The third and final super eruption formed Yellowstone’s central caldera, which overlaps slightly with the first caldera. The Yellowstone Caldera is primarily located in the center of the park, with other caldera locations resting along the western border.
As reported in the book “Death in Yellowstone 1 ”, there have been numerous causes of death throughout the region’s history, including violent confrontations between people, wagon accidents, falling trees, poisonous gases, drownings, falling into hot springs, and, of course, encounters with wildlife.
However, contrary to common belief, one of Yellowstone’s biggest dangers to the public is not the abundant and diverse wildlife that millions gather to see, nor even human error, such as falls or traffic accidents. Sources/Usage: Public Domain. Early visitors at Handkerchief Pool, Black Sand Basin, around 1923.
Remarkably, even though falling into a thermal feature will surely result in third-degree burns or even death, it is sometimes not obvious that visitors to Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas fully understand the great danger of being seriously burned.
It is merely a way to provide a sense of Yellowstone's threat level compared to other volcanoes in the USA. Relative to the other US calderas, Yellowstone lies in the middle. Long Valley caldera is #18 ("very high threat") and Valles caldera is #68 ("moderate threat").
In addition to volcanic eruptions, there are other volcano related threats in Yellowstone including hydrothermal explosions. Yellowstone has a history of some of the worlds largest hydrothermal explosions.
If another large, caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be worldwide. Such a giant eruption would have regional effects such as falling ash and short-term (years to decades) changes to global climate.
On the scale of human lives, the most likely hazards are small hydrothermal explosions, like the September 2018 eruption of Ear Spring, or a strong earthquake, like the M7. 3 1959 Hebgen Lake event.
Yellowstone CalderaAge of rock2,100,000–70,000 yearsMountain typeCaldera and supervolcanoVolcanic fieldYellowstone PlateauLast eruptionapproximately 640,000 years ago (caldera-forming); 70,000 years ago (in the caldera)11 more rows
northwestern WyomingYellowstone Caldera, enormous crater in the western-central portion of Yellowstone National Park, northwestern Wyoming, that was formed by a cataclysmic volcanic eruption some 640,000 years ago. It measures approximately 30 by 45 miles (50 by 70 km), covering a large area of the park.
70,000 years agoThe most recent volcanic eruption at Yellowstone was a lava flow that occurred 70,000 years ago.
As pressure is released, gases dissolved in the magma come out of solution, turning the magma into a boiling froth. The total energy released would be equivalent to an 875,000 megaton explosion.
The results of those studies enabled them to determine the current state of the supervolcano, and predict that a new catastrophic caldera-forming eruption likely will happen only in 1 million to 2 million years, probably in Montana. An eruption of power has not occurred in the world for at least 74,000 years.
Campi Flegrei has been marked as the most dangerous volcano in the world, pipping the likes of Yellowstone to the top title. Also known as the Phlegraean Fields, Campi Flegrei is Europe's only supervolcano, located beneath Naples, Italy.
It would kill around 100,000 people instantly and make most of North America uninhabitable as huge amounts of ash and dust would be thrown into the atmosphere.
External threats from climate change, invasive species, mining outside the park, barriers to connectivity for bison and grizzly bears, and park finance pose the greatest risk to the values, integrity and Outstanding Universal Value of the park.
Climate change, invasive species and species infestations and more frequent fire threaten to change the landscape. Despite this, the exceptional natural beauty of Yellowstone is resilient to most threats and can be considered of low concern overall.
At 140F, a human's skin would suffer serious burns in approximately three seconds. Yellowstone's hot springs and geysers have caused fatalities in the past when visitors have ventured too close and fallen into the superheated waters. Since 1870, 22 people have died in the park after falling into the pools and geysers.
“Yellowstone” fans may lean conservative, but the show's creative force, Taylor Sheridan, has pushed back on the idea of it as a conservative prestige drama. “The people who are calling it a red-state show have probably never watched it,” he told The Times in 2019.
Avoid crowds by visiting in September or early October. Where to Stay: Yellowstone has eight lodges inside the park, plus several campgrounds.
Yellowstone offers a dual threat to the public including the threat of a large earthquake with the additional threat ...
Large hydrothermal explosions (>100 m [~330 ft] in diameter) in Yellowstone have occurred over the past 16,000 years averaging ~1 every 700 years; similar events are likely in the future (Morgan et al., 2009).
There have been three major caldera-forming eruptions in the Yellowstone region in the last 2.1 million years. The first of three major eruptions in the Yellowstone area occurred 2.1 million years ago and erupted 2,500 km 3 (600 mi 3) of material depositing the Lava Creek Tuff.
Since the last major eruption of the Yellowstone volcano, there have been numerous smaller eruptions that have emitted rhyolite lava that has subsequently filled in most of the Yellowstone caldera. The youngest of these flows is the Pitchstone Plateau flow that occurred 70,000 years ago.
This event occurred on August 17, 1959 just west of Yellowstone National Park in the Madison Canyon.