Franklin Pierce College Yellowstone Super Volcano Discussion

Yellowstone National Park in the United States sits on top of a supervolcano—a volcano so powerful that if it erupts, it would change the planet’s landscape dramatically and cause entire species to go extinct. In the 2.1 million years since this supervolcano formed, scientists believe that it has erupted three times. The giant caldera crater in Yellowstone is evidence of the last eruption 640,000 years ago. This eruption carried ash as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. The land above the caldera has been experiencing periods of rising and falling for the last 15,000 years, which means an eruption is likely at some point, but scientists are unable to predict exactly when that will happen. The passage is based on content in the National Geographic article When Yellowstone Explodes by Joel Achenbach.

Online search terms: Yellowstone supervolcano, When Yellowstone Explodes

After completing the Pre-Reading exercise on page 85 read and comprehend the article titled, “Yellowstone’s Smoking Bomb” on pages 86-90. You can follow along by listening to the audio of Yellowstone’s Smoking Bomb, by clicking here (Links to an external site.) and choosing the appropriate reading passage.

Pay particular attention to the section titled Language for Writing: Using Parallel Structure on page 93.