Things are getting hotter than a Dutton family feud.
Yellowstone National Park, known for erupting geysers like Old Faithful, is home to considered one of earth’s largest volcanic systems, with the capability to wreak havoc on a complete continent — and components of that so-called supervolcano are on the move, experts say.
A latest study published in Nature suggested that Yellowstone’s magma and other superheated components have “shifted” northeast of the park’s sprawling caldera — a huge volcanic crater naturally created a whole lot of 1000’s of years ago.
Nevertheless, Americans needn’t panic about waking up under a blanket of molten ash anytime soon, lead writer Nifna Bennington, geophysicist of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told the Washington Post.
“Nowhere in Yellowstone do we now have regions which might be able to eruption,” the magma maven explained.
In other words, it can not be a problem during our lifetime.
“There will probably be eruptions, but it can probably be 1000’s of years before we are able to expect an eruption,” Erik Klemetti Gonzalez, an earth and planetary sciences professor at Denison University who was not involved within the study, added.
He believes the shift results from the gradual southwestward movement of the North American tectonic plate, extending well north of Canada and as far south as Mexico.
The last eruption to occur at Yellowstone was 70,000 years ago, based on the USA Geological Survey.
It paled compared to the three “extremely large explosive eruptions” massive enough to fill the Grand Canyon with lava and ash inside the past two million years.
Bennington added that this latest discovery is unlikely to affect park visitors’ experiences in the good outdoors.
Geology experts also reported in June that Mount Saint Helens in Washington was entering a phase of “recharging” as its magma began to repressurize.
At the tip of December, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, considered one of the world’s most energetic, began erupting again.
Things are getting hotter than a Dutton family feud.
Yellowstone National Park, known for erupting geysers like Old Faithful, is home to considered one of earth’s largest volcanic systems, with the capability to wreak havoc on a complete continent — and components of that so-called supervolcano are on the move, experts say.
A latest study published in Nature suggested that Yellowstone’s magma and other superheated components have “shifted” northeast of the park’s sprawling caldera — a huge volcanic crater naturally created a whole lot of 1000’s of years ago.
Nevertheless, Americans needn’t panic about waking up under a blanket of molten ash anytime soon, lead writer Nifna Bennington, geophysicist of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told the Washington Post.
“Nowhere in Yellowstone do we now have regions which might be able to eruption,” the magma maven explained.
In other words, it can not be a problem during our lifetime.
“There will probably be eruptions, but it can probably be 1000’s of years before we are able to expect an eruption,” Erik Klemetti Gonzalez, an earth and planetary sciences professor at Denison University who was not involved within the study, added.
He believes the shift results from the gradual southwestward movement of the North American tectonic plate, extending well north of Canada and as far south as Mexico.
The last eruption to occur at Yellowstone was 70,000 years ago, based on the USA Geological Survey.
It paled compared to the three “extremely large explosive eruptions” massive enough to fill the Grand Canyon with lava and ash inside the past two million years.
Bennington added that this latest discovery is unlikely to affect park visitors’ experiences in the good outdoors.
Geology experts also reported in June that Mount Saint Helens in Washington was entering a phase of “recharging” as its magma began to repressurize.
At the tip of December, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, considered one of the world’s most energetic, began erupting again.
