Yellowstone supervolcano overdue to erupt?

Question

I saw on a tv program that scientists believe the yellowstone supervolcano erupts approximately every 600,000 years.

and the last eruption was 640,000 years ago.

what do you think about that?

Answer 1

WAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

Rolsen goes screaming and running away in fear!

Answer 2

That the possibillity is very high that these vulcano eruptes in the next time. Maybe in 1000 years.

Franky

Answer 3

i was just reading that in a book about an hour ago! i think alot of things are "overdue" and this is just another 'estimate' for scientists to use our tax money on. what about you?

Answer 4

lol I live in the Northwest, so I hope not ^_~. Volcanoes are not that predictable; "approximately" on this kind of scale would probably mean "give or take 50,000 years". By that point, we'd all be dead anyways. It might erupt today in 2008....and it might erupt in 35276.

Answer 5

12/12/2012

Answer 6

haha sweettt.. im going there this summer, wonder if ill see itt eruptt! lol

Answer 7

I actually saw the same show I think. At first I was quite nervous and planned out an emergancy evacuation just in case it were to erupt. Unfortunatly for me, I;m in colorado and don't stand much of a chance to begin my evacuation before I am a goner. Now, I just enjoy everyday to the fullest and hope that it doesn't go off soon.

Answer 8

I think it's scary..and I hope it dosen't erupt until I'm dead and gone..'cause I'm deathly afraid of tornadoes..and that's even worse..I watched a movie over it, and when it does explode, volcanic ash is going to go all over the world, and they're going to have to wear masks, because if that ash gets into your lungs, it becomes concrete, and can kill you.

SCARY!

:)

Answer 9

its onna erupt watc out yua

Answer 10

I think about that volcano like every other day..

It's annoying that its not erupting yet.

I mean i'm not looking forward to it.

But no one like the anxious wait.

Answer 11

Yea History Channel

They said it could explode tomorrow or it could explode in a century lol

But if this happens

See Ya Human Race

Answer 12

I was a little concerned when I first saw the show, but after looking up information from the USGS, it doesn't appear to be overdue and the alert level is normal.  Also, they think that any eruption in the near future is likely to be steam eruptions, rather than volcanic.

Is it true that the next caldera-forming eruption of Yellowstone is overdue?

No. First of all, one cannot present recurrence intervals based on only two values. It would be statistically meaningless. But for those who insist... let's do the arithmetic. The three eruptions occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million and 0.64 million years ago. The two intervals are thus 0.8 and 0.66 million years, averaging to a 0.73 million-year interval. Again, the last eruption was 0.64 million years ago, implying that we are still about 90,000 years away from the time when we might consider calling Yellowstone overdue for another caldera-forming eruption. Nevertheless, we cannot discount the possibility of another such eruption occurring some time in the future, given Yellowstone's volcanic history and the continued presence of magma beneath the Yellowstone caldera.

The most likely type of eruption would not be volcanic but, rather, hydrothermal. This type of small, but still explosive eruption can occur from shallow reservoirs of steam or hot water rather than molten rock. These reservoirs are the sources of Yellowstone's famous geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Such explosions could blast out shallow craters more than a kilometer wide; as has occurred in the northern Yellowstone Lake Basin, including Mary Bay and nearby Turbid Lake and Indian Pond, and in western Yellowstone National Park north of Old Faithful. Each of these craters was produced by steam blasts within the past few thousand years.

The most likely type of volcanic eruption at Yellowstone would produce lava flows of either rhyolite or basalt; rhyolitic lava eruptions could also include explosive phases that might produce significant volumes of volcanic ash and pumice. Such eruptions could range in size from smaller than the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens through much larger than the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption.

The least likely but worst-case volcanic eruption at Yellowstone would be another explosive caldera-forming eruption such as those that occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and 640,000 years ago. However, the probability of such an eruption in any given century or millennium is exceedingly low- much lower than the smaller eruptions mentioned above.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 11:45 MDT

Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL

Aviation Color Code: GREEN

Answer 13

Fortunately, the Yellowstone volcanic system shows no signs that it is headed toward such an eruption in the near future. In fact, the probability of any such event occurring at Yellowstone within the next few thousand years is exceedingly low.

Answer 14

its way overdue, when it blows the whole world is in troubele, more than u think possible

peace and love,

if u were there u would die, it would be like hundreds of nukes all goin off at once, ud be vaporived

Answer 15

Being overdue doesn't mean anything. Its other signs we should look at. And Yellowstone looks pretty lazy at the moment to me and the vulcanologist's. There's plenty more to be worried about than statistics saying something should happen, rather than the facts.

Answer 16

i saw it also it's still alive and it can erupt but no one knows when and it's expected to kill most of north america