Supervolcano

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World map of known VEI 7 and VEI 8 volcanoes Template:Legend Template:Legend

A supervolcano is a volcano that has had an eruption with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the largest recorded value on the index. This means the volume of deposits for such an eruption is greater than Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:HotspotsSRP update2013.JPG

Location of Yellowstone hotspot over time. Numbers indicate millions of years before the present.

File:Toba overview.jpg

Satellite image of Lake Toba, the site of a VEI 8 eruption c. 75,000 years ago

File:Long Valley Caldera cross section.gif

Cross-section through Long Valley Caldera

Supervolcanoes occur when magma in the mantle rises into the crust but is unable to break through it. Pressure builds in a large and growing magma pool until the crust is unable to contain the pressure and ruptures. This can occur at hotspots (for example, Yellowstone Caldera) or at subduction zones (for example, Toba).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Large-volume supervolcanic eruptions are also often associated with large igneous provinces, which can cover huge areas with lava and volcanic ash. These can cause long-lasting climate change (such as the triggering of a small ice age) and threaten species with extinction. The Oruanui eruption of New Zealand's Taupō Volcano (about 25,600 years ago) was the world's most recent VEI-8 eruption.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

TerminologyEdit

The term "supervolcano" was first used in a volcanic context in 1949.<ref>supervolcano, n. Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, online version June 2012. Retrieved on 2012-08-17.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:NoteTag Its origins lie in an early 20th-century scientific debate about the geological history and features of the Three Sisters volcanic region of Oregon in the United States. In 1925, Edwin T. Hodge suggested that a very large volcano, which he named Mount Multnomah, had existed in that region.<ref group=note>Subsequent research proved that each peak of the Three Sisters was formed independently, and that Mount Multnomah never existed.Template:Citation needed</ref> He believed that several peaks in the Three Sisters area were remnants of Mount Multnomah after it had been largely destroyed by violent volcanic explosions, similarly to Mount Mazama.<ref>Harris, Stephen (1988). Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes. Missoula, Mountain Press.</ref> In his 1948 book The Ancient Volcanoes of Oregon, volcanologist Howel Williams ignored the possible existence of Mount Multnomah, but in 1949 another volcanologist, F. M. Byers Jr., reviewed the book, and in the review, Byers refers to Mount Multnomah as a "supervolcano".<ref>supervolcano, n. Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, online version June 2012. Retrieved on 2012-08-17.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

More than fifty years after Byers' review was published, the term supervolcano was popularised by the BBC popular science television program Horizon in 2000, referring to eruptions that produce extremely large amounts of ejecta.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory Template:Webarchive. Vulcan.wr.usgs.gov. Retrieved on 2011-11-18.</ref>

The term megacaldera is sometimes used for caldera supervolcanoes, such as the Blake River Megacaldera Complex in the Abitibi greenstone belt of Ontario and Quebec, Canada.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Though there is no well-defined minimum explosive size for a "supervolcano", there are at least two types of volcanic eruptions that have been identified as supervolcanoes: large igneous provinces and massive eruptions.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Large igneous provincesEdit

File:Flood Basalt Map.jpg

Map of large flood basalt igneous provinces worldwide

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Large igneous provinces, such as Iceland, the Siberian Traps, Deccan Traps, and the Ontong Java Plateau, are extensive regions of basalts on a continental scale resulting from flood basalt eruptions. When created, these regions often occupy several thousand square kilometres and have volumes on the order of millions of cubic kilometers. In most cases, the lavas are normally laid down over several million years. They release large amounts of gases.

The Réunion hotspot produced the Deccan Traps about 66 million years ago, coincident with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The scientific consensus is that an asteroid impact was the cause of the extinction event, but the volcanic activity may have caused environmental stresses on extant species up to the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Some scientists have hypothesised that the volcanism around the Deccan Traps could have been intensified by the Chicxulub impact, which would have been close to the antipodal point of the Traps at that time.<ref>Richards, M.A., et al. "Triggering of the largest Deccan eruptions by the Chicxulub impact," GSA Bulletin (2015) 127 (11-12): 1507–1520. Retrieved 4 March 2025.</ref>

Additionally, the largest flood basalt event (the Siberian Traps) occurred around 250 million years ago and was coincident with the largest mass extinction in history, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, although it is unknown whether it was solely responsible for the extinction event.

Such outpourings are not explosive, though lava fountains may occur. Many volcanologists consider Iceland to be a large igneous province that is currently being formed. The last major outpouring occurred in 1783–84 from the Laki fissure, which is approximately Template:Convert long. An estimated Template:Convert of basaltic lava was poured out during the eruption (VEI 4).

The Ontong Java Plateau has an area of about Template:Convert, and the province was at least 50% larger before the Manihiki and Hikurangi Plateaus broke away.

Massive explosive eruptionsEdit

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Volcanic eruptions are classified using the volcanic explosivity index. It is a logarithmic scale, and an increase of one in VEI number is equivalent to a tenfold increase in volume of erupted material. VEI 7 or VEI 8 eruptions are so powerful that they often form circular calderas rather than cones because the downward withdrawal of magma causes the overlying rock mass to collapse into the empty magma chamber beneath it.

