When people discuss supervolcanoes in North America, usually they are referring to the supervolcano found underneath Yellowstone National Park. However, scientists from Brigham Young University have discovered that another supervolcano hidden in what is now Utah buried much of the state in magma and was one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of all time.

The now dormant supervolcano is thought to have erupted 25-30 million years ago and 5,500 cubic kilometers of magma was released during a one-week period. The supervolcano was location near Wah Wah Springs in Utah. To put these figures in perspective it is estimated that the supervolcanoes eruption was 5,000 times larger than the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington.

Eric Christiansen, the lead author for the BYU study, explains just how monumental this eruption would have been to life living even hundreds of miles away from the site of volcano:

"In southern Utah, deposits from this single eruption are 13,000 feet thick..Imagine the devastation - it would have been catastrophic to anything living within hundreds of miles."

Using radiometric dating, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and chemical analysis the minerals throughout the region, Christiansen and his team measured the thickness of Pyroclastic flow deposits and determine that the volcanic rock and ash were all from the same single eruption. The eruption buried a giant region extending from central Utah and central Nevada extending from Fillmore on the north to Cedar City on the south. Ash from the event was found as far as Nebraska. Native wildlife from the time such as rhinos, camels, tortoises and palm trees were preserved in the magma.

Despite the huge area the eruption covered, Christensen stated that the evidence remained hidden due to the sheer force of the eruption in addition to erosion in the millions of years since:

"The ravages of erosion and later deformation have largely erased them from the landscape, but our careful work has revealed their details...The sheer magnitude of this required years of work and involvement of dozens of students in putting this story together."

In addition, unlike smaller volcanoes, these massive eruptions do not leave a mountain but instead collapse and form a depression called a caldera. Wah Wah Springs now sits in the caldera that once devastated much of the western United States. It is estimated that the Wah Wah Springs volcano was the same size as the one currently under Yellowstone National Park.