00:00It's official. We now know the exact location and timing of the Yellowstone supervolcano's next eruption.
00:08And it's called a supervolcano for a reason.
00:11It will be thousands of times more powerful than a typical volcanic eruption.
00:16When this happens, the planet will face massive disasters.
00:20Earthquakes, tons of magma flows, ash and clouds that will block out the sun.
00:25The sky will be gray for a long time.
00:28We will have a shortage of food because of the lack of sunlight.
00:32Planes won't be able to fly.
00:34Some species of animals and trees may disappear.
00:37One disaster will follow another like falling dominoes, one by one.
00:43Terrible times await Earth and...
00:45Okay, stop. It's clear. We got it.
00:48But when will all this happen?
00:50Don't worry. You won't be left without an answer.
00:54When ordinary volcanoes erupt, it's always a disaster.
00:57But only for those places that are located near the epicenter.
01:01Multiply the damage from an ordinary volcano by thousands and you'll get a supervolcano eruption.
01:07Yellowstone is one of the largest volcanic systems in the world.
01:11It's erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years.
01:14The last time was 640,000 years ago.
01:18The ash covered an area comparable to about half of the United States.
01:23Fortunately, there were no people there.
01:25But nature got hurt.
01:28A similar eruption of a similar supervolcano occurred about 74,000 years ago.
01:33It was the Toba supervolcano in Indonesia that caused an apocalypse.
01:37The human race barely managed to survive.
01:41According to some theories, only a few thousand people stayed alive at the time during the volcanic winter.
01:47But it's not confirmed.
01:49Since Yellowstone is a volcanic system located in a vast national park,
01:54it was important for scientists to find out exactly where the first spark would come from.
01:58They found out that Yellowstone's magma doesn't accumulate in one place,
02:03but hides in several separate underground reservoirs.
02:07The reservoir in the northeast of Yellowstone,
02:10next to a beautiful place called Sour Creek Dome, is the riskiest.
02:15Here, the red-hot magma comes into contact with the hot rocks of the mantle,
02:19which are located deep in the ground.
02:22Their high temperature keeps the magma in a liquid state.
02:25Imagine that you put a pot of hot milk on the stove.
02:29Nothing cools down, but only gets hotter,
02:31so the milk may soon begin to rise and flow out of the pan.
02:35The same thing is happening with the magma under Sour Creek Dome.
02:39Magma doesn't cool down there, and at some point, it may start to come out.
02:44It'll be like a broken pipe from which a fountain of boiling water gushes.
02:49But how did scientists find out?
02:51The magma reservoirs are located at a depth of about 6 miles,
02:56and this whole area is incredibly hot.
03:00They used a special method called magnetotellurics.
03:04So, Earth's rotating core creates a magnetic field that surrounds our planet.
03:09Magma flows around the core,
03:10and it contains many magnetic minerals that also create magnetic fields.
03:15Scientists use special instruments that sense those fields emanating from the magma,
03:20like a metal detector senses lost jewelry on the beach.
03:25Using magnetotellurics, they scanned Yellowstone and discovered four large magma reservoirs.
03:31Three of them emitted powerful electromagnetic waves,
03:34and in the fourth, which is in the northeast,
03:37they recorded a much stronger signal from the magnetic field.
03:40This is where the eruption is supposed to occur.
03:43But fortunately, it won't happen soon.
03:46Perhaps in tens of thousands of years.
03:49Perhaps in hundreds.
03:51Phew!
03:51You can relax.
03:53No volcanic apocalypse is coming soon.
03:56But how do scientists know when this magma will start to erupt?
04:00Magma doesn't have a timer, and the volcano doesn't wake up with an alarm clock.
04:04So, magma flows inside the pores of solid rock.
04:09It resembles a dishwashing sponge with lots of small holes through which water passes.
04:15Magma penetrates these pores and fills them.
04:18For magma to start erupting outward, it must fill at least 40% of these pores.
04:23About 20% of them are filled now.
