Week 4 - Yellowstones Calderas

Our trip to Yellowstone was amazing! The geysers, wildlife and picture-perfect landscape took my breath away. Scary to think that the park was created by and sits on top of a super volcano that could kill half the US population and cover the earth in ash when it erupts…. And she is long overdue. Her last eruption was in 1350 BC. 

An example of the possible ashfall from a month-long Yellowstone supereruption. (Image credit: USGS)

“Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.” Yellowstone was the first National Park in the United States. The Yellowstone Caldera in which the park sits on is a dormant super volcano that has violently erupted several times in the last two million years. While the volcano is currently quiescent, it could erupt with force and magnitude like no one has ever seen, at anytime. The past volcanic activity has created beautiful hydrothermal features, colored with the most amazing rainbow effect as they descend into the ground. These features consistently hold at such a high temperature that they would instantly dissolve anything that encountered them, allowing no vegetation to grow in the surrounding area. We were also in awe of the geysers, spouting off all over the park. Old Faithful has to be the most impressive because it somehow erupts on a schedule. These features are present due to the volcanic actions deep below the ground. “Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone”.


While the idea of living with inches of volcanic ash is scary, the suspected climate change caused by the Yellowstone volcano erupting is even scarier. Yellowstone Volcano's next super eruption is likely to spew vast quantities of gases such as sulfur dioxide, which forms a sulfur aerosol that absorbs sunlight and reflects some of it back to space. The resulting climate cooling could last up to a decade. The temporary climate shift could alter rainfall patterns, and, along with severe frosts, cause widespread crop losses and famine." (Oskin. 2016). This would devastate life as we know it, causing global effects. The good news is that as of 2015, scientists do not believe this super volcano will erupt anytime soon.

Over the years we have traveled to many National Parks but we have never seen the amount of wildlife as we did in Yellowstone. “Yellowstone is widely considered to be the finest megafauna wildlife habitat in the lower 48 states. There are almost 60 species of mammals in the park, including the timber wolf, coyote, the threatened Canadian lynx, and grizzly bears. Other large mammals include the bison (often referred to as buffalo), black bear, elk, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goat, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, and cougar.” The Yellowstone Bison herd is the largest public herd in the US." You don't understand the true size of a Bison until they are standing next to your car preventing the flow of traffic. 

Yellowstone is like no other place on earth. Without the tremendous and destructive power of the super volcano in which it sits on, it would not be what it is. This is a trip we will definitely make again. 

References


Oskin B. (2016). Live Science: What Would Happen if Yellowstone’s Super Volcano Erupted?  Retrieved from: https://www.livescience.com/20714-yellowstone-supervolcano-eruption.html  


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park