- 2 days ago
A massive crack has just appeared in Yellowstone — and scientists are scrambling to understand what it means. For years, experts have warned us that the supervolcano beneath the park is shifting, breathing, and building pressure. Now this new tear in the landscape has everyone asking the same question: is this the first real warning sign? In this video, we’ll break down what caused the rupture, what it could signal beneath the surface, and why researchers are monitoring the area around the clock. Yellowstone has always been unpredictable, but this time, something feels different. Let’s see what’s really happening under America’s most dangerous volcano. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00It was April 2025 when geologists went back to Yellowstone's Norris Geyser Basin for the first
00:07time this year. And while doing their usual check, they realized that something was different this
00:13time. Where there used to be just a boring patch of ground, now there was a giant hole about 13
00:20feet wide filled with weird, milky, light blue water. Everyone was terrified. Was it the sign
00:27that the Yellowstone supervolcano was ready to erupt? If so, it would be a worldwide disaster,
00:35the kind that destroys cities. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, if such an eruption occurred,
00:41the after-effects would be felt all over the world. To start, the areas immediately surrounding
00:48Yellowstone would experience pyroclastic flows. That's the lava that erupts out of a volcano,
00:54including a high-density mix of volcanic gas, ash, pumice, and hot lava blocks. Those flows would
01:02destroy everything they touch, and an eruption of Yellowstone would send them into Wyoming,
01:08Idaho, and Montana. Areas further away from Yellowstone would escape the flows,
01:14but they would experience falling ash. It would come down heavily in the states closest to the
01:20epicenter. The ash would be especially dangerous for anyone breathing it in. The weight of the ash
01:26would also pose a serious threat. It would smother crops and collapse buildings as it piles up.
01:33Tragic consequences would be countless, but we'll talk about them later, because soon after the
01:39discovery, the weird pit surprised even experts. Geologists found rocks scattered everywhere. Some were
01:47about a foot across, and all of them were dusted with gray mud. This mud matched the walls of the
01:54new spring. It was like the place had simply exploded, but nobody had actually seen it happen.
02:00The team checked old satellite images to figure out when it appeared. In December 2024, the ground was
02:08totally normal. By January 6th, 2025, a little dip had formed. And by February 13th, that water-filled
02:17hole was finally there. But the weird thing was that the sensors that usually pick up major
02:23hydrothermal explosions didn't detect anything. There was no giant blast or warning signs. Later,
02:31it turned out that this puzzling opening in the ground hadn't just popped up in one huge explosion.
02:36Instead, it formed from a bunch of smaller bursts over time. Little explosions first threw out rocks,
02:44then mud, and eventually created the pit. With time, it filled with silica-rich water.
02:51That was a huge relief for everyone. Yellowstone sits on a supervolcano, and its big explosions are a
02:59nightmare scenario. Luckily, this time, it was just a slow-building, small-scale explosion.
03:05It was dramatic, sure, but totally manageable. You see, Yellowstone National Park is full of
03:12geysers, hot springs, and all kinds of natural landscapes. But under the surface, things get
03:19incredibly intense. All because of the supervolcano. Now, supervolcanoes are often extremely large.
03:27They often have no cone at all, since they're typically the remains of gigantic magma chambers.
03:34Once, those chambers flared up, leaving behind a caldera. They're usually located over hot spots.
03:41It's no surprise that supervolcanoes can produce supereruptions. And when they do it,
03:47they blow more than 240 cubic miles of ash, molten rock, and hot gases up into the air.
03:54In other words, four supereruptions could fill the Grand Canyon to the brim.
04:01Supervolcanoes form when huge volumes of scorching-hot magma escape from deep underground.
04:07This magma rises close to the surface but can't break through Earth's crust. So,
04:13a pressurized pool of bubbling magma gathers at a depth of only several miles. The pressure keeps
04:20growing because more and more magma is trying to get to the surface. And then, bang, a supereruption
04:27occurs. Now, back in 2015, researchers at the University of Utah mapped out the main magma chamber
04:34of the Yellowstone supervolcano and were shocked by its size. And then, they found another one below it.
