14 DAY TRIAL // Hundreds of minor tremors over the past few weeks, which were covered in the national US press, prompted, at the time, concerns of a massive eruption at the Yellowstone national park, although recently scientists announced that there was no reason to be worried about. But, as the phenomena continue, more and more people become tragically aware of the fact that the scenic beauties in the park sit atop one of the world's biggest and, potentially, deadliest volcanoes still to be active. And the geysers that the park is famous for are a living testimony of that fact.
With the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helen as a reference point, the volcano at Yellowstone is believed to have erupted about 1,000 times stronger in the very distant past, hurling its molten rocks and ash as far as the current state of Louisiana. That was the last time the Earth shook in the area, and geologists, who have been monitoring the situation near the volcano very carefully over the past decades, say that even the possibility of a minor lava spill is extremely remote.
"To those of us who have been following these events, we know that something is brewing, especially considering that Yellowstone is over 40,000 years overdue for a major eruption," reads a post on the Armageddon Online website, proving that there are those who believe that the situation may not be as safe as experts would have the population believe.
"Everyone [is] to leave Yellowstone National Park for 100 miles around the volcano caldera because of the danger in poisonous gases that can escape from the hundreds of recent earthquakes," reads a message on another, similar site, featuring a page entitled "Yellowstone Warning."
In a news release made available on Thursday, Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash, who is also working with the Geological Survey, said that Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, the group that monitors the activities recorded at one of the nation's most treasured parks, issued no order of evacuation, nor did it talk to anyone in the White House about that.
"I could come up with 100 different theories without any evidence for them and they would all be equally likely. Unless you have some reason to say that's what's going on, then you're not going to get a whole lot of people convinced by your speculation," says Jake Lowenstern, the researcher in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, talking about the fact that many people will begin concocting apocalyptic scenarios about the future of the volcano under the park.