Supervolcano blast would blanket U.S. in ash
Simulation of Yellowstone eruption shows extended reach of massive volcanoes
A new simulation illustrates the explosiveness of the volcano that lurks beneath Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
Around 640,000 years ago, the volcano blew its top and coated North America with roughly 330 cubic kilometers of ash. A simulation of the eruption described August 27 in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems reveals that a similar outburst today would bury Billings, Mont., in more than a meter (about 40 inches) of volcanic glass shards and pulverized rock. Even New York and Atlanta would receive dustings several millimeters thick as winds whisked ash through the darkened atmosphere for days.