Asteroid shock: what would happen if an asteroid hit yellowstone?

An asteroid of life threatening proportions last hit Earth 66 million years ago, which spelled the end to the rein of the dinosaurs. The last time Yellowstone volcano erupted on cataclysmic

levels was 640,000 years ago when sulfur aerosol and ash particles were spread around the planet, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The 10 kilometre-wide asteroid which hit the

Earth 66 million years ago triggered volcanic and seismic events across the planet, so if one were to directly impact Yellowstone it would almost certainly cause what is one of Earth’s

largest active volcanos to go off, according to the video from YouTube channel Life’s Biggest Questions. The narrator of the video said: “It would need to be an asteroid the likes of which

Earth hasn’t seen in millions of years to make any damage to Yellowstone.” “If it did hit Yellowstone, then it would likely effect the volcano, likely causing a lava eruption and it would be

a nightmare.” However, the video goes on to say that if it did, then it would probably be better that a space rock did strike there, rather than a few hundred kilometres away. This is

because it would limit the danger to one zone, rather than two zones in the US which would still trigger an eruption. The narrator continued: “But actually it would probably be better that

the massive asteroid hit the volcano and keep the danger zone to a singular zone of total and utter life ending chaos, rather than it hitting hundreds of kilometres away and trigger an

eruption creating two death zones. “If an asteroid of dinosaur killing proportions did hit the Earth, it becomes irrelevant where it hits. “But if it did hit Yellowstone, we would go from

screwed to affirmatively screwed.” However, the chances of an asteroid strike capable of a dinosaur-like extinction event is pretty much nil for the time being, with a space rock that big

not even on NASA’s radar. READ MORE: YELLOWSTONE: USGS SCIENTIST ADMITTED ‘MASSIVE ERUPTION IS POSSIBLE' “However, even after the extinction of the dinosaurs, birds, dawn sequoia, river

turtles, small mammals and many other plants and creatures survived. “Many species would go extinct after a gamma ray burst or a large asteroid impact but humans are great survivors. “We

were at risk in the past before we developed tools and clothing. But with clothes, tools, boats, etc, we are an extremely adaptable species, able to survive anywhere from the Kalahari desert

to the Arctic, with only stone age technology. “We had already colonised most of the world by the end of the neolithic period. “So, as long as we retain at least stone age technology, there

isn’t much that could make us extinct. “Even if we have to go back to beach-combing and surviving on shellfish, which was a staple of early human diet in cold places such as Canada and

Scotland, one way or another some humans would survive.”