Scientists Think Earth Needs a Supervolcano and There is One Very Close to Home Here in the U.S.

And there’s one lurking just underneath Yellowstone National Park

Transcript

00:00Volcanoes are some of the most powerful and destructive forces planet Earth is capable

00:09of.

00:10But while smaller volcanoes explode or seep lava onto the surface pretty much all the

00:13time, supervolcanoes are another story.

00:15And now a research team in Indonesia studying the terrifying geological events says everything

00:20we know about supervolcano eruption patterns could be wrong.

00:24It was once thought that after a super eruption, these mega destroyers would go dormant for

00:28ages.

00:29But after looking at minerals feldspar and zircon, which act as geological time capsules,

00:33they now believe that supervolcanoes likely remain active and can even continue spewing

00:37lava for thousands of years after they blow.

00:39In the case of the Toba supervolcano, it continued for around 5,000 to 13,000 years.

00:46According to the researchers, these types of events only happen about once every 17,000

00:50years.

00:51Meaning the superblast has not only a massive effect on the surrounding area and the world

00:54at large, but it does so for millennia.

00:57The researchers say learning more about supervolcanoes like the one underneath Yellowstone is our

01:01best defense against the next inevitable eruption.