The results suggested that cooling the magma chamber by 35 percent would be enough to forestall such an incident. The prevailing mechanism has hotspots starting in divergent boundaries during supercontinent rifting [87]. The caldera is located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, in which the vast majority of the park is contained. [1] The hotspot's most recent caldera-forming supereruption, known as the Lava Creek Eruption, took place 640,000 years ago and created the Lava Creek Tuff, and the most recent Yellowstone Caldera. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates there are one or two major caldera-forming eruptions and a hundred or so lava extruding eruptions per million years, and "several to many" steam eruptions per century. Left image [17][3] Currently, volcanic activity is exhibited via numerous geothermal vents scattered throughout the region, including the famous Old Faithful Geyser, plus recorded ground-swelling indicating ongoing inflation of the underlying magma chamber. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. The oldest called the McMullen Creek supereruption occurred about 9 million years ago over a 4,600-square-mile (12,000 square km) stretch of what is now southern Idaho, the researchers found. The United States is home to two of the largest and best-studied hotspots: Hawaii and Yellowstone. UTM Zone 12: 4886643 N, 526824 E, West Entrance Within the fossil beds are lava flowspart of the enormous volume of basalt that formed the Columbia Plateau of northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. ScienceDaily. The hot water expands, rising to the surface as hot springs. If enacted, the plan would cost about $3.46 billion. Speedy Robo-Gripper Reflexively Organizes What Made Us Human? The analysis indicated that Yellowstone's magma reservoir can reach eruptive capacity and trigger a super-eruption within just decades, not centuries as volcanologists had originally thought. The Picabo Caldera was notable for producing the Arbon Valley Tuff 10.2 million years ago. Map scale reference is 60 latitude. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon. Insights into the Yellowstone hotspot. [46], Media reports were more hyperbolic in their coverage. But superimposed on these active tectonic features is a line of volcanic activity stretching from the Columbia Plateau of eastern Oregon and Washington all the way to the Yellowstone Plateau at the intersection of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. [8], The oldest identified caldera remnant straddles the border near McDermitt, NevadaOregon, although there are volcaniclastic piles and arcuate faults that define caldera complexes more than 60km (37mi) in diameter in the Carmacks Group of southwest-central Yukon, Canada, which are interpreted to have been formed 70million years ago by the Yellowstone hotspot. Regardless of how they are formed, dozens are on the Earth. Plate Tectonics and Our National ParksSite Index, Plate TectonicsThe Unifying Theory of Geology, Tectonic Settings of NPS SitesMaster List, HAFEHagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, JODAJohn Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon[. [53], In 2016, the USGS announced plans to map the subterranean systems responsible for feeding the area's hydrothermal activity. "[It] enameled an area the size of New Jersey in searing-hot volcanic glass that instantly sterilized the land surface. As a lava flow cools it shrinks, putting the surface of the flow under tensional forces that form cracks, known as joints. If the cooling is uniform, circular columns try to form, but there are spaces between the cracks. Although the McDermitt volcanic field on the NevadaOregon border is frequently shown as the site of the initial impingement of the Yellowstone Hotspot, new geochronology and mapping demonstrates that the area affected by this mid-Miocene volcanism is significantly larger than previously appreciated. & Stock, J. Scientists have identified a number of current and past hotspots believed to have begun this way. It also has 4,000km3 (960cumi) underground volume, of which 68% is filled with molten rock. UTM Zone 12: 4926609 N, 579209 E, North Entrance Wilson, J. T. A possible origin of the Hawaiian Islands. By its characteristic chemical fingerprint and the distinctive size and shape of its crystals and glass shards, the volcano stands out among dozens of prominent ashfall horizons laid down in the Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene periods of central North America. [47], A study published in GSA Today, the monthly news and science magazine of the Geological Society of America, identified three fault zones where future eruptions are most likely to be centered. The resulting calderas include the Island Park Caldera, the Henry's Fork Caldera, and the Bruneau-Jarbidge caldera. Bison, elk and grizzly bears thrive in the forests and meadows. Old Faithful Trout Creek Mountains, Pueblo Caldera (size: 20 x 10km), Oregon; 15.8Ma; 40 cubic kilometers (10cumi) of Trout Creek Mountains Tuff. The gargantuan Yellowstone hotspot (also known as the Yellowstone supervolcano) has erupted at least 10 times over the past 16 million years, permanently altering the geography of North America, periodically warping Earth's climate and throwing flakes of airborne ash to every corner of the world. Geological Society of America. UTM Zone 12: 4945010 N, 492295 E. Check the status and seasonal closing dates of park roads. [12] Brandon is the space/physics editor at Live Science. In this case Yellowstone could be expiring. