Yellowstone Caldera?

Question

Is it true that the magma below the Yellowstone Caldera is moving? If so, why?

Is Yellowstone likely to erupt within the next 1-10 or 20-50 years?

Also, since Yellowstone is considered a supervalcano, what impact will its explosion have on the United States and North America? I understand that it will have global effects also, but I'm interested in the direct impact on the US.

Thanks in advance to all serious responses.

(And please cross your fingers for my upcoming trip.)

Answer 1

We're all gonna die!

Answer 2

Yellowstone is a caldera, but the magma isn't moving, Yellowstone is, or I should say that the North American plate is moving. Since Yellowstone is on that plate, it too is moving.
Yellowstone is located on a hot spot. That means that a plume of magma is rising from the core (and heating rocks as it does so to create more magma) creating a volcano. If you look at a geologic map of the United States, you'll see what looks like a big scar running along the northwestern part of the U.S. That scar is the trail of the hot spot as it traveled over the last several millions of years. That trail ends with Yellowstone.

Yellowstone is a supervolcano, and when it does erupt, I would not want to be in the western U.S.A. It will pretty much kill everything in the U.S. It is overdue for an eruption, but that may not happen even in your lifetime. Sorry to scare you, but it could also happen very soon. If that were the case, the volcano itself would give off warnings. However, those warnings may not come in time to really do anything, since when it does erupt, it will go big, and life on in the states will pretty much be sad.

where exactly the volcano affects will depend on certain circumstances. These include, but are not limited too: weather, wind direction, wind speed, magnitude of eruption, amount of volcanic ejecta.
The direction of the wind will tell you where the ash is likely to fall. Wind speed will tell you how fast and how far that ash and ejecta (rocks and such) will travel.
Because it is called a supervolcano, know that when it does go, it will release a lot of volcanic debris including ash, pumice, lava, and very likely send pyroclastic flows down one side or another (or all).

try this website for more information:
http://www.unmuseum.org/supervol.htm



I hope this helps (and doesn't scare you too much). Yellowstone is one of those things in geology that can happen any time, or not at all, and its hard to know. Take with a grain of salt all of those websites blasting information about it going for sure tomorrow or very soon. We're not sure about that much.

Answer 3

Don't worry about it This is normal there are always earthquake swarms in Yellowstone. This is normal activity. If the earthquake swarms stopped, then I'd start worrying Anyway, if Yellowstone erupts, there is still only a small chance it will be a catastrophic event. Most of Yellowstone's eruptions are minor. If it was a catastrophic event, then just about everybody in the USA will be screwed one way or another

Answer 4

From what I've read and heard from jake lowenstern of yellowstone volcano observatory it pretty unlikely a supervolcano will occur any time soon.

There is a certain amount of uplift in several areas of the park, but it is speculated this is primarily from hydrothermal activity (per Lowenstern) ..

Another part of that is the "hotspot" could we be under the Absoraka range which will minimize the possibility of a "Super" happening.

No doubt yellowstone is active and has been so for a long time, Lowenstern speculated on the Science channel of smaller magmatic flows, in the neighborhood of a St Helen's type event, this is more likely as these occur on more periodic basis, and have in the past.. The last Super are 600,000 yrs ago, but a multitude of St Helen type events have happened in closer time lines.

Enjoy your trip to the park, It is beautiful and a must see. I love Wyoming, another part of the state to see is Medicine Bow, and the Wind River Range. Well worth a week or more in the state to see it all.

Answer 5

The caldera is NOT moving. A caldera is a depression formed from an eruption, and once it's there, it stays. The hot spot which contributes to Yellowstone's magmatic activity is moving to the notheast. It used to be around the northernmost Nevada-Idaho border. The snake river plain and places like Craters of the Moon, ID are all a result of this migration.

There is always a chance of eruption, but we'd probably have lots of warning. There would be rising magma, lots of earthquakes, small eruptions, etc. before it went off again.

Yellowstone's past eruptions are some of the biggest on record, over 1000 times bigger than Mt. St. Helens. An eruption of that size (as mentioned before, the last one was .77 million years ago) could theoretically destroy civalization as we know it. There would be widestread imediate death in the western US, but the climate changes could be drastic and last decades, which could cause worldwide fammine. In the US, cities would be buried in ash, harmful gas contents and particulates would be dangerous to breathe. Past Yellowstone eruption material has been found as far away as California and Nebraska.

Answer 6

First, it is true that the Caldera is moving. Actually, the Caldera has risen something like 2 cm in the last year. It moves up and down about 2 cm each year, so that's normal. There's a major volcanic eruption about every 100,000 years. The last major eruption was about 70,000 years ago. Also, there's a smaller eruption about once every 20,000 years, the last one was about 13,000 years ago. There are lava flows from time to time, which is most likely to occur soon, but there probably won't be an eruption there for at least another 1,000 years. Of course, that could be off, since that's just an estimate, and we're talking about nature. You never truly know.

Answer 7

yellowstone will NOT erupt.
alot of tv programs are talking like it will, but it will not erupt.
there is NO danger of anything happening.

there is more danger to you living in San Jose, CA from the fault line that resides under the pacific northwest. right off the coast of WA state is a huge plate boundary that is slipping.
this will cause a major quake and tsunami that will wipe you out.

read up about it online.
this is real stuff.

Answer 8

More like the next 100 years+

but alot of Vacainos are waking up

Answer 9

yeah it's moving, but it's been moving for a while. if it blows we're screwed, but st. helens should go first