The rocky outcropping in front of you tells part of a violent story of Yellowstone's volcano - one of the largest volcanoes on Earth.About two million years ago Yellowstone's volcano - so enormous that it is called a "super volcano" - exploded violently, coating the earth with ash for thousands of miles! Near the eruption, ashfall buried the ground in deep layers. Then the ash became compressed or "welded," creating a layer of rock now called "Huckleberry Ridge Tuff."Yellowstone's super volcano erupted two more times. The most recent eruption left a gigantic crater, or caldera, in the heart of Yellowstone. This massive caldera, about 30 miles wide and 45 miles long, was first verified with the use of satellite photography.Yellowstone's immense eruptions were many times larger than the catastrophic Mount St. Helens, Washington, explosion in 1980.< Sidebar : >Yellowstone's Big BlastsYellowstone's volcano is still alive today. Two dome-like areas rise and fall as magma moves beneath the park. Although geologists cannot predict when it will erupt again, these "resurgent domes" gives clues about the future.Did ash from a giant Yellowstone eruption cover where you live?
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