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Known super eruptionsEdit

Based on incomplete statistics, at least 60 VEI 8 eruptions have been identified.<ref name=":0"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Well-known VEI 8 eruptions
Name	Zone	Location	Notes	Years ago (approx.)	Ejecta bulk volume (approx.)	Reference
Youngest Toba eruption	Toba Caldera, North Sumatra	Sumatra, Indonesia	Produced 439–631 million tons of sulfuric acid	75,000	Template:Sort	<ref name=sci>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Knight, M.D. 1986, p. 10,355">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Ninkovich, D. 1978, pp. 286–298">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="geo.mtu.edu">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Williams, M.A.J. 1982, pp. 139–162">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Costa">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Flat Landing Brook Formation	Tetagouche Group	New Brunswick, Canada	Possibly the largest known supereruption. Existence as a single eruption is controversial, and it could have been a multiple 2,000+ km³ event that spanned less than a million years	466,000,000	Template:Sort	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Wah Wah Springs Caldera	Indian Peak–Caliente Caldera Complex	Utah, United States	The largest of the Indian Peak-Caliente Caldera Complex eruptions, preserved as the Wah Wah Springs Tuff; includes pyroclastic flows more than Template:Convert thick	30,600,000	Template:Sort	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="geology.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
La Garita Caldera	San Juan volcanic field	Colorado, United States	Fish Canyon eruption	27,800,000	5,000 km³	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Lipman">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Grey's Landing Supereruption	Yellowstone hotspot	United States	Deposited the Grey's Landing Ignimbrite	8,720,000	2,800 km³	<ref name="New">Template:Cite journal</ref>
La Pacana	Andes Central Volcanic Zone	Chile	Responsible for the Antana Ignimbrite	4,000,000	2,500 km³	<ref name="Lindsay2001">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Huckleberry Ridge eruption	Yellowstone hotspot	Idaho, United States	Huckleberry Ridge Tuff; consisted of three distinct eruptions separated by years to decades	2,100,000	Template:Sort	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Whakamaru Caldera	Taupō Volcanic Zone	North Island, New Zealand	Whakamaru Ignimbrite/Mount Curl Tephra	340,000	2,000 km³	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Heise Volcanic Field	Yellowstone hotspot	Idaho, United States	Kilgore Tuff	4,500,000	1,800 km³	<ref name="Morgan">Template:Cite journal</ref>
McMullen Supereruption	Yellowstone hotspot	Southern Idaho, United States	McMullen Ignimbrite	8,990,000	1,700 km³	<ref name="New"/>
Heise Volcanic Field	Yellowstone hotspot	Idaho, United States	Blacktail Tuff	6,000,000	1,500 km³	<ref name="Morgan" />
Cerro Guacha	Altiplano–Puna volcanic complex	Sur Lípez, Bolivia	Guacha ignimbrite, two smaller eruptions identified	5,700,000	1,300 km³	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Mangakino Caldera	Taupō Volcanic Zone	North Island, New Zealand	Kidnappers eruption	1,080,000	1,200 km³	<ref>Rejuvenation and Repeated Eruption of a 1.0 Ma Supervolcanic System at Mangakino Caldera, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2012, abstract #V31C-2797. Retrieved 10 September 2017.</ref>
Oruanui eruption	Taupō Volcanic Zone	North Island, New Zealand	Taupō Volcano (Lake Taupō)	26,500	1,170 km³	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Galán	Andes Central Volcanic Zone	Catamarca, Argentina	Consisted of three distinct eruptions, separated by 30-40 thousand years	2,500,000	1,050 km³	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Lava Creek eruption	Yellowstone hotspot	Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, United States	Lava Creek Tuff; consisted of two distinct eruptions separated by years	640,000	1,000 km³	<ref name="largeeruptions">Large Holocene Eruptions. Global Volcanism Program. Template:Webarchive. Volcano.si.edu. Retrieved on 2011-11-18.</ref><ref name="usgs.gov"/><ref name="geology.com"/>

Media portrayalEdit

Nova featured an episode "Mystery of the Megavolcano" in September 2006 examining such eruptions in the last 100,000 years.<ref>"Mystery of the Megavolcano" Template:Webarchive. Pbs.org. Accessed on 2017-10-12.</ref>
Supervolcano is the title of a British-Canadian television disaster film, first released in 2005. It tells a fictional story of a supereruption at Yellowstone.
In the 2009 disaster film 2012, a supereruption of Yellowstone is one of the events that contributes to a global cataclysm.
The 2025 political thriller Paradise takes place after an eruption of a fictional Antarctic supervolcano and subsequent megatsunami, causing the United States federal government and other prominent individuals to relocate to an underground city in Colorado.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

GalleryEdit

Taupo.Volcanic.Zone.North.Island.NZ.JPG

Volcano, lake, and caldera locations in the Taupō Volcanic Zone

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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