As did Toba, so could Yellowstone
Submitted by Robert Bast on December 14, 2009 – 4:54 pmOne Comment
A study has provided “incontrovertible evidence” that the eruption of super-volcano Toba 73,000 years ago destroyed forests throughout central India, at a distance of 3,000 miles from the the island of Sumatra where Toba is located.
The volcano ejected an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash to Earth’s atmosphere (Mt St Helens in 1980 was 1.3 cubic kilometres), creating an “Instant Ice Age” that, as evidenced by Greenland ice cores, lasted approximately 1,800 years.
During this time “temperatures dropped by as much as 16 degrees centigrade (28 degrees Fahrenheit)”. The effect on existing populations would have been devastating, and is a possible cause for the population “bottleneck” we find from genetic evidence.
This is the type of disaster that could be just around the corner, if Yellowstone is really showing signs of unrest. Not only would a large portion of the USA be wiped out, but we’d also have a massive drop in global temperatures, and unlike our ancient ancestors, we’d also have to deal with the collapse of economies and the possibility of political upheaval & breakdowns in society.
More at Science Daily
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I remember seeing a show about the "bottleneck", and how it was linked to Toba. An 1800-year-long ice age is sure to do the trick. And it would have kick-started the last great ice age, which only ended about 12,000 years ago.