There’s a seriously powerful supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park, and when it blows it will spread enough ash to keep the world in a state of volcanic winter for some time.


There’s a seriously powerful supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park, and when it blows, it will spread enough ash to keep the world in a state of volcanic winter for some time, reports Forbes.
The good news is that scientists can spot probable blasts in advance. 
The not so good news is that while it was believed that early signs of awakening occur over thousands of years, in the case of Yellowstone the period from preparation to catastrophic devastation may be only decades. 
Researchers with Arizona State University discovered this by gathering and examining the remnants of the supervolcano’s last period of activity, which occurred roughly 630,000 years ago, notes the New York Times.
Analysis revealed that the time between the first subvolcanic appearance of fresh magma and the eventual eruption was quite brief.
Fortunately, activity at the Yellowstone site is not predicted to occur any time soon.