pompeii supervolcano could mean doomsday for millions, and it's not the only one

7/31/2019 Pompeii Supervolcano Could Mean Doomsday For Millions, And It's Not The Only One

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Pompeii Supervolcano Could Mean Doomsday For Millions,And It's Not The Only One

A "supervolcano" might sound like something out of a sci-fi fantasy film, but one

supervolcano lies hidden near Pompeii, Italy, where thousands were killed in 79 A.D.,

and it could potentially kill millions.

"These areas can give rise to the only eruptions that can have global catastrophic

effects comparable to major meteorite impacts," Giuseppe De Natale, head of a drilling project to

monitor the molten "caldera" in the area west of Naples known as Campi Flegrei, told Reuters. (A

caldera is cauldron formed by land that has collapsed after a volcanic eruption, according to

Yahoo! News.)

"Fortunately, it is extremely rare for these areas to erupt at their full capacity, as it is extremely

rare for large meteorites to hit the earth," De Natale told Reuters. "But some of these areas, in

particular the Campi Flegrei, are densely populated and therefore even small eruptions, which are

the most probable, fortunately, can pose risks for the population."

The looming danger calls to mind the 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius eruption that buried the ancient

Roman city of Pompeii under a thick, suffocating layer of volcanic ash.

A supervolcano has a volcanic center that has had an eruption of magnitude 8, which means the

measured deposit for the eruption is greater than 240 cubic miles, according to the U.S.

Geological Survey.

And the supervolcano near Pompeii is not the only one.

The Yellowstone Caldera, located under Yellowstone Lake, is the largest supervolcano in North

America. California and New Mexico also have them. Other supervolcanoes around the world are

located in Indonesia, Japan, and Siberia, according to the Discovery Channel. There are even

significant calderas that have not been well studied in Ethiopia and Bolivia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/03/us-italy-volcano-idUSBRE8720WI20120803http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/03/us-italy-volcano-idUSBRE8720WI20120803http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/super-volcano-could-kill-millions-near-pompeii-232723952.htmlhttp://www.history.com/topics/pompeiihttp://www.history.com/topics/pompeiihttp://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_sub_page_49.html#supervolcanohttp://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/others/others.htmlhttp://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/super-volcano-could-kill-millions-near-pompeii-232723952.htmlhttp://www.history.com/topics/pompeiihttp://www.history.com/topics/pompeiihttp://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_sub_page_49.html#supervolcanohttp://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/others/others.htmlhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/03/us-italy-volcano-idUSBRE8720WI20120803http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/03/us-italy-volcano-idUSBRE8720WI20120803


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The real danger of a supervolcano is the ash, which -- in large enough quantity -- can collect in

the atmosphere and block out the sun, causing severe global climate changes, as ABC News' Lee

Dye describes:

Such an event could make thermonuclear war or global warming seem trivial, spewing

untold tons of ash into the atmosphere to block sunlight. The result would be many years offrigid temperatures, wiping out millions of species. A super-volcano that erupted 250 million

years ago is now believed to have created the greatest mass extinction the world has ever

seen, wiping out up to 95 percent of all plant and animal species. Some renegade scientists

believe it was a volcano, not an asteroid, that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Dye goes on to detail a new study from Vanderbuilt University researchers which states that a

supervolcano eruption could happen just a few hundred years after the volcano forms. Thus,

working on a very "short fuse."

Back in 2005, Stephen Sparks of the University of Bristol told LiveScience of the potential

doomsday effects of a supervolcano.

"In super eruptions the magma chamber is huge," Sparks said. "When the magma erupts the

overlying rocks collapse into the chamber, which has reduced its pressure due to the eruption.

The collapse forms the huge crater." The eruption shoots ash and chemicals into the air. "The

whole of a continent might be covered by ash, which might take many years -- possibly decades

-- to erode away and for vegetation to recover," he added.

Scientists in the U.S. say that the chance of another catastrophic volcanic eruption at Yellowstone

is slim, with a precise yearly probability of 1 in 730,000 or 0.00014 precent, according to the

USGS. Buildup preceding such a disaster could be detectable with new technology weeks or

months before the action eruption.

In Italy, scientists are monitoring the conditions at Campi Flegrei and some even say that

the eruptions seem to be weakening over time, according to research included in the

Smithsonian.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/end-world-super-volcanoes-form-quickly-destructive-asteroid/story?id=16508702#.UCEsoMhYvDUhttp://www.livescience.com/200-super-volcano-challenge-civilization-geologists-warn.htmlhttp://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/08/italian-supervolcano-could-end-eurozone-crisis-the-easy-way/http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/end-world-super-volcanoes-form-quickly-destructive-asteroid/story?id=16508702#.UCEsoMhYvDUhttp://www.livescience.com/200-super-volcano-challenge-civilization-geologists-warn.htmlhttp://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/08/italian-supervolcano-could-end-eurozone-crisis-the-easy-way/


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In this June 6, 2011 file photo, lightning strikes over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south ofSantiago, Chile. (AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno, File)


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Lava flows during an eruption of Mt. Etna volcano, near Catania, Sicily, in the early hours of Thursday,Feb. 9, 2012. The lava flowed on the snow toward a desert valley and did not pose a treat to the inhabitedarea. (AP Photo/Carmelo Imbesi)


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View of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano near Villa Maria, central Colombia, Sunday, July 1, 2012. Thevolcano erupted, Saturday afternoon, spewing smoke and ash. While authorities ordered the preventativeevacuation of some communities around the mountain but no damages or victims were reported. (APPhoto/Luisa Garcia)


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The Fuego volcano erupts, viewed from San Juan Alotenango municipality, Sacatepequez

departament, 65 km south of Guatemala City on May 25, 2012. The volcano has begun spewing

lava and columns of ash into the air, and authorities have raised the alert level in the area.

(JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/GettyImages)


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A man walks atop the crest of the Xilicatzi hill in Totolac, Tlaxcala, Mexico while ash and smoke are spewfrom the Popocatepetl volcano on July 4, 2012. According to a report by The National Center ofPrevention of Disasters (CENAPRED) during the last 24 hours the Volcano has emitted at least 15breaths and it has been declared a yellow alert. (GUADALUPE PEREZ/AFP/GettyImages)


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The Fuego volcano (R) seen from Siquinala municipality, Escuintla departament, 80 km south ofGuatemala City on June 21, 2012. The volcano has begun spewing lava and columns of ash into the air,and authorities have raised the alert level in the area. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/GettyImages)

Popocatepetl volcano spews lava, ash and steam during an eruption as seen from from Xalitzintla,Mexico, Saturday April 21, 2012. Authorities prepared evacuation routes, ambulances and shelters in theevent of a bigger explosion after the volcano that looms over Mexico City emitted a low-pitched roar earlySaturday morning. Popo, as it's commonly known, has put out small eruptions of ash almost daily since around of eruptive activity began in 1994. A week ago, the eruptions started growing larger. (APPhoto/Marco Ugarte)


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A plume of ash and smoke rises from the Popocatepetl volcano seen from the outskirts of the town ofSantiago Xalizintla, Mexico, Friday, April 20, 2012. Authorities prepared evacuation routes, ambulancesand shelters in the event of a bigger explosion after the volcano that looms over Mexico City emitted alow-pitched roar early Friday morning and spewed ash and steam. (AP Photo/Gonzalo Perez)


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This natural-color satellite image provided by NASA was acquired by the Moderate Resolution ImagingSpectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite on Saturday June 11, 2011 of the Puyehue-CordonCaulle eruption in Chile. In the image, the ash plume from the volcano is visible center. Some airlineflights to and from New Zealand were canceled Sunday as the ash cloud from the erupting volcano insouthern Chile spread. (AP Photo/NASA)


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A snowcapped mount Etna erupts not far from Zafferana Etnea village, in Italy, in this frame from videoThursday, April 12, 2012. The south-eastern crater,

Ashes and smoke billow through the clouds after the eruption of the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano inChile, seen from the border cross with Argentina, Cardenal Samore, in southern Chile, Wednesday June


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15, 2011. The volcano started erupting on June 4 after remaining dormant for decades. The ash spreadacross the Pacific, prompting authorities to suspend flights in Australia and New Zealand. (APPhoto/Alvaro Vidal)

In this Sept. 21, 2011 photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, lava flows from Kilauea volcano atVolcanoes National Park in Hawaii. Lava began flowing from the fissure breakout that started last week atKilauea, a volcano that has been continuously erupting since 1983. It advanced about 2.3 miles beforestopping short of the mostly abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision. (AP Photo/USGS, Tim Orr)


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A plume of ash, dust and steam emits from a volcano erupting beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, inthis file photo dated Wednesday, April 21, 2010, in Eyjafjallajokull, Iceland. A surge of small earthquakeshas been reported Tuesday Sept. 6, 2011, around Iceland's Katla volcano, but scientists said Tuesday

there is no immediate concern that the increased seismic activity will trigger a dangerous eruption,although history has shown that when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla isn't far behind. (APPhoto/Carolyn Kaster, File)


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In this photo provided by the regional government of Aysen, plumes of smoke and ash rise from theHudson volcano in the region of Aysen, Chile, Thursday Oct. 27, 2011. The Southern Andean VolcanoObservatory says seismic activity related to the volcano increased starting early Tuesday night. TheHudson volcano lies 995 miles (1,600 kilometers) south of Chile's capital, Santiago. It last erupted in

August 1991, causing millions in damages to local farms and killing an estimated 1.5 million sheep. Chilehas about 3,000 volcanos, 500 of which are considered


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The Tungurahua volcano spews ashes during an explosion as it is seen from Cotalo, Ecuador, Tuesday,Nov. 29, 2011. Ecuador's Geophysical Institute says increased activity that began Sunday is billowingcolumns of ash, sending superheated clouds of gas down the slopes and cascading hot rocks from thesummit. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)


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In this photo released by Virunga National Park Monday, Nov. 14, 2011, Mount Nyamulagira in easternCongo is seen erupting Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Virunga National Park in Congo is inviting tourists on anovernight trek to view a spectacular eruption of Mount Nyamulagira, where rivers of incandescent lava areflowing slowly north into an uninhabited part of the park but pose no danger to its critically endangered

mountain gorillas. (AP Photo/Virunga National Park, Cai Tjeenk Willink)


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A view of the Tungurahua volcano as it erupts as seen from Cotalo, Ecuador, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011.Ecuador's Geophysical Institute said the volcano's increased activity that began Sunday, is billowingcolumns of ash, sending superheated clouds of gas down the slopes and cascading hot rocks from thesummit. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

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pompeii supervolcano could mean doomsday for millions, and it's not the only one

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