Yellow Stone Super Volcano Flashcards
What is a super volcano?
Unusually large volcano having the potential to produce an eruption with major effects on the global climate and ecosystem.
What is a caldera?
Volcanic feature formed by the collapse of a volcano into itself, making it a large, special form of volcanic crater.
How is a caldera formed?
Usually triggered by the emptying of the magma chamber beneath the volcano, as the result of a large volcanic eruption.
How high would the ash cloud from the volcano?
25 miles high ash cloud.
How much lava will be produced?
100km cubed of lava produced which is enough to cover the whole of the USA up to 12.5cm thick.
The ash which produced could potentially cause what?
The ash in the atmosphere could lower global temperatures by 20’c.
How much of the USA would be destroyed from an eruption at mt st helens?
Two thirds of the USA will be uninhabitatble
How many people could be killed?
87,000 people.
What could collapse from an eruption at yelloe stone?
Economies.
Name differences between supervolcanoes and an ordinary volcano?
Super volcanoes not found at plate boundaries.
SV have global effects.
Volcanoes much smaller in size.
SV don’t have a peak or cone.
SV can erupt over 11,000 times more material.
What is a distinct difference between the location of the magma in SV and volcanoes?
In volcanoes the magma rises from deep inside the Earth.
In SV magma is blocked from reaching the surface.
Super volcano Formation.
SV occur when magma from the Earth’s core rises into the crust but is unable to erupt because it can’t break through the surface.
This causes massive amounts of pressure from incoming magma to build up over.
Eventually releasing an explosion equal to 1,000 atomic bombs.
