Yellowstone volcano in the northwest US has witnessed three major eruptions in the past and the signs are there to suggest another eruption could go off in the future. The last blast, known as the Yellowstone Lava Creek Eruption, occurred roughly 630,000 to 640,000 years ago. The Yellowstone eruption was at least 10 times larger than the 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia. The 1815 blast was powerful enough to cause a global cooling that led to a “year without summer” in 1816.
Super-eruptions on this scale are incredibly chaotic, immediately destroying their surrounding areas with hot flows of molten rock, landslides and ash.
The ash spewed by the volcano can fly for hundreds of miles and coat the ground in layers many inches thick.
Simulations run by the US Geological Survey (USGS) show emissions of gas and ash into the atmosphere can have a wider impact on the whole planet.
But would this be enough for a supervolcano like Yellowstone to spell the end of the human race.?
READ MORE: USGS reveals the terrifying odds of a major eruption in our lifetime
Michael Poland, chief scientists of the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, thinks civilisation will survive another Yellowstone eruption.
Writing for the weekly USGS Caldera Chronicles, Dr Poland said: “We can be confident of this because there have been two massive explosions while humans were present on Earth, and both of these were actually larger than Yellowstone’s most recent cataclysmic eruption.
“These eruptions were from Toba, Indonesia, about 74,000 years ago and from Taupo, New Zealand, about 26,500 years ago.
“The geologic record doesn’t contain any information abut the about the New Zealand eruption and its impact on humanity, although climate must certainly have been affected.”
According to Dr Poland, the eruption of Toba was considered for many years to have nearly wiped out the fledgeling human species.
READ MORE: Yellowstone Volcano eruption could trigger volcanic winter and cause MASS starvation
But the archaeological evidence found from this period suggests early hominids thrived despite the climactic effects of the super-eruption.
Digs across the plains of Africa found early humans were not greatly impacted by the cataclysm.
The historic evidence suggests modern human civilisation is prepared to weather the storm of another Yellowstone eruption.
Dr Poland said: “This is not meant to make light of the impacts of future large explosive eruptions.
“In fact, a Toba-sized eruption is not needed to cause changes in climate, as the smaller – but still large – Tambora eruption demonstrated.
READ MORE: Yellowstone at ‘TIPPING POINT’ scientists reveal in a critical study
“Rather, we hope to explain why claims that Yellowstone will cause an end to humanity are wrong.
“Such eruptions will cause major changes to the environment and will require humans to cope with extreme conditions.
“Our dependency on global trade, electricity, and other aspects of modern life will be impacted and create challenges that our stone-age ancestors did not have to deal with, but we are an adaptable species. Humans would not go extinct.”
Thankfully, geologists do not expect Yellowstone to rear its ugly head at any point in our lifetime.
The most likely explosion to go off at Yellowstone next, according to the USGS, will be a hydrothermal one and not a volcanic one.