yellowstone national park is one of the most scenic places in the country however for all
of its beauty it is also a ticking time bomb the entire park sits in the collapsed caldera
of a super volcano lurking only a couple of miles beneath the surface are two massive magma chambers
each day they fill with more and more lava putting pressure on the surface above the last eruption of
the yellowstone super volcano was 640 000 years ago and was two thousand five hundred times more
powerful than the eruption of mount saint helens what is most troubling though is that sometime in
the future this massive volcano will likely erupt again causing an incredible amount of damage and
destruction although it's highly unlikely that it will explode in our lifetimes it will definitely
affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people when it does but what exactly will happen how
will society continue here are five things that will happen when the yellowstone volcano erupts
the massive magma chambers sit very close to the surface as the magma chambers slowly fill
with lava it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the rock and soil above as the pressure builds
the ground on the surface starts to grow and bulge in the past the caldera in the park would
grow by about two inches per year however over the last few years that speed has increased to
about 8 inches per year showing that the chamber is filling at a much faster pace when the earth
moves at such a quick pace it shakes the ground above this was seen in the case of mount saint
helens in 1980 just before this eruption the magma chamber in the mountains started to fill
bulging the entire side of the mountain at the same time earthquakes were being recorded in the
area on a regular basis in the days leading up to the eruption there were around four or five
earthquakes every day that measured at least the 4.2 magnitude when you consider the difference
in scale between mount saint helens and the yellowstone super volcano it gives reason to be
concerned the earthquakes leading up to the actual eruption have the potential to be major somewhere
in the realm of 8.0 to 9.0 this type of geological activity in the area would undoubtedly be
catastrophic potentially even causing the drying up of the various geysers however as there is no
recorded data to base these predictions on the only thing we can go on is a bit of speculation
in actuality the majority of volcanoes do not eject lava as is usually thought of with a
volcanic eruption rather they eject ash ash is a very fine mixture of rock minerals and
glass that are expelled from a volcano during an eruption where we may see it as a very fine dust
the reality of it is ash can be quite dangerous so when the yellowstone volcano erupts it will more
than likely produce ash clouds that shoot into the air and fall for thousands of miles in each
direction depending on the wind when the ash falls it resembles something between a fine snow and a
simple dust storm the biggest danger to people is a prolonged exposure to the dangerous particles
as the composition is comprised partly of glass as well as other toxic materials it is very
dangerous to breathe in also the sheer amount of ash predicted to fall is astonishing after being
shot miles into the air conservative predictions have some areas seeing upwards of 30 feet
of ash in these areas the odds of survival will be very slim with feet of ash falling in nearly
every direction it would cover the food source of herbivores driving them to new areas to graze
the carnivores would follow suit with their food sources gone trees and plants would not receive
proper nourishment from the sun or from water while the severe thick ash would only cover
the surrounding states it is estimated that a large eruption of yellowstone could cover a
massive portion of north america in ash even as far away as somewhere like new york
as we talked about how much of the ash would fall in the surrounding areas we did not talk
about what would happen when the ash cloud gets too high this is the area that has scientists
most concerned due to the sheer size of the ash cloud predicted to be produced by the yellowstone
eruption scientists believe it would reach the highest parts of our atmosphere the particles
of ash being as fine as they are would get caught in the jet stream being transported to every part
of the world additionally the particles being in the less dense upper atmosphere would linger for
years and years falling back towards earth at a snail's pace as the ash continues to linger
the sun's light would become less and less intense causing temperatures all across the world to start
dropping depending on how much ash is released during the eruption the temperature drop could
last anywhere from a few years to a number of decades the longer the ash lingers the lower
the temperatures drop should the temperatures drop low enough it is very possible that another
ice age could start such an event would have an impact on everything from wildlife to agriculture
while it is unlikely that this would be an extinction level event as far as humans
are concerned it would definitely claim many lives and impact the societies in which we live
things like animal life and plant life can be very sensitive to fluctuation in temperatures true a
short-term change wouldn't have a major effect but it is a different story for a longer lasting
change we as humans are more reliant on these things than we may realize should the delicate
balance of plant or animal life be disturbed the effect on humans would also be disturbed
think about the agricultural industries across the world all of these crops need just the right
conditions to grow and survive without the proper sunlight or temperature crops would wither and die
even wild vegetation which provides a valuable food source for all sorts of animals would die
but the damage would go far beyond just the small plants and foliage it would extend to
larger plant life as well trees needing sunlight to survive would slowly wither as well in terms of
humanity though our diets would change greatly as omnivores creatures that eat both plants and meat
we would have a serious lack of plants to complete our diets much of our meat would even need
to change with fewer and fewer greens and less corn to feed our cows pigs or chickens many of
them would die as well even fish populations would dwindle as ash falls into the waters changing the
acidity to deadly levels in short the global food supply would either change or come dangerously
close to being non-existent with so many societies and cultures that rely on this delicate balance
of plant life and animal life there could be a human death toll in the billions due to starvation
for people who survive the global temperature drops and food shortages they would need to
deal with the economic effects from such an event entire industries once booming and thriving would
disappear overnight people who are already facing desperate situations due to the food shortages
would be out of a job and left with no income this would create a level of desperation that
would put us face to face with the worst aspects of the human condition think about the eruption of
the icelandic and i apologize again if i butchered this name ayat yatla yokoto volcano back in 2010.
in terms of volcanic eruptions it was not even close to being the biggest however as
the ash cloud produced from the eruption entered into the flight paths of commercial aircraft
it caused more than thousand flights to be grounded stranding millions of people this
event occurred as a result of one ash cloud in one specific part of the world imagine the
global economic effect it would have when the ash covers the entirety of the planet
governments would struggle to keep order as people became desperate to live and survive
rampant looting would make it near impossible for businesses to exist
black markets would spring up offering what used to be commonplace items in short the results would
not be good and it would likely forever change society as we know it but there is no need to
worry at this time the true odds of interruption of this caliber happening in our lifetime are slim
however it's always fun to speculate how crazy is it to think that such a beautiful place like
yellowstone national park could be the center of a world-changing disaster the scariest part of
it all is that there is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop it all we can do is prepare
for the inevitable things that will happen as a result of an eruption and hope that it doesn't
occur in our lifetime click the link on screen now to see another video of ours just like this one
trust me you won't want to miss it thank you for watching and we'll see you in the next one