system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Halo] Can this Covenant glassing be quantified?

So I was reading a Halo book called Silent Storm and I came across this passage:

&#x200B;

>"John could not quite understand what he was seeing on the planet below. From what he had been told about the Covenant's method of orbital bombardment, the aliens could glass no more than a few square kilometres of ground at a time, but what he saw on Etalan was on a whole new level. It was as though the Covenant had punched through the planet's crust into it's mantle, creating a volcanic geyser that was going to burn away the last traces of humanity by flooding the entire world with molten stone. And if the aliens had *that* kind of power, if they were capable of cruelty of such a massive scale, Task Force Yama *had* to slow their invasion."  
>  
>pg.223

I was wondering what exactly was going in on in there and if someone could explain it to me, and hopefuly quantify it so I can put it into perspective

for context they where shooting at this:

&#x200B;

>“Did you not hear my question, Fleetmaster?”  
>  
>“I did,” Nizat replied. “I hesitate because the technique has never been tried before. But this world is so primitive that it could work here.” “I hope you do not expect me to guess.” “Not at all,” Nizat said.  
>  
>“But there are risks.” “Are we not at war? There are always risks—even when fighting the humans.” “Then your guidance will be most appreciated,” Nizat said. “E’gini is unique in two ways that serve our purpose. First, there is a shield volcano on the equator so enormous that we can see it venting ash and steam even from orbit.” “And a plasma bombardment might trigger an eruption,” Survey said. “But would that be enough?” “On any other world, no,” Nizat said. “But there is only one spaceport on the entire planet, and it has already been glassed.” “So there can be no evacuation if the volcano erupts.”
gpt
They glassed a super volcano.  Think Yellowstone national park.  A giant magma chamber the size of a city that normally takes centuries or longer to build up enough pressure to cause an eruption.  The covies simply gave it a relief valve that caused that pressure to release earlier than normal.  If Yellowstone were to blow it will destroy most of the northwestern US in the blast wave and southwestern Canada.  The ash and pyroclastic ejections will cover most North America with fiery rain and acid rain followed by a nuclear winter as the dust and ash will block sunlight for years.  Further away places like Hawaii Australia and Asia will see lesser effects but still be rocked by earthquakes tsunamis and the fiery rain and ash clouds.  Something like Yellowstone will kill 50-60% of earth's population through direct and indirect causes.  In the silent storm they simply did that on a lesser extent since the planet was smaller but the volcano was vented instead of erupting causing higher pressure on the lava released which would put it higher in the atmosphere and spread further away from the volcano by wind and even possibly the effects of the planets orbit.