04:42Together, these underground magma pools could hold enough molten rock to fill the Grand Canyon
04:4811 times. All that magma pushes up on the ground above, which is why Yellowstone rises about an inch
04:56or two every year. That slow lift might not sound like much, but combine it with the fact that Yellowstone
05:03is still an active volcano and has a volcanic explosivity index of 8, and it's enough to make
05:11you wonder what could happen if things went south. And yes, Yellowstone has indeed been a bit jumpy in
05:18recent years. In March 2023, there were 354 earthquakes in the area. Most were tiny, but the biggest hit a
05:27magnitude 3.7, part of a swarm of 106 quakes. Now, before you freak out, experts from the Yellowstone
05:36Volcano Observatory say there's no need to panic. No eruption is coming anytime soon. Volcanoes don't
05:44stick to a schedule. Just because Yellowstone hasn't erupted in a long time doesn't mean it's about to
05:50blow. The park is stable, for now. But scientists are keeping a close eye on everything underground.
05:57The quakes, the rising ground, and even temperature changes, just to be safe.
06:04The superhot plume of magma, a hotspot under Yellowstone, has been churning for 17 million
06:11years. The Earth's crust slowly moved over it, making the hotspot leave a trail of volcanoes
06:17stretching more than 450 miles along the Snake River plain. Most of those ancient ones are now buried
06:25under layers of lava and sediment. In just the past 2.1 million years, Yellowstone has unleashed
06:32three cataclysmic eruptions. So massive, they managed to reshape the land. Each explosion sent
06:39pyroclastic flows, rivers of searing hot rock, ash, and pumice racing outward for miles. The debris
06:47piled up in layers hundreds of feet thick, some forming solid, lava-like rock. When those eruptions
06:54emptied the underground magma chambers, the roof collapsed, forming the massive calderas we see
07:00today. Even after those mega-eruptions, Yellowstone didn't stop. Between 180,000 and 70,000 years ago,
07:10enormous rhyolite lava flows, sometimes over 144 cubic miles, poured out. Some flows followed north-south
07:20vent lines. The West Yellowstone flow erupted around 110,000 years ago. The Nez Perez Creek flow
07:27followed 160,000 years ago. If you stand at Madison Junction, on the caldera's northwest rim,
07:35you can see it. A cliff that formed when the Lava Creek Tough eruption collapsed the land 640,000 years ago.
07:43And inside the caldera, you'll see the hardened lava flows snaking across the floor. Figuring out when a
07:51supervolcano might blow is like being able to read nature's warning signals. Thousands of years before
07:58a massive eruption, the heat underground starts building, and the magma chambers become like ticking
08:05pressure cookers. Little signs start showing up, gas bubbles escape as the pressure shifts,
08:11and earthquakes shake the ground. The land above slowly rises. Cracks appear. Hot springs and geysers
08:19start acting up, heating even more than usual. Now, what would happen if Yellowstone erupted?
08:26Remember those pyroclastic flows we talked about before? They can contain two parts. The lower flow of
08:33the hot lava that moves at ground level, and a cloud of ash that follows above the lava level. So the two of
08:40them would devastate huge areas. The ash would even reach Europe within three to four days of the
08:47eruption. But it wouldn't be so bad there. After that, it would only take around two to three weeks
08:53before cooler temperatures set in around the globe, all thanks to the sulfur gas that would get to the
08:59upper atmosphere after the eruption. Scientists predict that global temperatures would drop by up to 10 to
09:0612 degrees. These consequences could last for 6 to 10 years, putting an end to monsoons, which could
09:14cause widespread famine in Asia. Scared? Well, don't be. The good news is that scientists don't believe
09:22that the sleeping giant under Yellowstone National Park will wake up in our lifetime. Experts say the
09:29next Yellowstone eruption won't likely happen for hundreds of thousands of years. And even then,
09:35it may not be that bad, because scientists have discovered that the magma lurking within Yellowstone
09:41is actually split up amongst four different chambers. Not only that, but some of the reservoirs
09:48of magma are likely to cool down and solidify, lessening the chances of an eruption. So while an
09:56eruption does sound like it would change the landscape of the world, it's very unlikely to happen anytime soon.