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. The massive outpourings of basalt lava covered the Columbia Plateau and Steens Basalt regions. The caldera created West Thumb Lake and the underlying Yellowstone hotspot keeps West Thumb Geyser Basin active. The three supereruptions occurred 2.1 million, 1.3 million, and approximately 640,000 years ago, forming the Island Park Caldera, the Henry's Fork Caldera, and Yellowstone calderas, respectively. In an attempt to map the Hawaiian mantle plume as far down as the lower mantle [92], scientists have used tomography, a type of three-dimensional seismic imaging. [4], The caldera formed during the last of three supereruptions over the past 2.1 million years: the Huckleberry Ridge eruption 2.1 million years ago (which created the Island Park Caldera and the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff), the Mesa Falls eruption 1.3 million years ago (which created the Henry's Fork Caldera and the Mesa Falls Tuff), and the Lava Creek eruption approximately 640,000 years ago (which created the Yellowstone Caldera and the Lava Creek Tuff). '[23], The source of the Yellowstone hotspot is controversial. The plants and animals found in Yellowstone National Park are there because the landscape developed over a hotspot. The most recent lava flow occurred about 70,000 years ago, while the largest violent eruption excavated the West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone around 150,000 years ago. Yellow and orange ovals outline past caldera eruptions during the time periods indicated (orange calderas are the most recent). Occasionally, numerous earthquakes are detected in a relatively short period of time, an event known as an earthquake swarm. Modified from Beauty from the Beast: Plate Tectonics and the Landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, by Robert J. Lillie, Wells Creek Publishers, 92 pp., 2015, www.amazon.com/dp/1512211893. The Island Park Caldera is sometimes referred to as the First Phase Yellowstone Caldera or the Huckleberry Ridge Caldera. It gets that title because many topics in geology can be explained, in some way, by the movement of tectonic plates. (use reference tables? At least 1,700 cubic kilometers (408cumi) of volcanic material. The Ural Mountains are a narrow, linear chain of mountains that trend north-south through Russia. As the Yellowstone hotspot traveled to the east and north, the Columbia disturbance moved northward and eventually subsided. The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano, is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park in the Western United States. It could be another 12 million years (as the North American Plate moves across the Yellowstone hotspot) before a new supervolcano is born to the northeast, and the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field joins the ranks of its deceased ancestors in the Snake River Plain. Yellowstone National Park today lies directly over the hotspot. Sheep Rock. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Mammoth Hot Springs form in the northern part of the park where the hot water flows through limestone. It was followed by the Mesa Falls Tuff and the Lava Creek Tuff eruptions. Note the columnar basalt columns in the foreground. Yellowstone National Park is a dazzling display of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and other hydrothermal features. The organization defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history. NPS photo. Image credit: Daniel Hauptvogel, CC BY-NC-SA. During these eruptions, enormous volumes of hot, fragmented volcanic rocks spread outward as pyroclastic density currents over vast areas. Jordan Meadow Caldera, (size: 1015km wide); 15.6Ma; 350 cubic kilometers (84cumi) Longridge Tuff member 23. Hot Springs develop where the geothermal waters flow freely to the surface. [15][16] The most recent lava flow occurred about 70,000 years ago, while a violent eruption excavated the West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone 174,000 years ago. ScienceDaily, 7 January 2021. And like the wax in a lava lamp, it can develop a mushroom shape. The calderas lie over the Yellowstone hotspot under the Yellowstone Plateau where light and hot magma (molten rock) from the mantle rises toward the surface. [32][33] Another swarm started in January 2010, after the Haiti earthquake and before the Chile earthquake. Over time, the combination of a moving plate and a stationary hotspot creates a chain of islands or mountains. Some geoscientists hypothesize that the Yellowstone hotspot is the effect of an interaction between local conditions in the lithosphere and upper mantle convection. A 2020 study suggests that the hotspot may be waning.