Vanished Sunlight, Darkened Skies : A Fight For Survival

A+picture+of+a+Super+Volcanic+eruption+as+its+flowing+lava+begins+to+ruin+the+communities

Trevor Nace

A picture of a Super Volcanic eruption as it’s flowing lava begins to ruin the communities

Gabriela Gomez, Jr. Editor

A supervolcano erupted thousands of years ago, and this single explosion alone prevented the sun from shining for a very long time. Overdue supervolcanoes are feared by many people because they could result in long-lasting climate disruption, such as the beginning of a small ice age, and could endanger biodiversity, harming all the animals living in that region.

Volcanic eruptions are very common but for a volcano to be considered ‘super’, it has to have at least one explosion that releases more than 240 cubic miles of material such as ‘lava’ and occurs roughly once every 50,000 years. A supervolcano could have a huge impact on the Earth by erupting. The volcano’s ash would hide the sun, resulting in some or all of the daytime being black. Emergency evacuation would help save some lives in the event of a supervolcano eruption. Volcanic ash would smother soil, causing tragic events to happen, such as buildings beginning to collapse clogging any machinery or engine, and leading to respiratory disease. The eruption would also cause several additional issues, such as a nuclear winter since it would cause world temperatures to drop to no more than 37F and most likely stay there for many years following the eruption. Such events would result in an unfavorable climate where people would struggle to survive, the economy would crumble, and there would be many shortages of things like food and clean water.

Even while a Super-Eruption would be extremely devastating and detrimental to people, animals, and the environment around us, it would not spell the end of human civilization as we know it. Injecting gasses and ash into the sky would block out the sun, darken the sky, and significantly pollute the air. Diseases, crop failures, and famine would result from this. Although supervolcano eruptions are extremely uncommon, we sometimes overstate their likelihood since authorities would alert the public if one were to be imminent.