As stone-faced geologists warned that the sky threatened to rain millions of tons of volcanic ash, the audience couldn’t help but laugh.

In its largest event to date, the Harvard College Geosociety offered a sneak peek of the Discovery Channel flick SuperVolcano last night.

Over 100 viewers munched on pizza as they previewed the film in a packed Carpenter Center theater.

The fictional film speculated on what might happen if the magma dome underneath Yellowstone National Park, which actually exists, were to explode.

In the armageddon-style plot, geologists are alerted to the growing danger. They reel off projections of the worst-case scenario: a massive storm of volcanic ash covering the entirety of the United States and killing millions of individuals by collapsing roofs, immobilizing cities, and crashing airliners.

The audience found the plot lighthearted at first, laughing at the unintentional mockumentary-like tone.

But when the swelling magma chamber prepared to blow, the humor quickly subsided. And the audience turned quiet as a modest eruption turned into a worldwide catastrophe.

The Discovery Channel will air SuperVolcano this Sunday night at 8 p.m.

The viewers, an eclectic mix of a earth and planetary science (EPS) concentrators, professors, and other interested students, approved of the movie.

Hooper Professor of Geology Paul Hoffman, who has mapped the remnants of hundreds of volcanic ash flows, praised the film for its accurate depiction of what the after-effects of such a “super-eruption” would look like.

“What I liked about it was the emphasis on the ash,” he said. “It would have been easy for them to ignore this, being overwhelmed by hot, glowing avalanches.”

Hoffman said the film was accurate.

“I was impressed that they fairly did a good job with the numbers, they did a fairly good job of keeping it factual,” he said.

Hoffman also said the film sufficiently recognized recent advances in volcano-predicting technology.

“I think this indicates the importance of monitoring active earthquakes and improving the ability to predict when big eruptions occur,” he said. “The success we’ve had so far has saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives, so there’s no reason not to continue to improve our ability to do that. There’s no doubt that within our lifetime, major eruptions will occur in the U.S.”