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  • Right now, in the United States,

  • one of the world's largest volcanoes

  • is gearing up to explode.

  • It's known as the Yellowstone Volcano,

  • and it's not just any regular volcano.

  • Nope.

  • It's a supervolcano!

  • If Yellowstone decided to erupt,

  • the results would be devastating.

  • But just how bad would they be?

  • Located in Wyoming, United States,

  • Yellowstone has erupted three times

  • in the past 2 million years.

  • This has led some people to wonder whether

  • we should be worried about another Yellowstone eruption

  • in the near future.

  • And by "near future,"

  • we mean probably in another

  • couple hundred thousand years.

  • But instead of waiting so long,

  • why don't we find out,

  • what would happen

  • if the eruption took place tomorrow?

  • If you live in North America,

  • there would be virtually nothing you could do to prepare.

  • Now that this supervolcano has exploded...

  • Well first,

  • what makes Yellowstone a supervolcano anyway?

  • Apart from it being larger in size,

  • a supervolcano also produces

  • a much more massive explosion.

  • Most of the time,

  • when we think of a volcanic eruption,

  • we think of the hot,

  • molten lava spewing down,

  • covering the surrounding area.

  • While that would happen at Yellowstone,

  • and it is something you'd need to worry about,

  • it wouldn't be the only thing.

  • In fact, the lava pouring out of the volcano

  • might be the least of your worries.

  • Surprisingly, there wouldn't be much of it,

  • at least not as much as you'd expect

  • from a supervolcano.

  • That's because before lava leaves a volcano,

  • it's first known as magma.

  • But in this case,

  • a lot of Yellowstone's magma

  • won't be able to become lava.

  • That's because it will be shot up into the sky,

  • becoming airborne ash particles.

  • And it won't just be any type of ash.

  • These will be tiny, scorching particles of jagged rock.

  • This would affect nearly the entire United States

  • and Canada.

  • Tens of millions of people

  • within 1,000 km (621 mi) of the eruption would die.

  • If you breathed the ash,

  • which would be inevitable in a scenario like this,

  • it would form a cement-like mixture in your lungs,

  • causing you to suffocate.

  • Buildings would collapse,

  • as just 30 cm (12 in) of ash

  • is enough to cave roofs in.

  • And you'd still be in trouble

  • even if you were outside that 1,000 km (621 mi) range.

  • Experts say that

  • even the east coast of the United States

  • would be covered in 1 cm (0.4 in) of ash,

  • which would still be incredibly dangerous

  • to our human lungs.

  • Even parts of Europe would see some ash,

  • maybe a light dusting.

  • And that wouldn't be the only effect they'd experience.

  • Apart from the deadly ash everywhere,

  • the entire world would experience a temperature drop.

  • The ash lingering in the air

  • would block out the Sun,

  • resulting in significant weather changes.

  • The global temperature would drop by 10 degrees,

  • an effect which could last as long as a decade.

  • The ash would also affect crops,

  • water supply, and

  • virtually everything else in the western part of the world.

  • So although you'd probably survive

  • the initial explosion,

  • you'd eventually suffer the consequences of the ash,

  • whether that means dying relatively quickly,

  • or living long enough to experience

  • a colder, harsher world.

  • Luckily, you can take a deep breath of

  • ashless oxygen, knowing that something like this will

  • probably never happen,

  • at least not in our lifetime.

  • An eruption like this at Yellowstone

  • would be known as a supervolcanic eruption.

  • A more likely explosion at Yellowstone

  • would be a hydrothermal eruption.

  • This mainly involves a lot of steam,

  • and some rocks hurling through the air.

  • Although something like this would be bad,

  • it wouldn't be nearly as scary as

  • what we're getting here.

  • And an even more likely eruption at Yellowstone

  • would be a relatively simple lava flow.

  • In fact, since the last major explosion

  • 600,000 years ago,

  • we've had nearly 50 of these eruptions

  • and 0 casualties.

  • We know one way to almost certainly get killed by lava

  • and it involves dropping your trash into it.

  • But that's a story for another WHAT IF.

Right now, in the United States,

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B1 中級

如果黃石火山明天爆發怎麼辦? (What If the Yellowstone Volcano Erupted Tomorrow?)

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    林宜悉 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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