Our Impending Doom
February 19, 2019
“This is a true story, it just hasn’t happened yet.” -SuperVolcano
We all know about Yellowstone National Park, home to many tourist attractions and many family vacations. Yellowstone gets around four to almost six million visitors a year. But what most of those visitors don’t know, they’re sitting on the world’s largest volcano that has an eruption so big, it could wipe out the United States. Experts have analyzed previous eruptions to gather more data on what we’re looking at now, the eruption of Mount St Helen in 1980 covered 60% of the US in volcanic ash. The ash came down like snow and lasted for months and it looked as if there was no end in sight. Volcanic ash is a deadly combination of Carbon Dioxide and Fluorine. If inhaled small or large amounts can cause major lung/breathing problems and even death from suffocation.
We’ve seen what a normal volcano can do to an entire country, what would something of an extremely higher magnitude cause? What about something 5,000km^3 its size? This volcano isn’t like the others, it doesn’t stand high and noticeable for everyone to see. It’s hidden under Yellowstone National Park where millions of footsteps by travelers and tourists are walking over their impending doom. The eruption could happen tomorrow or it could happen within the next hundred thousand years from now. But scientists say we experience a “supereruption” every six hundred thousand years, we are currently forty thousand years overdue.
According to the Yellowstone National Park website, “Current geologic activity at Yellowstone has remained relatively constant since scientists first started monitoring more than 30 years ago. Another caldera-forming eruption is theoretically possible, but it is very unlikely in the next thousand or even 10,000 years. Scientists have also found no indication of an imminent smaller eruption of lava.”
Since humanity first stumbled upon Yellowstone, it has been an active volcanic region, with steaming springs, shooting geysers, and thousands of mostly undetectable earthquakes happening each year. This is normal. But if masses of magma begin stirring up beneath the ground, we’ll know something terrible is brewing.
Yellowstone has the potential to destroy us. But it won’t surprise us.
Noah G. • Mar 4, 2019 at 3:01 pm
This is really interesting! I never knew that Yosemite is the site of the worlds largest volcano. I think it is really crazy that we have been walking over extremely dangerous sites without even knowing it! I would have never thought we were in risk of extinction by volcano.
Dhruv Kesavarapu • Mar 4, 2019 at 3:00 pm
Very interesting article! I didn’t know about this dangerous threat until i read this article. I did know that there was a volcano, but I didn’t know that it could erupt at literally any time. Thanks for the very important info!
Danna Catalan • Mar 4, 2019 at 2:55 pm
Its good to know these things ans its good to be aware of these situtions
Alberto • Mar 4, 2019 at 2:49 pm
This article was pretty interesting about the Yellow Stone Volcano. 40 thousand years overdue is a lot I wonder when it is going to happen. Hopefully the Volcano will stop being volcanic active so it will not erupt. Anyways great information really interesting.
Joseph N. • Mar 4, 2019 at 2:43 pm
Do we know why Yellowstone hasn’t erupted yet or is that another one of those top ten questions scientists still can’t answer?
esha • Mar 4, 2019 at 2:41 pm
woowwwww! I didńt know that many people visited Yellowstone. Is there any way we as humans could possibly trigger or delay an eruption?
Alex • Mar 4, 2019 at 2:37 pm
This article has made me appreciate natural landmarks more because the could disappear or change.
David Blaz • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:49 pm
This article was indeed very informative and eye grabbing. It’s quite crazy how this volcano has been around for thousands of years just waiting to “impend its doom”. The fact scientists don’t know when it will erupt is the scariest part. Overall this article was very interesting and unique.
Maxwell Kozlov • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:49 pm
It is interesting to think about what will happen to humanity if the volcano erupted and wiped the US off the face of the earth. How will things change. Solid article, very interesting.
Ian Tuohy • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:47 pm
I really enjoyed reading this article. It was very informative and the idea that one of our national parks could also destroy our country is astonishing. Definitely something to keep in mind while I explore our country’s wildlife over the coming years.
Jason T • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:45 pm
I liked the article and thought it was interesting. However, i would like to know more about the actual predicted affects of a Yellow Stone eruption.
