A hydrothermal explosion has taken place in Yellowstone National Park. This event could potentially signal the reactivation of a supervolcano, an eruption of which might significantly alter global history. Naturally, the United States would be the initial country affected, given the supervolcano’s location within its borders.
Rangers are currently inspecting the debris left from the explosion. The incident prompted the temporary shutdown of Biscuit Basin, including its parking and pedestrian bridges, over safety concerns. No casualties have been reported, and the extent of the damage is still unknown.
Park officials are advising the public not to be alarmed, pointing out that a similar event occurred in 1989. Despite this, panic and rumors have spread across a significant portion of the United States.
The Norris Geyser Basin has experienced multiple steam explosions, not just the recent one. The previous explosion occurred on April 15, and there was another significant event around 1989.
The explosion in April was minor, occurring during a period without visitors in the park. It was initially detected by seismographs, followed by the USGS analyzing satellite imagery to compare the area before and after the incident.
Two steam explosions within four months are highly unusual, as they typically occur once every fifty years. Consequently, one might overlook the preceding signs: a destroyed road, fissures, smoldering coal, etc., especially since just the day before, bandits were apprehended there, leading to a partial closure of the park.
Predicting that Yellowstone will erupt tomorrow is currently impossible. Nevertheless, the frequency and intensity of steam explosions are expected to increase in the coming months. It remains uncertain whether the new subterranean water channels will stabilize or if a significant eruption will occur, potentially forming a new bay in the lake at the caldera’s center. Even experts from the USGS are uncertain about this outcome.
Yellowstone National Park spans across Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It features a multitude of geysers and other geothermal features. Beneath the park lies North America’s largest volcanic system, the Yellowstone Caldera—a massive volcanic basin. Covering an area of 4,000 square kilometers, Yellowstone’s immense size means it doesn’t form a cone, distinguishing it from typical volcanoes.
For years, the world has been on edge with news that a supervolcano might erupt, leading to catastrophic consequences. The direst predictions suggest an explosion equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs, causing the supervolcano’s surface to collapse into a fifty-kilometer-wide crater and triggering a global environmental disaster. In the United States, such an eruption at Yellowstone could spell the end of existence as we know it.
Yakov Loewenstern of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory in the USA has stated that previous supervolcano eruptions have expelled over 1,000 cubic kilometers of magma, enough to blanket most of North America with up to 30 centimeters of ash. He also mentioned that such an event could lower global air temperatures by 21 degrees and reduce visibility to less than half a meter for several years, ushering in an era akin to a nuclear winter.
Geology Professor Bill McGuire, who continuously monitors the park’s territory, evaluates the situation as follows:
“America is quite literally sitting on a powder keg. Satellite imagery and crustal movement suggest that active processes are occurring deep within the Earth. There are additional signs that it may awaken. The surface of Yellowstone releases 30 to 40 times more thermal energy than the rest of the continent.”
The most recent significant eruption of Yellowstone happened roughly 640,000 years ago. Its magnitude was 2,500 times greater than that of Mount Etna’s largest eruptions, which, for comparison, caused the Mediterranean Sea to freeze.
The Bulgarian seer Vanga predicted that a part of the United States would be submerged, and volcanoes, including the Yellowstone supervolcano, would become active. Consequently, an earthquake could be so powerful that it would alter the course of the Mississippi River, resulting in significant loss of life and property damage. “Let there be no America,” Vanga is said to have declared.
Additionally, last year, a person claiming to be a time traveler emerged on social media. Eno Alaric warned that thousands of Americans might soon perish due to a major volcanic eruption.
