Thursday, January 8, 2009
Great vid showing the potential explosive eruption that may be produed by the Yellowstone Caldera. This caldera is actually the largest volcanic system in North America.... by a long shot!! The caldera that is present today was created by a cataclysmic eruption that occurred over 640,000 years ago, which released an estimated 1,000 cubic km of ash, rock and pyroclastic materials into the air. To put that in perspective, that eruption was 1,000 times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. It produced a crater nearly 1 km deep and approximately 65 km in area, which is essentially as big as San Francisco!