THE supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is not as hot as expected, and Derek Schutt of Colorado State University suggests this may mean it is on its last legs – though it could still be dangerous.
Yellowstone sits on one of a few dozen large volcanic hotspots around the world. When the supervolcano there last exploded, 642,000 years ago, it blanketed half of what is now the US in ash. The source of its periodic eruptions is not certain, but suspicion focuses on a large plume of hot mantle that has welled up within the crust.
Using seismic…
