Beneath Yellowstone, a volcano that could wipe out U.S.

Its the awe-inspiring pride of the United States and it harbors a deadly power that could kill us all.

Yellowstone National Park is pristine wilderness, full of scenic landscape and iconic hot-pools and geysers that attract tens of thousands of visitors every year.

But its what lies beneath that has scientists scurrying.

Weve long known that Yellowstone is merely the skin on top of a supervolcano a giant pool of magma sitting just under the Earths surface.

Exactly how giant has been the subject of much speculation.

Until now.

A team from the University of Utah have told the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco that Yellowstones magama chamber is 2.5 times larger than previously thought.

It is an underground cavern measuring some 55 miles by 20 miles and containing between 125 and 185 billion cubic miles of molten rock.

If it blows it will wipe out America and have enormous impacts on the rest of the world.

The university researchers described their discovery as astounding.

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Beneath Yellowstone, a volcano that could wipe out U.S.