Researchers had earlier revealed that the supervolcano sitting under Yellowstone National Park in the US could erupt sooner than expected.
But new evidence sheds light on the last eruption that occurred 6,30,000 years ago and what happened after that.
The new study suggests that two powerful eruptions occurred 6,30,000 years ago and 170 years apart. The two powerful eruptions, separated by 170 years, sent a massive amount of ash and sulphur dioxide into the sky blocking the sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface and causing the global temperature drop. The eruptions plunged the planet into two distinct volcanic winters.
Kennett and his team came to this conclusion after they found two distinct layers of ash “bearing the unique chemical fingerprint of the supervolcano” in the seafloor sediments in the Santa Barbara Basin, off the coast of Southern California.
The study of ash and sediments together revealed that there two separate super-eruptions that led the planet out of a major ice age also interrupted a natural process of global warming, according to the researchers.
UCJ, UNILORIN.