[13]. According to the study authors, the new discovery rewrites the hotspot's ancient history. The change in direction has been more often linked to a plate reconfiguration [91], but also to other things like plume migration [83]. Volcanic rocks in the Pacific Northwest show the effects of a tectonic plate riding over a deep-mantle hotspot. Vehicle Navigation Systems and GPS units may provide inaccurate information, sending drivers the wrong way on one-way roads, leading them to dead ends in remote areas, or sending them on roads which are closed at certain times of year. The Island Park Caldera is older and much larger than the Henry's Fork Caldera with approximate dimensions of 58 miles (93km) by 40 miles (64km). & Nataf, H.-C. 5, "Discovery of Two Ancient Yellowstone Super-Eruptions, Including the Volcanic Province's Largest and Most Cataclysmic Event, Indicates the Yellowstone Hotspot Is Waning", "Yellowstone National Park Earthquake listings", "Discovery of two new super-eruptions from the Yellowstone hotspot track (USA): Is the Yellowstone hotspot waning? This informationalong with other evidence gathered from rock ages, vegetation types, and island sizeindicates the oldest islands in the chain are located the furthest away from the active hotspot. Massive, volcano-like eruption may explain dead star's mysterious slowdown, Tonga's massive volcanic eruption wiped out unique, never-before-seen life-forms, Taxidermy birds are being turned into drones. Three extraordinarily large explosive eruptions in the past 2.1 million years each created a giant caldera within or west of Yellowstone National Park. The caldera is bounded by the Ashton Hill on the south, Big Bend Ridge and Bishop Mountain on the west, by Thurburn Ridge on the North and by Black Mountain and the Madison Plateau on the east. The Yellowstone Hotspot: Plume or Not? At Yellowstone, the thick continental plate . [45] USGS, University of Utah and National Park Service scientists with the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory maintain that they "see no evidence that another such cataclysmic eruption will occur at Yellowstone in the foreseeable future. The Yellowstone Hotspot surfaced 17 million years ago as massive outpourings of basalt lava in the Columbia PlateauSteens Basalt region. Islands of rhyolite, progressively younger to the northeast, extend across the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho. 44 58 34.79 (Lat) -110 42 03.37 (Long) In this scenario, hotspot volcanism began offshore and migrated to the east-northeast across northeastern California, northern Nevada, southeastern Oregon, and southern Idaho to its current position at Yellowstone National Park. This long-lived path of hotspot migration is marked by a belt of aligned volcanic provinces that display progressively younger ages to the east-northeast, similar to the age progression produced by southwest motion of the North America plate over a fixed Yellowstone hotspot. Finding evidence for specific eruptions is tricky, as large volcanic deposits tend to overlap and can look very similar to one another. Octagonal (eight-sided) columns also have spaces. Smaller steam explosions occur as well an explosion 13,800 years ago left a 5 kilometer diameter crater at Mary Bay on the edge of Yellowstone Lake. 5.6Ma; 500 cubic kilometers (120cumi) of Blue Creek Tuff. This situation is analogous to that seen in the Pacific Ocean, where discrete islands form over the Hawaiian Hotspot. (Click on arrows and slide left and right to see labels.). ", "Nasa's ambitious plan to save Earth from a supervolcano", "No, NASA Isn't Going to Drill to Stop Yellowstone from Erupting", "Frequently asked questions about recent findings at Yellowstone Lake", "Quake in Alaska Changed Yellowstone Geysers", "We're About to Find Out What's Rumbling Below The Yellowstone Supervolcano", The Snake River Plain and the Yellowstone Hot Spot, The Yellowstone magmatic system from the mantle plume to the upper crust, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellowstone_Caldera&oldid=1152704210, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, approximately 640,000 years ago (caldera-forming); 70,000 years ago (in the caldera), This page was last edited on 1 May 2023, at 20:19. Geysers form where dissolved silica