• Question: what would happen if a super volcano went off

    Asked by anon-191800 to Kathryn, Graeme, Agnes, Adam on 16 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Adam McGuinness

      Adam McGuinness answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      Well, there’s a great book called a short history of nearly everything that does a great job of explaining this! In short, the soot and ash could be thrown high up into the air, and travel around the globe, blocking out sunlight which might trigger an ice age as temperatures everywhere get very low!

    • Photo: Agnes Wojtusiak

      Agnes Wojtusiak answered on 16 Nov 2018:

      Not good things… It can be quite scary!
      .
      I remember learning about it in GCSE geography, our teacher really terrified us all! What Adam said is exactly right, but he didn’t add how the explosion would just completely DESTROY everything in a 100 mile radius and it would cover areas in a thick ash-blanket as far as 1,000 miles away! You probably couldn’t live in the majority of the United States after that…
      .
      On the plus side, it might not happen any time soon 🙂

      PS: @Adam – I love that book! 😀

Comments

  • johnmidgley commented on :

    Nothing good. It would trigger tectonic instabilities – more earth tremors that might make other volcanoes nearby go off. It would also put a lot of dust and debris into the atmosphere, blocking out light and reducing crop yields. It is thought it was the super volcanoes triggered after the meteorite hit is what actually killed off the dinosaurs.