Supervolcano Anxiety

The very mention of the Yellowstone Supervolcano sparks an instant anxiety attack for my wife, Sheri. The plethora of National Geographic Channel programs and the handful of obligatory disaster movies have created a hyper-awareness of a potential eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera. Living at the edge of the caldera and watching supervolcano speculation is like being a surfer and enduring Shark Week.

Recent news reports did nothing to diminish our household’s anxiety level. First there was the Russian geopolitical analyst Konstantin Sivkov who was interviewed in late March by the Russian VPK News. He suggested that a Russian nuclear warhead targeted at the Yellowstone Caldera would trigger an eruption of the supervolcano and destroy the United States quickly. Mr. Sivkov may be an idiot but he has friends with nukes and that is a bit unsettling.

The second source of our anxiety was last week’s University of Utah study that found there is a magma chamber underneath the known Yellowstone Caldera magma chamber that is four and a half times larger. There is apparently enough hot rock in the lower chamber to fill the entire Grand Canyon eleven times over. We are sitting on nearly five times more magma than scientists thought and crazy Russians are contemplating nuking Yellowstone Park to destroy the United States! Just the news we needed to lower our stress levels. Thanks for sharing.

Fortunately most residents are too busy living to give this news much thought. Businesses are gearing up for the tourist season. Part-time residents are about to open their cabins for the summer and residents are already beginning their summer projects in preparation for the coming winter.  

In Island Park our concerns range from avoiding moose that are crossing the highway in the evening, avoiding grizzlies while hiking or harvesting enough firewood to last through the winter. These seem to be much simpler tasks than avoiding the accidents and crime that are prevalent in large population centers.  I’ll stay in the mountains and take my chances with the supervolcano.