from rhyolite volcanic rocks constricts flow. If Heise is any indication, this could mean that the Yellowstone Caldera has entered its final stage, but the volcano might still exit with a climactic fourth caldera event analogous to the fourth and final caldera-forming eruption of Heise (the Kilgore Tuff) which was also made up of so-called "light" magmas. Of the many calderas formed by the Yellowstone Hotspot, including the later Yellowstone Caldera, the Henry's Fork Caldera is the only one that is currently clearly visible. When it does emerge, the eruptions are generally much more violent. Softer layers of lake, river, and volcanic ash deposits contain an extraordinary array of horse and other fossils. But where does the hot water come from? On March 30, 2014, at 6:34 AM MST, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Yellowstone, the largest recorded there since February 1980. Questions? The first three caldera-forming rhyolites Blacktail Tuff, Walcott Tuff and Conant Creek Tuff totaled at least 2250km3 of erupted magma. 8.99Ma, McMullen Supereruption; VEI 8. Schematic of the hotspot and the Yellowstone Caldera, West Thumb Lake is not to be confused with West Thumb Geyser Basin. A hotspot is like the hot wax rising in a lava lamp. Download the official NPS app before your next visit, CRMOCraters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho[, YELLYellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Idaho & Montana[. The rich yellow and orange colors around many hot springs are microscopic thermophilesspecial forms of life that survive at very high temperatures. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210107164748.htm (accessed May 1, 2023). Columbia River and Steens flood basalts, Pueblo, and Malheur Gorge-region, Steens flood basalts, 65,000 cubic kilometers (15,594cumi), Other manifestations of the Yellowstone hotspot: Rexburg Volcanic Field (4.3Ma), West of, This page was last edited on 19 February 2023, at 05:33. The Henry's Fork caldera is in an area called Island Park. This vast volcanism resulted from the rise of hot material from deep within Earths mantle. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 20053024", "Volcanic Stratigraphy of the Quaternary Rhyolite Plateau in Yellowstone National Park", 10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<0367:ESVOTY>2.0.CO;2, 10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024<0997:YIYTLC>2.3.CO;2, "Historical unrest at large calderas of the world", "Origin and Evolution of Silicic Magmatism at Yellowstone Based on Ion Microprobe Analysis of Isotopically Zoned Zircons", "Introduction to hydrothermal (steam) explosions in Yellowstone", "USGS: Volcano Hazards Program Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Featured Articles Archive", "Discovery of Ancient Super-eruptions Suggests the Yellowstone Hotspot May Be Waning (USGS Release Date: JUNE 29, 2020)", "Yellowstone Supervolcano May Erupt Sooner Than Anticipated", "Scientists seek clues to what triggered past Yellowstone 'supervolcano' eruptions", "The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites", 10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<1245:UMOOTY>2.0.CO;2, "The Columbia River Flood Basalts: Consequence of subduction-related processes", "Yellowstone National Park Earthquake listings", "January 2010 Yellowstone Seismicity Summary", "UUSS Webicorder (Seismogram) at Lake for December 31, 2008", "Hundreds of Quakes Are Rattling Yellowstone", "Yellowstone National Park rattled by largest earthquake in 34 years", "4.8 magnitude earthquake hits Yellowstone National Park", "Earthquake Swarms Are Shaking Yellowstone's Supervolcano. Contrary to some media reports, Yellowstone is not 'overdue' for a supereruption. Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter. 1. But the hot water that surfaces as Yellowstones thermal features does not originate from those magma chambers. [51][52], Further research shows that very distant earthquakes reach and have effects upon the activities at Yellowstone, such as the 1992 7.3 magnitude Landers earthquake in California's Mojave Desert that triggered a swarm of quakes from more than 800 miles (1,300km) away, and the 2002 7.9 magnitude Denali fault earthquake 2,000 miles (3,200km) away in Alaska that altered the activity of many geysers and hot springs for several months afterward. [7] At least a dozen of these eruptions were so massive that they are classified as supereruptions. Together these eruptions have helped create the eastern part of the Snake River Plain (to the west of Yellowstone) from a once-mountainous region. Thankfully they are also less frequent. The most recent major eruption of this hotspot created the Yellowstone Caldera and Lava Creek tuff formation approximately 631,000 years ago [95]. [11], The loosely defined term "supervolcano" has been used to describe volcanic