Yellowstone National Park’s supervolcano just took a deep “breath,” causing miles of ground to rise dramatically, scientists report.
The simmering volcano has produced major eruptions — each a thousand times more powerful than Mount St. Helens’s 1980 eruption — three times in the past 2.1 million years. Yellowstone’s caldera, which covers a 25- by 37-mile (40- by 60-kilometer) swath of Wyoming, is an ancient crater formed after the last big blast, some 640,000 years ago….
[From 2004 to 2010, though slowing recently,] ground levels over the volcano have been raised by as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) in places.
“It’s an extraordinary uplift, because it covers such a large area and the rates are so high,” said the University of Utah’s Bob Smith, a longtime expert in Yellowstone’s volcanism.
For more, see here. (Both items are from National Geographic.) Thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer.
UPDATE: From commenter Guy: “C’mon supervolcano, if you’re gonna do it just do it. Don’t be such a drama queen about it.”