Yellowstone Isn't Due For A Volcanic Eruption

"Yellowstone supervolcano.... what is that? What even is that? I'll tell you what it is. It's just some stupid legend passed through the internet around a campfire like it's their dung. Let me tell you, dear view. This video doesn't deal in internet legends- it deals in facts."
- Refrigerator (27)

So where did this whole Yellowstone-Eruption-Scare come from?
Years ago, some people looked at the historical data of Yellowstone’s large explosions. These people saw that the only major Yellowstone explosions we know of occurred 2.08 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 0.631 million years ago. With these three numbers, they found that the Yellowstone has a major eruption on average of once every 725,000 years.
There are numerous problems with that assumption, the first of which being that it’s an incredibly small dataset. Three eruptions isn’t anywhere near enough to get an accurate understanding of how often something occurs because you really only have two ranges of time. The amount time between the first and the second eruption and the amount between the second and third eruption. It’s an average of two numbers, which is completely worthless.
I get that not everybody understands how volcanos work. It’s fine, not everybody can be a geologist. But we should all at the very least understand how numbers work. If we assumed that volcanos went off like clockwork. That they go off in consistent and predictable intervals of 725,000 years and that the last eruption was 631,000 years ago…. That still leaves nearly 100,000 years until the next Yellowstone eruption. We are not overdue at all- if anything, we’re underdue for an eruption. 100,000 years is a really long time ,

To put this into perspective, the Egyptian empire only ended 2,000 years ago. Horse domestication is about 5,000 years old.
We’re currently living in the 21st century. If volcanoes were predictable, Yellowstone won’t blow its top until the 961st century.

Okay, so we’ve gone over why the 725,000 year average is unreliable as well as why we experience Yellowstone destroying the world even if it were a reliable average. Let’s go over how volcanoes work and why further debunk the absurdity of the overdue Yellowstone eruption claim.
In the most simple terms, volcanoes erupt when they have an over-accumulation of magma. There’s too much magma inside the volcano and the pressure forces them out. Easy 1st grader-friendly explanation of volcanoes.

The 8th grader friendly explanation is that as magma rises, the gas bubbles become trapped inside the volcano. And the more magma accumulates, the more pressure gets built up and the more likely there’ll be for an eruption to restore equilibrium.

But the thing is, magma doesn’t accumulate at a consistent linear rate. Volcanoes generally don’t get the same amount of magma build up year after year. This is why geologists have to rely on sophisticated measuring equipment to forecast volcanic eruptions instead of simply pulling out a calendar and subtracting the years.

And when build-up does force an eruption, they’re typically not the giant explosions that shatter the world. Small lava flows akin to volcanic leakage are much more common and much less destructive than the dramatic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
In fact, Yellowstone just had one of these small lava flows 70,000 years ago to lessen the pressure. Those lava flows are dangerous enough to harm the surrounding land, but nobody outside the immediate area will witness its effects.

[channels]

What common misconception would you like me to bust next? I'm currently taking viewer suggestions ^.^

[lucasmckenzie]

I've just subscribed because I appreciate your videos, but it would be helpful if you cited your sources.

[CoffeePoints]

Yellowstone? More like NEVERstone am I right or am I right?