A supervolcano is any volcano capable of producing a volcanic eruption with an ejecta mass greater than 10 15 kg.
Supervolcanoes can occur when magma in the mantle rises into the crust from a hotspot but is unable to break through the crust, and pressure builds in a large and growing magma pool until the crust is unable to contain the pressure (this is the case for the Yellowstone Caldera). Large igneous provinces can cover huge areas with lava and volcanic ash, causing long-lasting climate change (such as the triggering of a small ice age or global warming), which can threaten species with extinction. Aspen Times-Top Stories. Effects of a major eruption: When the Yellowstone Caldera, or supervolcano, in Yellowstone National erupts again, it will render a huge swath of North America, from Vancouver to Oklahoma City, uninhabitable. Latest Articles. The media does love the term supervolcano, and a number of.  noun (plural supervolcanoes or supervolcanos). An unusually large volcano having the potential to produce an eruption with major effects on the global climate and ecosystem: the possibility of a supervolcano erupting is terrifying, but the odds are fairly long against it happening in our lifetimes. More example sentences Definition of VOLCANO for Kids. 1. : an opening in the earth's crust from which hot or melted rock and steam erupt. 2. : a hill or mountain composed of material thrown out in a volcanic eruption. 1. : a vent in the crust of the earth or another planet or a moon from which usually molten or hot rock and steam issue; also: a hill or mountain composed wholly or in part of the ejected material. 2. : something of explosively violent potential. Full Definition of VOLCANO. 1. : a vent in the crust of the earth or another planet or a moon from which usually molten or hot rock and steam issue; also: a hill or mountain composed wholly or in part of the ejected material. 2. : something of explosively violent potential. See volcano defined for English-language learners A supervolcano is any volcano capable of producing a volcanic eruption with an ejecta mass greater than 10 15 kg. Large igneous provinces can cover huge areas with lava and volcanic ash, causing long-lasting climate change (such as the triggering of a small ice age or global warming), which can threaten species with extinction. The term supervolcano implies a volcanic center that has had an eruption of magnitude 8 on the Volcano Explosivity Index (VEI), meaning the measured deposits for that eruption is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles). The VEI scale was created as a general measurement of the explosivity of an eruption. Therefore a supervolcano is a volcano that at one point in time erupted more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of deposits. Yellowstone, like many other supervolcanoes, has also had much smaller eruptions. The cartoon shows a comparison of eruption sizes, including the three largest from Yellowstone. A supervolcano is a volcano on a massive scale. It is different from a volcano because: 1  it erupts at least 1,000 km 3 of material (a large volcano erupts around 1 km 3). 2  it forms a depression, called a caldera [caldera: A cauldron / depression shaped tectonic feature usually formed from the collapse of a magma chamber. ] ( 3 a volcano forms a cone shape). Yellowstone. A hydrothermal feature at Yellowstone. Yellowstone is one example of a supervolcano. Three huge eruptions have happened in the last 3 million years. the last eruption was 630,000 years ago, and was 1,000 times bigger than the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980. The definition of a volcano is a rupture in the Earth's crust where molten lava, hot ash, and gases from below the Earth’s crust escape into the air.  A supervolcano is defined as a volcano that ejects more than a trillion tons of material when it erupts. When one explodes, it can cover an entire continent in ash. This type of explosion is about 30 times stronger than the strongest volcanic eruption in recent history, which occurred at Krakatoa. 
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supervolcano definition