Supervolcano: the end of the world?

1. Supervolcano: the end of the world? L To describe the features of supervolcanoes To explain how they form To understand their potential global effects Key terms: caldera, magma chamber, Yellowstone USA

2. It’s the Daddy YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO in Yellowstone National Park, USA, is the world’s biggest and most powerful volcano. Watch this clip of the eruption of Yellowstone from 2012

3. Yellowstone USA • Location: YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING, USA This map shows the impact of the ash cloud from Mt St Helens in 1980. It also shows the impact of the ash cloud that would erupt from Yellowstone. The ash would cover the whole of North America!

4. WHAT IS ASUPERVOLCANO? • A supervolcano is a huge volcano. Yellowstone measures 35 by 45 miles. • A supervolcano is not a normally shaped volcano. It is actually a giant circular valley called a caldera. This is Yellowstone Caldera. You can see it from the air – it is a circular valley. It was created 640,000 years ago by a super-eruption!

5. Supervolcano from above Beneath the caldera there is a giant pool of molten rock – called a magma chamber. This is what fuels the geysers, bubbling mud and hot springs above!

6. How do supervolcanoes form?

7. How do supervolcanoes form?

8. How do supervolcanoes form?

9. SUPERVOLCANO • What does Yellowstone Park sit on top of? • 2. What does geothermal mean? • 3. What are the geothermal features at Yellowstone? What causes them? • 4. Explain the differences in • a) crater size; • b) amount of erupted ash and lava; • c) and formation; • between Mount St Helens and the last major • eruption at Yellowstone.

10. New Ice Age Vegetation cannot grow A fall in global temperatures Crops die The sun blocked out Billions of tonnes of ash released Famine Starvation SUPERVOLCANO The global effects Death Planes cannot fly Recession Inflation (the price of goods goes up) Trade stops Resources become scarce Conflict and war