JaVere Lyons • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:45 pm
I had no clue that this eruption was forty thousand years overdue, wow. This is really insightful
Joey Linares • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:44 pm
Being someone who is into knowing about how our lives would be wiped away at any given moment and reading this is appealing to me. I don’t know about you but hearing people deny that our environment that we live in and the surrounding land is not undergoing changes that would potentially harm us really is irritating. I love the article and I love that you are stating information that will catch someone’s attention is pretty awesome. I love the numbers, I love all the facts actually. I hope you feel confident about this article! It’s really snazzy in my opinion! ~ Joey
Patrick Rinnert • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:43 pm
This article was very informative and eye opening. Its crazy to think that a volcano most of us aren’t even aware of could erupt at any time. Articles like this are important for the education of not only taft students but all of the u.s.
Isabel S • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:41 pm
Really interesting article! I didnt know a lot about the volcano until now, thanks!
emily davidson • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:34 pm
I had no idea that Yellowstone National Park was even a volcano to begin with but its crazy to think that it can erupt at any moment. Thank you for informing me about “our impending doom”.
Nathan Manansala • Mar 4, 2019 at 1:32 pm
This article is pretty scary.
Marbelly Camey • Mar 4, 2019 at 12:29 pm
This article can just really show how scary yellowstone is. And how yellowstone can erupt at any second and can have major damage to this world. But it was really cool learning about it and how yellow stone is overdue for about 400 years.
George • Mar 4, 2019 at 12:16 pm
This was a very informative article about a potential disaster I was unaware about.
Sophie K • Mar 4, 2019 at 11:59 am
This article was very informative. I had no idea there was a volcano beneath Yellowstone, and I wasn’t aware of how overdue it’s eruption is. Thank you for this eye-opening article!
Ariyah Cohn • Mar 4, 2019 at 11:21 am
Hi Marek! This was a great article about Yellow Stones Volcano. The Eruption would cause devastating damage if it were to blow.
Maryam Menalagha • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:20 am
I learned a lot reading this article, and I had no clue that the Yellow Stone Volocano was about to erupt any second.
Duncan P. • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:20 am
Love the article! Just the thought that our whole country could be destroyed at any moment can cause anyone to be paranoid. And as the volcanic explosion grows more overdue, the likeliness of the mass destruction of our country creeps ever so closer. Hopefully it’ll calm down or something. 🙂
Danielle • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:13 am
Your article was flowing with information. The fact that the volcano is overdue leaves the country at edge because we don’t really know when it will erupt and could potentially destroy everything we’ve come to create.
Negin Norouzi • Mar 4, 2019 at 9:10 am
The title on your article was very eye catching and it attracted me to read your article only to be more interested about the volcanic eruption that we might experience. I enjoyed reading about the danger that we might be in.
Dustin • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:45 am
I loved the article! The fact that we are 40 thousand years overdue makes one think about when this volcanic explosion could happen. To add to this, the fact that this volcano is massive makes me scared about the future of America, or, even the world! What could happen to us if this volcano exploded right now? The article makes one think and brings us to a different topic. Thus, this was an amazing article and anyone would enjoy the information and hard work put forward into it.
Andrew H. • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:41 am
I never knew that there was a volcano in Yellowstone National Park that could wipe the US out. That’s something new to think about for the next time you go to Yellowstone. With the fact that it’s forty thousand years overdue.
Lucas • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:36 am
I found this article rather informative on the possible events of Yellowstone. I doubt however that the ash would really affect people that much since people can just put on a mask or stay indoors. Since we will also have a warning ahead of time of the vent we can just move people away from the blast radius and make preparations for the following ash. The idea that an eruption happens every 600,000 years might also just be an exception and the yellow stone eruption won´t happen for another few hundred thousand years. For the most part though I found this informative and interesting.
Alex M. • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:22 am
The information from this article makes me scared of “Our Impending Doom”, yet it makes me enjoy everything a lot more.
Eden Medovoi • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:22 am
Your article was very interesting and it left me wanting to read more about Yellow Stone and the Volcanic Eruption. 🙂
Sasha • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:21 am
Wow, I had no idea that the eruption is forty thousand years overdue. I found this article to be very interesting and am glad that I read it.
Ella Abergel • Mar 4, 2019 at 8:20 am
Hi Marek! Your article was really eye opening and had lots of great information. I really enjoyed reading it. See you at dance!