Things are getting hotter than a Dutton family feud.
Yellowstone National Park, known for erupting geysers like Old Faithful, is home to one of Earth’s largest volcanic systems, with the capacity to wreak havoc on an entire continent — and the components of that so-called supervolcano are on the move. say the experts.
A new study published in Nature suggested that Yellowstone’s magma and other superheated components have “shifted” to the northeast of the park’s great caldera – a giant volcanic crater created naturally hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Still, Americans shouldn’t panic about waking up under a blanket of molten ash anytime soon, lead author Nifna Bennington, a geophysicist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told the Washington Post.
“Nowhere in Yellowstone do we have regions that are capable of erupting,” the magma maven explained.
In other words, it won’t be a problem in our lifetime.
“There will be explosions, but it will probably be thousands of years before we can expect an explosion,” added Erik Klemetti Gonzalez, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Denison University who was not involved in the study.
He believes the shift results from the gradual southwestward movement of the North American tectonic plate, which stretches well north of Canada and as far south as Mexico.
The last eruption that occurred at Yellowstone was 70,000 years ago, according to the United States Geological Survey.
It paled in comparison to three “extremely large explosive eruptions” massive enough to fill the Grand Canyon with lava and ash within the past two million years.
Bennington added that this new discovery is unlikely to affect park visitors’ outdoor experiences.
Geology experts also reported in June that Washington’s Mount Saint Helens was entering a “recharge” phase as its magma began to press down.
In late December, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, one of the most active in the world, began erupting again.
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Image Source : nypost.com