A Supervolcano

Geologists who were studying rock formations in America were surprised when they found layers of ash in the rock. They understood that the ash came from a volcano and that the volcano covered all of North America, so it must be very large. They began searching the mountains and looking at satellite photos but couldn’t find any volcanic formations big enough.

One day, a park ranger visited Yellowstone National Park. He stopped his car, got out and looked around. He was surrounded by beautiful mountains, valleys, geysers and thermal springs. Suddenly, he understood something. He realised that the entire park was the supervolcano that the geologists were looking for. He was terrified! When the park ranger told them, they didn’t believe him, but eventually the geologists realised that the park ranger was right.

Geologists found that the caldera, the part of a volcano that explodes, is approximately 4,000 km². This makes it bigger, more powerful and more destructive than any other known volcano. However, research showed that this supervolcano last erupted about 700,000 years ago. It erupts every 1,000,000 years so there is no need for immediate panic. If the volcano does erupt it is likely to affect the lives of billions of people and cause most of North America to become uninhabitable. The natural world is truly very beautiful, but the power of nature should be respected because it can also be very destructive.