Poll of the Day > If Yellowstone National Park ever erupted, would it kill the surrounding states?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Would everyone in the bordering states die? Its the largest dormant volcano in the world, right?
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https://www.iflscience.com/environment/this-is-what-would-happen-to-the-world-if-the-yellowstone-supervolcano-erupted-today/

It's not Yellowstone National Park erupting that would be the problem. It's the Yellowstone Caldera that would cause untold devastation.

The below image is a diagram of the thickness of the ash fallout from the Yellowstone Caldera erupting. Its affects would be felt around the country, causing untold damage to plant life, rivers, sewer systems, etc.

http://cdn.iflscience.com/images/c2721c93-49ac-5517-9eca-7e47576e9b0c/content-1510591646-ashy.jpg

There's a kill zone, which is a few states probably. Then a "fuck your shit up" zone that would cause a ton of issues but not be totally apocalyptic. Beyond that, there's likely to be more mild environmental fallout... The East and West coasts would be more likely to suffer because of the destruction of a lot of agricultural land and a focus on relief efforts straining resources. There'd be effects felt worldwide from it. A nuclear winter from all the ash could possibly reverse global warming to a degree, though it's not a good thing either.

There's something like 20-odd calderas that are similar to Yellowstone that could end most life on this planet at any time. Look at Olympus Mons on Mars. That's all you really need to know.
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Valiant_Kaiser posted...

There's a kill zone, which is a few states probably. Then a "fuck your shit up" zone that would cause a ton of issues but not be totally apocalyptic. Beyond that, there's likely to be more mild environmental fallout... The East and West coasts would be more likely to suffer because of the destruction of a lot of agricultural land and a focus on relief efforts straining resources. There'd be effects felt worldwide from it. A nuclear winter from all the ash could possibly reverse global warming to a degree, though it's not a good thing either.

I live in Delaware. Id heard wed make out decent cuz wed be out of the blast zone. The coasts would really be damaged that heavily?
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MyPetKenshin posted...

Valiant_Kaiser posted...

There's a kill zone, which is a few states probably. Then a "fuck your shit up" zone that would cause a ton of issues but not be totally apocalyptic. Beyond that, there's likely to be more mild environmental fallout... The East and West coasts would be more likely to suffer because of the destruction of a lot of agricultural land and a focus on relief efforts straining resources. There'd be effects felt worldwide from it. A nuclear winter from all the ash could possibly reverse global warming to a degree, though it's not a good thing either.

I live in Delaware. Id heard wed make out decent cuz wed be out of the blast zone. The coasts would really be damaged that heavily?

They wouldn't be damaged physically, they'd be damaged economically by having half the country ruined, and they'd be damaged agriculturally because most of the US' food supply is grown in the middle of the country.

Basically, we'd be physically fine but still kind of fucked.


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Alaska might be ok but if the lower 48 all dies out, we would be alone and have to fend for ourselves. so it would still impact us

Aside from Yellowstone, there's also the fact that according to history, the Cascadia Subduction Zone is wayyyy overdue for a cataclysmic event.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

MyPetKenshin posted...

Valiant_Kaiser posted...

There's a kill zone, which is a few states probably. Then a "fuck your shit up" zone that would cause a ton of issues but not be totally apocalyptic. Beyond that, there's likely to be more mild environmental fallout... The East and West coasts would be more likely to suffer because of the destruction of a lot of agricultural land and a focus on relief efforts straining resources. There'd be effects felt worldwide from it. A nuclear winter from all the ash could possibly reverse global warming to a degree, though it's not a good thing either.

I live in Delaware. Id heard wed make out decent cuz wed be out of the blast zone. The coasts would really be damaged that heavily?

They wouldn't be damaged physically, they'd be damaged economically by having half the country ruined, and they'd be damaged agriculturally because most of the US' food supply is grown in the middle of the country.

Basically, we'd be physically fine but still kind of fucked.

Geeze thatd suck. Lets just hope that never happens.
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and I live in Pennsylvania, close to the New Jersey and Delaware borders. would certainly be a problem with crops and livestock taking a huge hit.

at least Miami makes it out ok, but just barely
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The Huckleberry Ridge eruption in Yellowstone 2.1 million years ago erupted about 2,500 cubic kilometers (600 cubic miles) of material. That's a cube about 13.6 km or 8.4 miles on each side, just boom! blown into the air.

The most recent megavolcano was Mount Tambora in 1815. It ejected about 120 cubic kilometers (28.8 cubic miles) of material, less than 1/20 as much as Yellowstone. The explosion was heard on Sumatra, 2,000 km (1,200 miles) away, and ash was blown into the stratosphere to an altitude of more than 43 km (141,000 ft) where the finer particles remained for years. The following year, 1816, was known as the Year Without a Summer. Unusually low temperatures and increased rainfall lead to widespread crop failures and famine all over the world. Millions of people died from malnutrition and disease outbreaks.
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hhmmm

fun times on the horizon, it seems
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I'd like to think the theorized effects of that are overblown, but then I realize that Yellowstone is closer to me here in southern Alberta than High Level in northern Alberta is to me. When the fires burned there a few weeks ago, the smoke from it was THICK here.

If Yellowstone blows up, we are all very much dead.
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faramir77 posted...

If Yellowstone blows up, we are all very much dead.

Speak for yourself.
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