The Yellowstone volcano has erupted three times in history – 2.1 million years ago, 1.2 million years ago and 640,000 years ago. Experts have previously revealed that, should an earthquake occur, it could take less than two weeks before a catastrophic reaction is triggered. However, fears that the supervolcano could erupt again before 2100 were heightened when a 2015 report outlined the probability.
The report, dubbed “Extreme Geohazards: Reducing the Disaster Risk and Increasing Resilience”, found a 10 per cent chance of a supervolcano somewhere on Earth erupting by the end of the century.
Dr Michio Kaku, renowned professor of physics at City College in New York, made a reference to sci-fi thriller Godzilla when discussing Yellowstone.
He told Fox News in January: “Forget the image of Yogi Bear representing Yellowstone, we are talking about a sleeping Godzilla underneath Yellowstone.
“If it erupts in a maximum eruption of Category 8 it will literally tear the guts out of the US.
“Instead of having 50 states we would be left with 30.
“This report looked at a Category 7, which is more likely once every thousand years, rather than once every million years.
“That means in every century there is a 10 per cent chance that somewhere on the planet there could be a supervolcanic Category 7 eruption.”
However, Dr Kaku reminded viewers there would be plenty of time to evacuate.
He explained: “Category 7 will be many times the size of Mount St Helens, enough to cause widespread destruction across a state, but not enough to destroy the USA.
“But still, it’s something that we have to take very seriously now.
“Unlike a meteor from outer space, where you get no warning whatsoever, we get warnings.
“If you see movies like Pompeii, you know that there are days, in fact, weeks of eruptions building up, rumbling inside, underneath the pocket of lava.
“So there would be enough time, several weeks, to begin evacuations if and when such an unlikely event were to take place.”