair colors.
I love this. Very thought-provoking and informative. Kudos to you. People may roll their eyes since this is a pop forum but this is refreshing every once in a while.
I love this. Very thought-provoking and informative. Kudos to you. People may roll their eyes since this is a pop forum but this is refreshing every once in a while.
I'm not here for this
But this looks interesting. Maybe I'll do more research.
Quote:
Originally posted by Homewrecker
I remember reading somewhere that the eruption Sumatra and it's resulting effects on humans lead to why we actually don't have as much diversity in our genetics (i.e. people with purple eyes, things like that)
Anyway, yeah I really hope the one in Yellowstone doesn't erupt until I'm no longer walking this earth
That's interesting. There may have been people with real Lady Gaga/Nicki Minaj hair colors.
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If one erupted humanity would be screwed In fact probably all life would be. Because all that ash would not only cause the worlds temperatures to plunge, but would also kill all the producers (autotrophic species like plants) of the world. If they go, we have no food, unless man can invent a way to get energy to the body without getting it from food. The human body converts 90% of food into energy. The other 10% may be stored as fat maybe. Mass extinction would be inevitable whether we want to accept the possibility or not. I can honestly see all humans pitted against each other in a fight for survival just like other animals. Kumbayah will be thrown to wind if such a horrid slap from reality should hit us.
I could imagine a few species to survive though, like grasses and some fungi.
and hell i didn't know about that 
imagen what could happen to the humanity 
In fact probably all life would be. Because all that ash would not only cause the worlds temperatures to plunge, but would also kill all the producers (autotrophic species like plants) of the world. If they go, we have no food, unless man can invent a way to get energy to the body without getting it from food. The human body converts 90% of food into energy. The other 10% may be stored as fat maybe. Mass extinction would be inevitable whether we want to accept the possibility or not. I can honestly see all humans pitted against each other in a fight for survival just like other animals. Kumbayah will be thrown to wind if such a horrid slap from reality should hit us.