Fears for ERUPTION as gigantic 'fountain of magma' plume discovered underneath Yellowstone
Channel: Александр Юрьевич Чукланов
Date: 2018-03-25

Fears for ERUPTION as gigantic 'fountain of magma' plume discovered underneath Yellowstone supervolcano
The researchers believe it could stretch all the way to Mexico
A gigantic 'fountain of magma' has been discovered under the Yellowstone supervolcano, sparking fears that a deadly eruption could be imminent.
Magma plumes are unusual geological features that are found at the boundary between the Earth's core and the mantle. They rise through the mantle into the crust, creating a column of rising ash and debris.
The researchers that discovered the plume believe it could stretch all the way from Yellowstone in the state of Wyoming down to Mexico.
This news follows a spate of mini tremors in the area last week - which raised fears the supervolcano beneath the national park could be about to blow.
The presence of a magma plume underneath Yellowstone was a theory for decades, but now two researchers from Texas believe they've found proof by using new imaging techniques.
They analysed seismic activity around Yellowstone using data obtained by the USArray network, which has listening stations positioned across North America.
Based on these readings, the team discovered a 45 by 34-mile channel (72x55km) where seismic waves are slower.
University of Texas geologist Dr Peter Nelson, who led the research, explained his findings in the journal Nature .
"Our results strongly support a deep origin for the Yellowstone hotspot, and also provide evidence for the existence of thin thermal mantle plumes that are currently beyond the resolution of global tomography models," he said.
Scientists are already aware of giant magma chambers underneath Yellowstone. They have previously said there is roughly a 700,000 to one chance that the volcano will erupt each year
. A report, Extreme Geohazards: Reducing the Disaster Risk and Increasing Resilience , examined the dangers of eruptions and pointed to so-called “supervolcanoes" that present a danger for which the global population is completely unprepared .
There are only a handful of supervolcanoes around the globe. Yellowstone National Park is one, and Lake Toba in Indonesia is another.
Should one erupt, explains David Rothery, a professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open University, the results could be catastrophic. He describes it as a “nuclear winter” type scenario in which ash from the eruption could blot out the sun and suspend photosynthesis in parts of the world.
"A Toba-sized eruption in a similar location would, besides killing tens of millions of people throughout Southeast Asia, destroy at least one or two seasons of crops needed to feed some 2 billion people in one of the world’s most densely populated regions,” he said.
"This alone would be a catastrophe unprecedented in history, and it could be compounded by much-reduced harvests around the world."
“That’s the worst case scenario - and it’s not clear what fraction of supervolcanoes are capable of doing that.
"It won’t cause a mass extinction of species but certainly plants could die and ecologies could collapse,” he said.
Since the discovery of Yellowstone park as a supervolcano, it has been a hive of geological surveys by scientists, but despite the visible activity, estimates are that it last erupted around 640,000 years ago.
Other major active volcanoes - but not super volcanoes - include Mount Vesuvius in Campagnia, Italy, and Popocatépetl near Mexico City.