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Super Volcanoes
Super Volcanoes What are they? Super volcanoes were once the most powerful, destructive forces that ever occurred on Earth, still being a danger to us at present. When one of these super volcanoes decides to erupt, everything near and far is in peril with devastating effects on our entire planet, even to the point of eradicating much of the human population entirely. Mt. St. Helen's in comparison would look like a mere puff of smoke or an angry dragon blowing off steam.
The difference between a regular volcano and a super volcano is its size and power. Located between the core of the earth and its crust, lays what is known as the mantle. Magma, which is molten matter under the crust, creates igneous rock which is formed by cooling and hardening after it erupts. This rock helps volcanologists and geologists do their studies and educate us. Igneous rocks shows the conditions on how they were formed and can give us clues to the eruption itself. A caldera forms when a volcano erupts and the magma is released, leaving the chamber empty so it collapses inward, creating a large crater. These are called caldera volcanoes or super volcanoes.
A regular volcano is normally a cone shaped mountain which contain many chambers leading to the top. The magma slowly creeps its way from deep inside following one of the many paths to the surface, breaking free from the pressure through a thin veil of rocks and finally erupting. When this occurs, the volcano spews hot lava, gases, and rocks hundreds of feet into the air and down the sides, eventually cooling and hardening into layers along the mountain side. Any eruptions that are rated VEI8 are considered super eruptions by volcanologists and scientists.
On the other hand, super volcanoes lie quietly dormant deep down under the earths crust for thousands of years slowly building up enormous amounts of magma. The magma keeps building and eventually rises up from the mantle through the chamber creating a colossal pressure with no release. Huge rocks and thick layers of crust prevent the volcano from erupting through the years and this is what causes a super volcano to grow in intensity. When the pressure finally reaches its thresh hold and explodes, the impact and noise could possibly be heard and felt around the world.
Toba Caldera located in Sumatra was the last super volcano to erupt over 74,000 years ago. This super volcano was ten thousand times bigger than Mt. St. Helen, and the dramatic disaster affected all life on earth blasting ash and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, and causing the earths temperature to drop considerably. Volcanologists believe mankind was close to extinction with only a few thousand people surviving, killing off 75% of the plant and animal life in the northern hemisphere.
The effects a super volcano would have on our planet would be horrendous. The sheer force of this eruption would clearly rock the entire earth throwing poisonous gases, thick ash and lava up into the atmosphere, blacking out the sun, creating severe earthquakes and powerful tsunamis. Climatic changes would occur quickly with temperatures falling dramatically creating a Nuclear Winter, and ash would consume the earth in places thousands of miles away, making it impossible to breath normally. Many species of plants and animals would soon disappear only to become extinct.
Several known super volcanoes are located throughout the world. Three are in the USA with locations in Yellowstone National Park, Long Valley, California, and Valle Calderas in New Mexico. The others are Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Lake Taupo Volcano in New Zealand, Aira Caldera in Japan, Siberian Traps in Russia, and in the Sesia Valley, Italy.
Yellowstone Park in the USA has one of the largest super volcanoes in the world, and scientists feel it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years, with the last eruption 640,000 years ago. Does this mean we are overdue for another? They have been tracking the magma movement and have found that the ground has risen over 70 centimeters in this century alone and are concerned if this is pressure building. The impact of a Yellowstone eruption would be catastrophic and terrifying with huge areas of the USA being completely wiped out. Constant activity in Yellowstone include geysers, hot springs, and many small earthquakes letting everyone know the volcano is alive and well.
Do we need to worry? It's theorized that the Earth has been here for over 4 billion years so there is no reason to believe that an eruption from one of these powerful forces will wipe out mankind. Scientists don't know when this will happen, or where, but they know it will someday. Careful watch is kept on these known dragons sleeping under our feet and records are kept. Global warming plus the loss of habitat in the world is already producing mass extinction on our planet, and these need to be placed on the priority list first, as this are happening now.
Below are some videos...
This first video is a long one but it will keep you entertained and scare the crap out of you at the same time.
Here is a little shorter video done by the History Channel.
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