Video shows volcanic eruption in Indonesia, not Yellowstone | Fact check
The claim: Video shows Yellowstone supervolcano ‘really erupting’ in December 2024
A Dec. 13 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a man talking in front of a video of people fleeing down a mountain away from a column of smoke.
“Here’s an update on the now-exploding supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park,” the man says. “Scientists for millions of years have hoped that this thing wouldn’t explode and as I said last week it started to trickle some magma, but yesterday this is what happened.”
The post’s caption reads, “Yellowstone’s super volcano is now really really exploding.”
A similar Instagram post was liked 700 times in a week before it was deleted.
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Our rating: False
The video shows August footage from Mount Dukono, an active volcano in Indonesia, not Yellowstone National Park. No evidence supports the post’s claim of a Yellowstone volcanic eruption in December 2024.
Video shows volcano in Indonesia, not Yellowstone
The video was recorded in August and shows Indonesia’s Mount Dukono, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.
“More-or-less continuous explosive eruptions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, have occurred since 1933,” the Smithsonian’s website says.
The footage in the Facebook post was posted by multiple credible news organizations in August with captions that describe a volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
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The U.S. Geological Survey routinely monitors Yellowstone for volcanic activity, using seismographs to observe earthquakes and GPS to look for ground motion. On its website, the agency says it "has not detected any signs of activity that suggest an eruption is imminent."
Yellowstone's website includes a page for alerts about park conditions, and nothing there aligns with the Facebook post’s claim. A U.S. Geological Survey report from Dec. 2 says Yellowstone’s volcano alert level was “normal.”
Yellowstone has had three “large explosions” in about 2.1 million years. However, the U.S. Geological Survey notes that “volcanoes do not work in predictable ways and their eruptions do not follow predictable schedules.”
Paste BN has previously debunked claims that a 100-foot-wide crack opened up in Yellowstone, that an image showed lava erupting from a geyser at Yellowstone and that Yellowstone officials closed the park due to rising "volcanic uplift."
Paste BN reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
PolitiFact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
- Smithsonian Institution, accessed Dec. 18, Dukono
- Al Jazeera English, Aug. 18, Facebook post
- AccuWeather (YouTube), Aug. 21, Watch: Thrill-Seekers Run For Their Lives as Volcano Erupts
- The Independent (YouTube), Aug. 22, Climbers on rim of erupting volcano run for their lives
- National Park Service, accessed Dec. 18, Current Conditions
- U.S. Geological Survey, Dec. 2, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Monthly Update
- U.S. Geological Survey, accessed Dec. 18, Is Yellowstone overdue for an eruption? When will Yellowstone erupt?
- U.S. Geological Survey, accessed Dec. 18, What type of eruption will Yellowstone have if it erupts again?
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