No threat to Yellowstone super volcano after Russian scientist threat

April 2015 – YELLOWSTONE – Imagine a scenario where Russia tried to launch nuclear bombs into America hoping to trigger a tsunami or eruption of the Yellowstone National Park super-volcano. What’s exactly what one Russian military analyst is suggesting if tensions between Russia and NATO continue to grow. KPVI spoke to Idaho State university geosciences professor Shannon Kobs-Nawotniak about if this threat is possible, or just something you would see in a movie. Kobs-Nawotniak says the only thing we would need to worry about in that scenario, is the nuclear explosion itself.

“I think it would make an awesome movie because it has no basis in science,” said Kobs-Nawotniak. Konstantin Sivkov wrote in the Russian newspaper, VPK News, that Russia needs to be more aggressive in its military strategies against the West by attacking us where we are most vulnerable. In his scenario, dropping a nuclear bomb on Yellowstone National park could cause the super volcano to erupt. Something that Kobs-Nawotniak says just isn’t possible. “A lot of energy is blasting upwards and we get a lot energy blasting on the surface of the ground,” said Kobs-Nawotniak. “It’s not necessarily sending huge amounts of energy down deep into the ground.” Kobs-Nawotniak explained that the magma in the Yellowstone caldera is three to seven miles deep and a nuclear bomb wouldn’t cause a reaction as the force of the explosion would be going upward.

“It would be a little more plausible if he could drill a giant hole and burry a whole lot of nukes in these more vulnerable fault movements,” says Kobs-Nawotniak. Sivkov goes on to say that the Yellowstone super volcano could erupt at any moment and would be catastrophic for the United States. Kobs-Nawotniak agrees that when the caldera does erupt, it will cover the U.S. in a blanket of ash, kill thousands, and bury our agriculture but…”We do not have any reason to believe it will be erupting anytime soon,” says Kobs-Nawotniak. Sivkov also claim that dropping a nuclear warhead on the San Andreas fault would trigger major tsunamis on the West Coast. Something that Kobs-Nawotniak dispels because the faults run side-by-side and not up-and-down. “This is completely sci-fi movie,” laughed Kobs-Nawotniak. It’s important to remember that Sivkov made this threat on his own and doesn’t have any backing from the Russian government. –KPVI