Yellowstone has the potential to release a devastating eruption, which could alter the entire world. The volcano last erupted on a major scale 640,000 years ago, and if it were to happen today, it could affect the entire planet. If the Wyoming volcano were to erupt, an estimated 87,000 people would be killed immediately and two-thirds of the US would immediately be made uninhabitable.
The climate of the entire planet would change as an ash cloud would encircle the globe.
Some conspiracy theorists have claimed a Yellowstone eruption could be triggered by a nuclear bomb, but is this the case?
The short answer, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is a resounding no.
The USGS said: “You see, unlike science fiction stories, in which nuclear weapons seem to be the cause of, and solution to, many geological catastrophes, science fact tells us that you aren’t likely to trigger a Yellowstone cataclysm with a nuclear weapon. How do we know?
“It’s because this experiment has already been tried.
“The Hebgen Lake earthquake (1959) released more energy than a 2-megaton nuclear weapon—100 times larger than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945, and equivalent to an ‘average’ hydrogen bomb.
“What’s more, this earthquake occurred not above, but next to Yellowstone’s largely solid magma body, so most of the earthquake’s energy was transmitted directly into the rock.
“In a nuclear attack, the detonation would occur above ground, so the majority of the energy would be released into the air.
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However, when that day does come, there would be chaos across the United States, with repercussions being felt all around the world.
Mr Walsh wrote earthquakes around Yellowstone would gradually increase in both frequency and intensity as magma rushes towards the surface, exploding out like champagne in a bottle, covering the region in lava within a 40-mile radius.
However, alarm bells should not start ringing just yet as the USGS reports the chance of Yellowstone erupting is a tiny 0.00014 percent.