The Yellowstone caldera is labelled a supervolcano due to its ability to inflict devastation on a global level. Pinned between the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the volcano is constantly monitored by the USGS (United States Geological Survey) for signs that a supereruption is on its way. An eruption of this kind has not occurred for more than 630,000 years, yet scientists are still concerned over the effects it could have on the Earth.
Larry Mastin, a USGS Hydrologist, worked with fellow colleague Jacob Lowenstern in 2016 to produce a paper on the ash-fall impacts in the event of another supereruption.
Speaking during a public lecture the same year, he explained: “The objective was to see how the growth of umbrella clouds would affect ash distribution from Yellowstone.
“We did a few dozen simulations starting with an erupted volume of a few hundred cubic kilometres of magma.
“So this is – if you consider the volume of tephra that expands as it erupts – the volume of the tephra blanket that forms would be a few times greater than that of the magma alone.
A Yellowstone volcano eruption could see a huge ash cloud produced (Image: USGS/GETTY)
Yellowstone volcano last erupted 70,000 years ago (Image: GETTY)
We used a duration that ranged from three days to one month
Larry Mastin
“So this would be comparable to a tephra volume over 1,000 cubic kilometres.
“We used a duration that ranged from three days to one month and an umbrella cloud height that ranged from about 15 to 35 kilometres (nine to 18 miles).
“The wind fields were randomly chosen from historical patterns, but turns out they are actually not that important.”
Mr Mastin then demonstrated how a Yellowstone supereruption would bury the majority of North America in ash, with some regions more heavily affected than others.
He detailed how the duration of the eruption, or the time of year seemed to make little change on its consequences.
He added: “So in these simulations you can see, that over a three-day period, this umbrella cloud covers most of the North American continent.
