Well the theory that Yellowstone will blow due to it being "overdue" is really POP science.
It is based on the timing of the last two eruptions.
Yellowstone has a long history, and sometimes there has been over a million years before each major event.
In addition when this happened there was more volcanism on the earth as we all know the earth is cooling (internally)
Yep it could go now, or it could be hundreds of thousands of years.
However another factor is that as the plate moves over the "Hot Spot" created by the plume it has now moved so that it is covered by mountians and a
much thicker crust than in previous events (except last two) which may help cork the caldera as such.
It also has erupted many times before in a fashoin similiar to other volcanoes, that is not a huge Caldera forming event. If such a similair event
happened again it should relieve the underlying pressure and settle it down for a long time again.
It is a concern, a real threat, no doubt it will go again some time into a supervolcanic eruption, however it is not the only Calderra in the world
and JAVA certainly needs a lot of close attention to!!
Infact this might be worse globaly as instead of the earth dropping into the calderra it would be millions and millions and millions of gallons of
sea.
The steam eruption, and pyroclastic events on the area would be truly horrendous and the Tsunami generation can only be vaguely guessed at.
A 30-40 metre tidal wave might very well spread out in all directions and affect a lot of the worlds populations living close to the sea.
The world is not just centered on the USA you know guys.....
This topic is covered to a HUGE degree on the main ATS thread here and its links as well...
Whats Going on At Yellowstone
Elf.
[edit on 24-9-2009 by MischeviousElf]