You may have lost if you had Yellowstone's super volcano exploding on your 2025 bingo card.
I don't think many people worry about Yellowstone's supervolcano as a top threat to existence in North America, but if you were, there is good news: ArsTechnica shares that there isn't enough magma in the same spot to cause a big blowout, yet.
It's difficult to comprehend what 1,000 cubic kilometers of rock would look like. It's even more difficult to imagine it being violently flung into the air. Yet the Yellowstone volcanic system blasted more than twice that amount of rock into the sky about 2 million years ago, and it has generated a number of massive (if somewhat smaller) eruptions since, and there have been even larger eruptions deeper in the past.
All of which might be enough to keep someone nervously watching the seismometers scattered throughout the area. But a new study suggests that there's nothing to worry about in the near future: There's not enough molten material pooled in one place to trigger the sort of violent eruptions that have caused massive disruptions in the past. The study also suggests that the primary focus of activity may be shifting outside of the caldera formed by past eruptions.
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In summary, while there's a lot of molten material near the current caldera, all of it is spread too diffusely within the solid rock to enable it to trigger a major eruption. Significant changes will need to take place before we see the site cover much of North America with ash again. Beyond that, the image is consistent with our big-picture view of the Yellowstone hotspot, which has left a trail of eruptions across western North America, driven by the movement of the North American plate.
ArsTechnica
DOGE and its pet, the Trump Administration, will likely cite this news as a reason to defund FEMA.
Previously:
• Video of bison running out of Yellowstone ≠ 'OMG supervolcano eruption'
