The last time a volcano in Yellowstone National Park woke up more than 630 thousand years ago — but that does not mean that it is no longer dangerous.
As the Daily Express reports, today, magma streams still emerge from numerous vents in the park, but the degree of their threat is difficult to predict, and the location is not always possible to find out before the eruption.
Fortunately, scientists are close to determining where a major lava ejection will occur next time, — writes the magazine «Profile». To do this, they studied the possible paths along which magma will go in order to understand exactly where it will break out to the surface.
Eleanor Rivalta's team concluded that she was likely to pass through the rocks, after which they created computer models and compared the data with data from the volcanic region of Campi Flegrei, known as «burning fields».
According to Rivalta and her colleagues, comparisons of the model with historical eruptions at Campi Flegrei have confirmed the hypothesis is accurate — and now scientists are planning to conduct a similar experiment in Yellowstone.
According to geologists, a volcanic eruption in the national park occurs approximately once every 700 thousand years. Thus, we still have 70 thousand years to properly prepare for the impact of the elements.
