Supervolcano in the context of "Volcanic explosivity index"

Human extinction or omnicide is the end of the human species, either by population decline due to extraneous natural causes, such as an asteroid impact or large-scale volcanism, or via anthropogenic destruction (self-extinction).

Some of the many possible contributors to anthropogenic hazards are climate change, global nuclear annihilation, biological warfare, weapons of mass destruction, and ecological collapse. Other scenarios center on emerging technologies, such as advanced artificial intelligence, biotechnology, or self-replicating nanobots.

La Garita Caldera is a large caldera and extinct supervolcano in the San Juan volcanic field in the San Juan Mountains around the town of Creede in southwestern Colorado, United States. It is west of La Garita, Colorado. The eruption that created the La Garita Caldera is among the largest known volcanic eruptions in Earth's history, as well as being one of the most powerful known supervolcanic events.

The Phlegraean Fields (Italian: Campi Flegrei, Italian: [ˈkampi fleˈɡrɛi]; Neapolitan: Campe Flegree) is a large volcanic caldera west of Naples, Italy. The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption (about 12ka BP) produced just 50 cubic kilometers. It is, however, one of relatively few volcanoes large enough to form a caldera. It is part of the Campanian volcanic arc, which includes Mount Vesuvius, about 9 km (6 miles) east of Naples. The Phlegraean Fields is monitored by the Vesuvius Observatory. Part of the city of Naples is built over it.The Phlegraean Fields' largest known eruptions have an estimated volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 7. It is often called a supervolcano in popular media, although the accepted definition for that term is a volcano that has had an eruption with a VEI of 8, the highest level.

The area of the caldera consists of 24 craters and volcanic edifices. Most of them lie under the Gulf of Naples. There are effusive gaseous manifestations in the Solfatara crater, which was believed in ancient Rome to be the home of Vulcan, the god of fire. The area features bradyseismic phenomena, which are most evident at the Macellum of Pozzuoli, misidentified by 18th-century excavators as a temple of Serapis: bands of boreholes left by marine molluscs on marble columns show that the level of the site in relation to sea level has varied. Hydrothermal activity can still be observed at Lucrino, Agnano and the town of Pozzuoli.

Lake Toba (Indonesian: Danau Toba, Toba Batak: ᯖᯀᯬ ᯖᯬᯅ; romanized: Tao Toba) is a large natural lake in North Sumatra, Indonesia, occupying the caldera of the Toba supervolcano. The lake is located in the middle of the northern part of the island of Sumatra, with a surface elevation of about 900 metres (2,953 ft), the lake stretches from 2°53′N 98°31′E / 2.88°N 98.52°E / 2.88; 98.52 to 2°21′N 99°06′E / 2.35°N 99.1°E / 2.35; 99.1. The lake is about 100 kilometres (62 miles) long, 30 kilometres (19 mi) wide, and up to 505 metres (1,657 ft) deep. It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. Toba Caldera is one of twenty geoparks in Indonesia, and was recognised in July 2020 as one of the UNESCO Global Geoparks.

Lake Toba is the site of a supervolcanic eruption estimated at VEI 8 that occurred 69,000 to 77,000 years ago, representing a climate-changing event. Recent advances in dating methods suggest a more accurate eruption date of 74,000 years ago. It is the largest-known explosive eruption on Earth in the last 25 million years. According to the Toba catastrophe theory, the eruption had global consequences for human populations as it killed most humans living at that time and is believed to have created a population bottleneck in central east Africa and India, which affects the genetic make-up of the human worldwide population to the present. A recent study has cast doubt on this theory and found no evidence of substantial changes in global population.

Lake Taupō, in the centre of New Zealand's North Island, fills the caldera of the Taupō Volcano, a large rhyolitic supervolcano. This huge volcano has produced two of the world's most powerful eruptions in geologically recent times.

The volcano is in the Taupō Volcanic Zone within the Taupō Rift, a region of rift volcanic activity that extends from Ruapehu in the south, through the Taupō and Rotorua districts, to Whakaari / White Island, in the Bay of Plenty.

The Yellowstone Caldera, also known as the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field, is a Quaternary caldera complex and volcanic plateau spanning parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. It is driven by the Yellowstone hotspot and is largely within Yellowstone National Park. The field comprises four overlapping calderas, multiple lava domes, resurgent domes, crater lakes, and numerous bimodal lavas and tuffs of basaltic and rhyolitic composition, originally covering about 17,000 km (6,600 mi).

Volcanism began 2.15 million years ago and proceeded through three major volcanic cycles. Each cycle involved a large ignimbrite eruption, continental-scale ash-fall, and caldera collapse, preceded and followed by smaller lava flows and tuffs. The first and also the largest cycle was the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff eruption about 2.08 million years ago, which formed the Island Park Caldera. The most recent supereruption, about 630,000 years ago, produced the Lava Creek Tuff and created the present Yellowstone Caldera. Post-caldera eruptions included basalt flows, rhyolite domes and flows, and minor explosive deposits, with the last magmatic eruption about 70,000 years ago. Large hydrothermal explosions also occurred during the Holocene.

Shock metamorphism or impact metamorphism describes the effects of shock-wave related deformation and heating during impact events.

The formation of similar features during explosive volcanism is generally discounted due to the lack of metamorphic effects unequivocally associated with explosions and the difficulty in reaching sufficient pressures during such an event.