04:26But these hot rocks continue to heat the magma and keep it liquid,
04:30so it can flow between the pores.
04:32At some point, it will connect with other pools of the liquid magma
04:37and become a large stream that will rise to the top.
04:41How can we prevent this from happening?
04:43It seems that the solution here is to cool the balsam rocks.
04:47But it's impossible to do so.
04:50They are several miles deep, they are incandescent, and there are too many of them.
04:55And in any case, trying to cool a part of the Earth's core sounds like a very bad idea.
05:02All we can do is accept that nature has its own plans.
05:06If the eruption occurs in tens or hundreds of thousands of years,
05:10then perhaps humanity will find a way to solve this problem.
05:14If not, then we should prepare for the consequences.
05:17A huge global catastrophe starts with a massive, large-scale explosion.
05:23The erupting magma produces a gigantic amount of ash.
05:27A powerful burst of energy collapses the Earth's crust over the magma reservoir.
05:32This leads to the formation of a giant caldera.
05:36You've probably seen a huge crater in a volcano.
05:39So, this is the caldera.
05:42The natural disaster is so loud, it deafens everyone who is nearby.
05:48The blast wave rises ash and pumice stone at a speed exceeding the speed of sound.
05:53Volcanic materials reach incredibly high altitudes in minutes.
05:58Then, this pillar of ash spreads and plunges a huge territory into darkness.
06:03The incandescent particles in the lower part fall under their own weight and heat the air around them.
06:10It's almost impossible to breathe.
06:12The red-hot pieces of pumice stone and ash set fire to the surroundings.
06:17All this hot mass turns into pyroclastic flows that destroy and burn everything in their path.
06:24Forests, houses, roads, everything turns into coal.
06:28No planes can fly there.
06:31Tiny particles can penetrate engines.
06:34Besides, it's impossible to see through such a dark gray, hot cloud.
06:39It's also dangerous to drive cars.
06:42Volcanic particles can burn tires.
06:45Luckily, thanks to seismic technologies, people have learned in advance about the eruption.
06:50So, everybody has evacuated.
06:52The column of ash that has reached the edge of space continues to expand in different directions.
06:58The wind helps the volcanic dust expand.
07:01A giant, umbrella-like cloud appears over the territory of Yellowstone.
07:06It's getting wider and wider and plunges a huge area into hot darkness.
07:13During the first 24 hours, ash falls on most of the United States and parts of Canada.
07:19It knocks out power lines, pollutes bodies of water, and destroys crops.
07:24Then, the rains begin.
07:26The water mixes with the ash and falls to the ground in the form of gray mud.
07:32And don't forget, it's also poisonous.
07:35The ash contains mercury, arsenic, and lead in large quantities.
07:40Such toxic masses poison rivers, lakes, land, and air.
07:44All this time, the volcano continues to erupt.
07:48The outbursts of magma, ash, and pumice can last for several weeks or even a month.
07:53And this is just the beginning.
07:56The ash soon begins to settle, but the sulfur dioxide released during the eruption spreads all over the atmosphere.
08:03This gas mixes with the atmospheric water vapor and forms an aerosol consisting of small particles.
08:09All this covers the planet like a veil.
08:12This cap makes it difficult for the sun's rays to pass through, which means it lowers the temperature of the Earth's surface.
08:19These events cause a sharp cooling of several degrees in the world.
08:24Farmers lose a huge amount of their crops.
08:27Food prices rise and economies collapse.
08:30There might be a famine all over the planet.
08:34Human civilization can plunge into chaos.
08:36In a few years, the temperature will start rising.
08:41But it will take at least a couple of decades to return to previous standards.
08:46What will become of humanity by that time?
08:48Of course, we will survive.
08:50But we'll have to rebuild our civilization.
08:53But don't be afraid.
08:55If nothing depends on us, let's just enjoy every day of life.
08:59Be grateful and help each other.
09:00Supporting and caring for each other even during the volcanic winter is a guarantee that humanity will survive.
09:09That's it for today.
09:10So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:15Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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