A WORRYING new thermal danger zone has been spotted in Yellowstone National Park sparking fears the site's supervolcano could be poised to blow killing millions.

Shocking satellite images have revealed a hotspot the size of four soccer fields bubbling away beneath the surface - which is already killing trees and other vegetation.

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While scientists have only now confirmed its existence, the United State Geological Survey (USGS) estimates it’s been quietly growing for around 20 years.

Seven miles beneath the ground at Yellowstone - which spreads across Wyoming and Idaho - lies a 50-mile-long chamber of molten lava dubbed a supervolcano.

It is essentially a giant, lid-topped cauldron that is so vast that it can only truly be seen from space.

The mega volcano last blew 70,000 years ago, but it would kill and estimated 100,000 people in the surrounding areas and millions more over time if it erupted today.

However, until now geologists have been quick to downplay fears about a potential major earthquake at the tourist site like the one which killed 28 people in 1959.

USGS scientists have confirmed the existence of the new thermal area near Tern Lake - which is already home to more than 10,000 hot springs or geysers.

And a look through the imagery dating back to the 1990s confirms a vast growing bright patch in the middle of the forest.

What would happen if the supervolcano erupted?

An eruption at Yellowstone Park would dwarf all volcanoes which have blown in the past 100 years put together.

It could be 1,000 times the size of the 1980 Mount St Helens disaster in Washington state, which killed 57 people.

First, a swarm of earthquakes would make their way towards a central point, indicating magma rising rapidly through the crust.

Then, the supervolcano's roof rock would fail and the eruption would begin.

A vast column of ash and lava would then shoot upward to heights of around 16 miles.

These mixtures of ash, lava blebs, and superheated gas exceed temperatures of 1,000°C (1,832°F) and can move at speeds of up to 300mph

If they hit anyone, they’d die within seconds; those nearby would be burned as the air heats up to around about 300°C (570°F).

Generally speaking, pyroclastic flows travel up to nine miles out from their source, but they can theoretically reach up to 60 miles.

The lava and ash pouring out of a supervolcano can smother a continent as big as North America.

The lava-spewing blasts could blanket continents with volcanic ash. This would blot out the sun and cause a nuclear winter.

Crops would fail and starvation would ensue. Economies would collapse.

Wars could break out as nations fight over foodstuffs.

 

"Analysis of a Landsat-8 nighttime thermal infrared image acquired in April 2017 revealed an unexpected warm area between West Tern Lake and the previously mapped Tern Lake thermal area," USGS says.

"This mysterious patch of bright pixels in the thermal infrared image did not match any previously mapped thermal areas."

In 1994, the area around the Tern Lake Thermal Area was covered in trees and plants - now it is barely recognisable and know as a 'tree kill zone.'

"The most recent image of the Tern Lake region, from 2017, reveals a large area of dead trees and bright soil, rather like a thermal area," USGS says.

"From all these satellite and aerial images, we conclude that a new thermal area has emerged in the past 20 years!" the team added.

The news is bound to send shivers down the spines of those who see any increased thermal activity at Yellowstone as proof the supervolcano may be ready to erupt.

NASA is even said to be working on a secret plan to prevent a massive eruption at Yellowstone with its expert saying "the supervolcano threat is substantially greater than the asteroid or comet threat."

Scientists have warned that an abnormal "river" deep underneath Yellowstone's supervolcano could cause it to erupt at any time.

Researchers Peter Nelson and Stephen Grand from the University of Texas published their discovery of the “anomaly” in the journal for Nature Geoscience.

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