Massive, Ancient Supervolcano Discovered in Utah (Video)

There are volcanoes and then there are supervolcanoes. Now, scientists have uncovered evidence of some of the largest and most explosive eruptions in Utah, revealing a bit more about that past history of our planet.

About 30 million years ago, more than 5,500 cubic kilometers of magma erupted during a one-week period near a place called Wah Wah Springs. That's about 5,000 times larger than the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. The event would have been catastrophic to anything living within hundreds of miles of the area. While dinosaurs were already extinct, North America hosted species that included rhinos, camels, tortoises and even palm trees.

In order to further examine these eruptions, the researchers measured the thickness of the pyroclastic flow deposits. They then used radiometric dating, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and chemical analysis of the minerals in order to verify that the volcanic ash was all from the same ancient super-eruption.

So what did they find? In the end, they discovered that the Wah Wah Springs eruption buried a vast region that extended from central Utah to central Nevada and from Filmore on the north to Cedar City on the south. In other words, it was about 25 miles across and about 3 miles deep when it first formed. In fact, they found traces of ash as far away from Nebraska. Despite the fact that this supervolcano was so massive, though, it's been hidden in plain sight for millions of years.

"The ravages of erosion and later deformation have largely erased them from the landscape, but our careful work has revealed their details," said Eric Christiansen, one of the researchers, in a news release. "The sheer magnitude of this required years of work and involvement of dozens of students in putting this story together."

The reason why supervolcanoes can remain hidden for so long is that they don't stand as high cones. Instead, the heart of a supervolcano is a large collapse. These collapses in supervolcanoes occur with the eruption and form enormous holes in the ground in plateaus, known as calderas. These latest findings show a little bit more about these massive volcanoes.

These days, there are still active supervolcanoes. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is home to one roughly the size of the Wah Wah Spring caldera, for example. Yet it's unlikely that this supervolcano will erupt any time soon.

The findings are published in the journal Geosphere.

Want to know more? Check out hte video below, courtesy of YouTube.