Supervolcanoes 101 | National Geographic

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What are supervolcanoes, and how catastrophic can they be? Learn how supervolcanoes form, where supervolcanoes are located, and how their destructive capabilities can make way for new life.
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Supervolcanoes 101 | National Geographic

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  1. for those who want:
    Supervolcanoes are the most violent and complex class of volcanoes

    But despite thrir destructive capabilites, they can also make way for life renewed.

    Around 20 supervolcanoes are scattered across the planet.

    They're usually characterized as as large depressions in the ground, called calderas, located above multiple openings in the earth’s crust.

    In terms of eruptions, supervolcanoes explode at a magnatude of eight, the highest and most violent classification on the volcanic explosivity index. Supervolcanoes undergro a life cycle of three major stages: a surge of trapped magma a supereruption, and a resurgence.

    The first stage of a supervolcano’s life cycle involes a pocket of magma trapped under the earth’s crust . Called a hotspot, this magma reservoir is fed by a pipeline deep into earth’s molten interior.

    It grows and builds pressure underground eventually causing the crust above to be pushed upward.

    The supervolcano campi flegrei on the west coast of italy has pushed the ground up several times over the past few decades. At one point, within a matter of only two years, enough magma accumulated to cause the ground to swell up to six and a half feet. The next stage of supervolcano’s life cycle is a supereruption: at this point, the buildup of pressure in a magma reservoir hits a critical mass and then explodes, sending over 1000 cubic kilometers of tephra or ash and rocky material, into the sky.

    The most recent supereruption occured in New zealand apprximately 26 000 years ago. The supervolcano Taupo ejected abour 1100 cubic kilometers of tephra into the air, enough material to constitue nearly half a million great pyramids of Giza .

    After a supereruption, a supervolcano undergoes a stage called resurgence.

    Having dispelled its contents, a supervolcano’s magma reservoir collapses and forms a caldera. The Yellowstone caldera in united states is currenlty in resurgence after supereruption occured about 640 000 years ago. In the time since, freshwater collected in the caldera of from a lake, plants and wildlife retourned to reclaim the space, and some of the world’s largest geothermal features emerged.

    Supervolcanoes have created unparalled natural beauty, all in the wake of some of the world’s most cataclysmic events.

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