Re: Yellowstone Volcano is way over due
Posted by nyjames11955 on 1/27/2011, 10:10 pm
Some scientists believe that the Toba eruption, which caused global climatic disturbances, may have even caused a genetic "bottleneck" in human genetic diversity following a dramatic decline in the global population. If the Yellowstone supervolcano were to erupt in a similar fashion the ash that it would spew out would cover three-quarters of North America in a layer deep enough to kill crops and other plants.
 
Few people would survive in the zone immediately around the eruption as the volcanic gases and choking sulphur dioxide would burn the lungs of anyone caught in the open air. Those sheltering in their homes would not be safe because layers of heavy volcanic ash would eventually cause their roofs to collapse.
 
The supervolcanic eruption of the Toba volcano in Sumatra ejected about 300 times more volcanic ash than the eruption of Tambora in Indonesia in 1815 - which caused a "year without a summer" in 1816 and prompted Lord Byron to write his poem "Darkness".
 
A report on supervolcanoes compiled by the Geological Society states: "It is easy to imagine that an eruption on the scale of Toba would have devastating global effects. A layer of ash estimated at 15 cm thick fell over the entire Indian subcontinent with similar amounts over much of south-east Asia. Most recently, the Toba ash has been found in the South China Sea, implying that several centimetres also covered southern China.
 
"Just one centimetre of ash is enough to devastate agricultural activity ... Many millions of lives throughout most of Asia would be threatened if Toba erupted today," it says.
 
Ms Orr said the University of Utah and the UK Met Office had helped to compile a map of the fallout that might result from the eruption of ash from the Yellowstone supervolcano.
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Yellowstone Volcano is way over due - ArgosyTn, 1/27/2011, 10:57 am
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