10:03There's an old volcano in Bolivia called Uttarunku. It has interrupted in about 250,000 years.
10:11So you may think that's the end of its story. But recently, it has started to act a little strangely.
10:19At the moment, it resembles a zombie that's waking up from a long nap. Uh-oh, is that kind of apocalypse
10:27nearing? Uttarunku is a huge mountain in the Andes that's almost 20,000 feet tall. It's called a
10:34stratovolcano, which means it's big, steep, and cone-shaped. These kinds of volcanoes are made from
10:42layers of lava, ash, and rocks. They can have terrifying, powerful, explosive eruptions because
10:49their lava is thick and traps gas inside. Think of it like a shaken-up soda that's ready to burst.
10:57Famous ones like Mount Vesuvius are just like Uttarunku. And do you remember about the tragic
11:03fate of Pompeii, completely destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius? Does something similar
11:09await Bolivia? Even though Uttarunku has been quiet for a long, long time, scientists have noticed that
11:17it's been letting out gas, rumbling with small earthquakes, and even making the ground around
11:23it bulge, kind of like it's stretching. So, people started wondering if it was getting ready to erupt
11:30again. Scientists decided to take a closer look at this situation and found out that liquid and gas
11:37moving around under the volcano is causing all this activity. It doesn't mean the volcano is
11:44definitely going to erupt, but it helps explain why it still seems alive. Let's dive into details.
11:53Since the 1990s, scientists have been using satellites and GPS to keep an eye on the ground
11:59around the Uttarunku volcano. At one point, they noticed something weird. The ground was rising in
12:06the middle and sinking around the edges, kind of like a sombrero hat. The middle part has been slowly
12:13going up for at least 50 years, by about 0.4 inches a year. It doesn't sound like a lot, but hold on.
12:21This strange shape, along with lots of tiny earthquakes and gas like carbon dioxide coming
12:27out of the volcano, made scientists think that there might be a giant blob of magma growing under the
12:34mountain. If that were true, it could mean only one scary thing. The volcano could be getting ready to erupt.
12:41Uttarunku sits on top of a huge underground pool of magma called the Altiplano Puna magma body.
12:50This pool is really big and really deep, stretching under parts of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
12:58Scientists thought that magma from the APMB might be rising and collecting near the surface,
13:03which could lead to an eruption. But now, after studying more than 1,700 earthquakes and checking the rocks
13:13around the volcano, scientists have a new idea. Apparently, it's not magma rising up. Instead, hot fluids and gases
13:23are traveling up from the APMB through a narrow path shaped like a chimney. These gases, like steam and CO2,
13:31can get trapped under the top of the volcano, while salty water, brine, spreads out sideways into tiny
13:38cracks in the rocks. This moving gas and water can make the ground rise and fall and cause small
13:46quakes, without any magma getting close to the surface. So the good news is, Uttarunku probably isn't
13:54about to erupt. If it did happen, it would cause serious damage to nearby communities, and even pose
14:01a threat to human lives. Lava flows could reach towns tens of miles away from the volcano, and volcanic
14:08ash could even spread across Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. Luckily, even though the volcano is still
14:17alive and rumbling, it's not as dangerous as scientists once thought. This discovery might
14:23help scientists figure out if other volcanoes around the world are getting ready to erupt.
14:29Now, let's visit Alaska, where according to researchers, Mount Spur might erupt soon.
14:36It's letting out strange amounts of volcanic gases from the top and side vent, the very vent that last
14:43erupted in 1992. If it erupts again, it could cause problems for airplanes flying nearby and might send
14:51ash falling from the sky. The good news is that nobody lives close to it, so people are safe for now.
