On the map of the USA in the states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, there is a magnificent Yellowstone National Park, in the territory of which the Yellowstone Volcano is located. This is one of the most famous volcanic systems on our planet. Let's get to know this geological object closer by presenting interesting facts and photos of the Yellowstone Caldera and the National Park.
National park
The American National Park spreads over an area of 898.3 km², and it was founded in 1872, becoming the world's first biosphere reserve.
The first archaeological excavations showed that in this part of North America, the first people settled about 11 thousand years ago.
In the photo: Dark blue pond.
Scientists became interested in these territories at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1804, the first expedition set off to the Pacific coast, led by Meriweather Lewis and William Clark.
Park Attractions
In this part of the United States there are many natural attractions, and the flora and fauna is striking in its diversity. No wonder this place is noted in almost all tourist guides in the United States. By the way, about the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, read one of the articles on most-beauty.ru.
Let's consider some interesting natural objects. One of the most amazing is the Great Prismatic Spring. This is the largest geothermal spring in the United States, and in third place in the world.
Geyser Old Faithful, which means “Old servant”, which throws out water every 35 - 120 minutes. The most predictable geyser on the planet is the most frequently photographed object of nature.
Yellowstone Falls also attracts attention. A beautiful pair waterfall on the Yellowstone River, overthrowing water from a height of 94 m. But the most magnificent is the Undine Falls, which you can admire from the well-maintained viewing platforms.
Tourist potential
Natural objects, diverse flora and fauna, picturesque landscapes attract millions of tourists to the park. Now about 2 million tourists visit the park every year. In the editorial office of most-beauty.ru, this place is one of the most desirable places to visit.
For the convenience of visiting, all conditions are created. 9 hotels have been built on the territory, camping sites have been equipped, shops, gas stations are working. Aft of infrastructure facilities there are information centers and museums. In the territory itself, 1,770 km of hiking trails have been laid.
A bus runs from Salk Lake City from July to September to the park. In addition, a comfortable Yellowstone airport, also known as Cody, is built in Montana.
Yellowstone Caldera
The most famous site of Yellowstone National Park is the caldera, an active study of which began in the early 1960s.
In the photo: Sapphire pool
Dimensions and structure
They discovered the crater of the volcano thanks to images from space, and it turned out that the size of the caldera is much larger than volcanologists thought earlier. This is a supervolcano formed in a huge hollow on the surface of the earth.
The exact dimensions of 55 km to 72 km were determined by volcanologist Robert Christiansen during the period of research of the 60-70s. Under the crater is a huge magma bubble with a depth of about 8,000 m. The capacity of such a bubble is 300 billion km³ of molten rock.
The supervolcano is powered by a vertical plume. It has two branches that extend to the surface, forming geysers and mud cauldrons. The magma temperature inside reaches 1,600 ° C.
Eruptions
Yellowstone is above the hot spot, which is why most seismologists call the megavolcano a living breathing caldera.
Seismic activity over millions of years has been supported by the shift of the North American continental plate. Throughout history, it moved relative to the plume, and he, burning new holes on the surface, caused new powerful eruptions.
Volcanologists have established that eruptions accompanied by powerful earthquakes occur every 600 thousand years. The first powerful eruption occurred 2.1 million years ago, after which the Island Park caldera formed.
The second time the volcano bothered the neighborhood about 1.3 million years ago, and the last - 640,000 years ago. As a result of the last eruption, the coastline of the continents changed, and the Mediterranean Sea simply covered with ice.
Dangerous forecasts
Following the periodicity of the eruptions, scientists came to the conclusion that the date of the next eruption has long come. The earthquake was last recorded in the northwestern part of the caldera in March 2014. Its magnitude was rated at 4.8 points, and it was the largest in 30 years.
The Yellowstone blast will be a disaster for the United States and most of the world's population. Emissions of magma, gases and ash will lead to a temperature drop of an average of 20 degrees. Such a decline will naturally radically change the life on the planet.
The United States government is actively funding the NASA project to prevent the eruption. In one of our articles, most-beauty.ru talks about seven supervolcanoes that could explode in the near future, we recommend reading it.
What happens if Yellowstone explodes?
Scientists do not stop projecting the possible consequences of the explosion of a huge caldera. Here the principle applies - forewarned, then protected.
Studies of rocks from previous eruptions have shown that during activity, supervolcanes emit 1,000 km³ of magma into the atmosphere. This will be enough to cover more than half of North America with a 30-centimeter layer of ash. All life within a radius of 180 km will simply perish, and the number of human victims can reach 87 thousand people.
Clubs of ash that rise into the air will close the sun, which will lead to a change in the Earth’s climate for many decades. Visibility on the surface of the planet will not exceed 30 cm. The chemical composition of the atmosphere will also change, as a result of which many species of animals and plants will die.
Predictions
Mankind is used to believing predictions. So, the famous Wang predicted the collapse of the United States into the Southern and Northern States. But as a result of what event this will happen, the Bulgarian clairvoyant did not report.
In 1934, another forecaster, Edward Casey, said that the Earth would break in many places, and the first cracks would appear on the west coast of America.
Putting these prophecies together, people came to the conclusion that two famous twentieth-century visionaries spoke of the eruption of Yellowstone.
Frightened people and strange animal behavior in the National Park. A video recently appeared of how huge herds of bison leave the woods near the Yellowstone Caldera. Many associated this with the imminent eruption. But zoologists assured that this is a normal migration in the winter months in search of new sources of food.
Current state
The hype surrounding the caldera, supported by television and the print media, forces scientists to constantly monitor the geological object. Today, observations are made from the satellite, as well as web cameras installed throughout the caldera.
In the photo: Orange spring
Now magma is cooling due to the heating of rocks. Water carries away excess temperature. As a result of this process, famous geysers are formed.
Thus, about 70% of the magmatic energy is taken. The remaining 30% is spent on rock melting. This process can cause a new eruption, and only a matter of time, when it happens. Recent monitoring indicators indicate that the Yellowstone supervolcano is waking up.
The Yellowstone volcano is undoubtedly a threat to humanity, but the problem was largely contrived by journalists. Caldera is widely represented in culture. British directors have created the film "Supervolcano", which shows the effects of a hypothetical eruption of the Yulouston caldera. There is a documentary about the caldera, which can be found on YouTube. Hollywood cinematographers shot the 2012 disaster movie about supervolcano, and Dutch musician Arjen Lucasen wrote the song “Yellowstone Memorial Day”.
About the most interesting films about volcanoes, we have an entertaining article.
More beautiful photos of Yellowstone
Posted by Valery Skiba