Super Volcanoes

What are they?

How are they treated?

What if they went off?

What are Super Volcanoes?

General Information
Super Volcanoes are made up of the same components as regular volcanos.
Magma rising to the top hardening as lava on the outsides forming the volcano.

The major difference is a super volcano eruption is much more violent and deadly and has a lot of pressure build up.

General Information Cont.

There are only a handful of super volcanoes on the earth. Probably the most well know is the one in Yellowstone National Park which had its last eruption over 640,000 years ago.

The other most well know super volcano was Toba in Sumatra and it had erupted over 74,000 years ago

Calderas
Calderas can form after the eruption of super volcanoes. They are typically land that has sunken in due to the eruption of a volcano but can still remain volatile.
Both Toba and Yellowstone volcanoes are calderas due to the eruption by both.

How Do We Treat Super Volcanoes?

How Do We View Super Volcanoes?

Currently there is no efforts being made to locate and prevent a super volcano eruption. We treat them as a recreation. We enjoy the environment they create. Benefit from the energy they produce

OR

Yellowstone National Park

Location:
442738N 1104941W (Old Faithful)

Place:
67 species of mammals Approximately 1,150 species of native vascular plants 26 associated American Indian tribes

Region:
Northeast section of the American Rocky Mountain Range

Movement:
3,447,729 people visited in 2012

Human / Environment Interaction:

A designated World Heritage Site and designated Biosphere Reserve

Lake Toba
Location:
2.6845N 98.8756E Most of the people who live around Lake Toba are ethnically Bataks Northern Sumatra Main mode of transportation is: 1. Boat 2. Bike 3. Motorcycle The lake drains east through the Asahan River into the Strait of Malacca; along the Asahan River several major hydroelectric projects were completed in the 1980s to supply power for industrialization of the lesserdeveloped areas of northern Sumatra

Place:

Region:

Movement:

Human / Environment Interaction:

Lake Taupo
Location:
3849S 17555E

Place:
Occupied by the Maori people

Region:
South Pacific

Movement:
The Maori landed on the island about 700 years ago.

Human / Environment Interaction:

Lake Taupo's eruption was so huge, ash has been found in ice cores drilled in Greenland.

What If They Went Off?

 While all volcanoes are quite explosive and deadly the only way to call a volcano super or not is by how much ash and debris they expel. Volcanologists use the VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) to determine whether or not the volcano is super or not.
Level 0- Level 2 are quite often small if anything like Hawaiis, then for two levels after that they get more violent and explosive until they hit Level 7 and 8 those are the Super Volcanoes.

Where are they?

There are several Super Volcanos in the world currently. We are starting with the Yellowstone Caldara, the Long Valley Caldara in California, and Lake Toba to name some famous ones.

Super Volcano used eruption Its super effective!!

We know of the effects that Super Volcanoes have on the world because of several facts; how far and deep ash levels in relation to the volcano, using ice cores to determine how much ash was in the air and for how long. All of the effects from Yellowstone blowing would be devastating to say at the least, ash smothering plants and buildings, covering the sun for years, and possible starting an ice age (not sure for how long.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR1bg_Yf0T4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SulM31nqaKw

References
BBC. Super Volcanoes. March 2004. Web. 30 November 2013. Geology.com. Calderas. 2013. Web. 30 November 2013. Gourley, B.. N.p.. Web. 11 Dec 2013. <http://yellowstone.net/intro/fastfacts/>. N.p.. Web. 11 Dec 2013. <http://www.newzealand.com/travel/media/topic-index/nz-regions/taupo.cfm>. http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/VEI.html http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_sub_page_49.html#supervolca no http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/long_valley/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/supervolcanoes.shtml