14:59But even though Mount Spur isn't super dangerous, there are other volcanoes around the world that could
15:06be really destructive. One of those is Campi-Falegri, a giant volcano system near the city of
15:13Naples. Instead of one big mountain, it has 24 craters spread across the area. It last erupted
15:21in 1538, but its biggest eruption happened about 40,000 years ago. That explosion covered the whole
15:30Mediterranean region in ash and made temperatures drop by up to 16.2 degrees Fahrenheit in Eastern
15:37Europe, which led to a very cold volcanic winter. If Campi-Falegri erupted again today, it could be
15:46very dangerous. It might cover Naples and nearby places in ash, causing earthquakes and landslides,
15:54and create air pollution and acid rain. Scientists are keeping an eye on it, especially after a 4.4
16:02magnitude earthquake shook the area in March 2025. But the good news is there's no sign that magma is
16:10rising to the surface right now, which means an eruption isn't expected soon. Still, since Italy
16:17has a lot of volcanic activity, experts continue to watch it carefully. Mount Vesuvius is also in Italy
16:27and is one of the most famous volcanoes in the world. It's known for its huge eruption in 79 CE that buried
16:35the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The last time the volcano erupted was in 1944.
16:43Today, Vesuvius is even more dangerous because over 3 million people live near it. Around 700,000 people
16:52are living illegally right on its slopes, which puts them even more at risk. If the volcano erupts
16:59again, it could send rocks and ash flying through the air at nearly 100 miles per hour and cause major
17:06destruction, possibly even wiping out Naples. And still, scientists believe a big eruption from Vesuvius
17:14probably won't happen for a few hundred more years. But since it's still an active volcano,
17:20researchers continue to monitor it. Cumbre Vieja is a volcano on the island of La Palma,
17:28which is part of the Canary Islands. It last erupted in 2021. During that eruption,
17:35lava poured out of the volcano and flowed all the way to the sea. It destroyed over 3,000 homes.
17:42But luckily, thousands of people were safely evacuated, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
17:48In the past, scientists were worried that a huge eruption could cause the entire western side of
17:55the volcano to break off and crash into the ocean. This could create a mega tsunami, sending massive
18:02waves hundreds of feet high across the Atlantic Ocean. But more recent studies have shown that this
18:10is very unlikely to happen. Mount St. Helens is a volcano in Washington State in the United States.
18:18It had a massive eruption in May 1980 that ended the lives of 57 people. That eruption also caused the
18:27biggest landslide ever recorded. Hot pressurized magma exploded from the volcano, shooting ash 15 miles
18:35into the sky. Ash covered a huge area, and around 230 square miles of land was destroyed.
18:44Mount St. Helens is still active and is expected to erupt again someday, possibly even in our lifetimes.
18:52But experts say it's not likely to have another huge sideways blast like the one in 1980,
18:58thanks to a deep crater that is now formed at the top. It will change the way the volcano might erupt.
19:05Popocatepetil is a big, active volcano in Mexico. It's been slowly erupting on and off since the early
19:152000s. It's really close to a lot of people, just 40 miles from the Mexico City metropolitan area,
19:22which has about 22 million people, and 30 miles from Puebla, which is home to about 6 million inhabitants.
19:30If Popocatepetil had a huge eruption, it could cover Mexico City in thick ash as much as 8 inches deep.
19:40That ash could block drains, mess up the water, and even stop the electricity from working.
19:46Even worse, fast-moving lava and super-hot flows, called pyroclastic flows,
19:52could rush down the mountain and destroy towns nearby.
19:55The volcano was quiet for 50 years, but now it rumbles and shakes pretty often.
20:03There have been over a dozen small eruptions, including some as recent as February 2024.
20:10Some nearby places got covered in ash, but scientists say this isn't too surprising,
20:16and they're keeping a close eye on it.
20:19That's it for today. So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and
20:24share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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