Ready to Blow - Give or take 10,000 years

Yellowstone: the time bomb under America

Deep beneath Yellowstone National Park lies a vast super-volcano which, if it blew up, could devastate much of the US. Recently, it's been a bit too restless for comfort. David Usborne reports

Visitors to Yellowstone National Park in the north-western United States know not to be careless about the bears that roam its pines or the many hissing and sizzling geysers that dot its magnificent landscape. Few ever worry about being blown into space, though.

Startling new geological data published yesterday in the journal Science suggests that it might be a good idea for most of us – and certainly those living in the region – to be aware that there is more to Yellowstone than grand vistas and abundant wildlife. The hot springs are a clue to what lies beneath: seething layers of molten magma, super-heated gases and hydrothermal liquids.

Yellowstone straddles one of Earth's most studied "hot-spots", where fissures in the crust, created by volcanic eruptions of eons past, have allowed giant streams of molten rock, or magma, to push closer than normal to the planet's surface. In recent years something intriguing – if not to say thoroughly nerve-rattling – has been going on. The magma is on the move. And so is Yellowstone…..

Remember the destruction when Mount St Helens flipped her lid in 1980, turning 240 square miles into a wasteland? The energy released at Yellowstone would be many hundreds of times greater.

Moreover, Yellowstone may be due a massive release. Geologists believe that the super-volcano beneath the park has undergone major eruptions at roughly 650,000-year intervals. There have been about 140 such events over 16 million years. Because the last serious explosion is believed to have taken place 640,000 years ago – although there was a minor flare-up 70,000 years ago – who is to say, really, that another one is indeed not imminent?

Wow, that would suck !!!!