fields that produce exceptionally large volcanic eruptions. Modified from Beauty from the Beast: Plate Tectonics and the Landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, by Robert J. Lillie, Wells Creek Publishers, 92 pp., 2015, www.amazon.com/dp/1512211893. [2] Three silicic calderas have been newly identified in northwest Nevada, west of the McDermitt volcanic field as well as the Virgin Valley Caldera. And a small section of the park (1%) to the west is in Idaho. The huge amount of material released causes the . Rising plumes in Earths mantle: phantom or real? miles that currently bound the eastern side of the park. The magma in this plume contains gases that are kept dissolved by the immense pressure under which the magma is contained. The eastern Snake River Plain is a topographic depression that cuts across Basin and Range Mountain structures, more or less parallel to North American plate motion. Subducting slabs have also been named as causing mantle plumes and hot-spot volcanism [88]. Water from rainfall and snowmelt seeps into the ground. Magma that encounters silica-rich continental crust on its journey upward forms a rhyolite magma chamber only 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 kilometers) beneath Yellowstone National Park. [4] The northwest Nevada calderas have diameters ranging from 15 to 26km and deposited high temperature rhyolite ignimbrites over approximately 5000km2. The Henry's Fork Caldera (1.2 million years ago) produced the smaller Mesa Falls Tuff, but is the only caldera from the Snake River Plain-Yellowstone hotspot that is plainly visible today. Prior to this, the eruption history gets murkier. Previously Unknown Intercellular Electricity May Power Biology, Mushrooms and Their Post-Rain, Electrical Conversations. More than 20 such flows, totaling about 1,600 feet (500 meters) thickness, can be seen in Picture Gorge within the monument. This would be a calamity reaching far beyond the western United States. The big island of Hawaii sits atop a large mantle plume that marks the active hotspot. At some point these cracks reach the magma "reservoir," release the pressure, and the volcano explodes. The water sometimes incorporates a lot of solid material on its way up, forming mud pots. [48], In 2017, NASA conducted a study to determine the feasibility of preventing the volcano from erupting. The sleeping giant The Yellowstone hotspot is a mysterious blob of hot rock in Earth's mantle, currently sitting under a 1,530 square mile (4,000 square kilometers) stretch of Yellowstone. The final, extremely voluminous, caldera-forming eruption the Kilgore Tuff which erupted 1800km3 of ash, occurred 4.5 million years ago.[6][7][8][9][10]. Also, scientists use the age of volcanic eruptions and shape of the chain to quantify the rate and direction of plate movements relative to the hotspot. Scientific evidence indicates the Hawaiian hotspot is at least 80 million years old [90]. The Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field is composed of four adjacent calderas. Volcanic eruptions sometimes empty their stores of magma so swiftly that the overlying land collapses into the emptied magma chamber, forming a geographic depression called a caldera. [3] This epic eruption appears to have been about 30% larger than the hotspot's next-biggest eruption, which occurred 2.1 million years ago. The Yellowstone hotspot is well known for generating supereruptions in the geologic past that are far more explosive than historic examples. Like Hawaii, the Yellowstone region lies directly above a hotspot. [41] From 2004 to 2008, the land surface within the caldera moved upward as much as 8 inches (20cm) at the White Lake GPS station. These eruptions occurred, on average, every 500,000 years, the researchers wrote. Beneath more recent basalts are rhyolite lavas and ignimbrites that erupted as the lithosphere passed over the hotspot. It formed the eastern Snake River Plain through a succession of caldera-forming eruptions. [6], Over the past 16.5 million years or so, this hotspot has generated a succession of explosive eruptions and less violent floods of basaltic lava. First postulated by J. Tuzo Wilson in 1963, a hotspot is an area in the lithospheric plate where molten magma breaks through and creates a volcanic center, islands in the ocean and mountains on land [82]. 89. The origin and sustained longevity of the hotspot is . The hotspot first surfaced 17 million years ago as massive outpourings of fluid basalt lava in the Columbia Plateau and Steens Basalt region. 45 00 12.09 (Lat) -110 00 04.62 (Long) map coordinates ar e 41.364N, 121.0 19W . Have any problems using the site? John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in northeastern Oregon contains incredible examples of mammal, plant, and other fossils. 9.34Ma tuff of Little Chokecherry Canyon. At least 2,800 cubic kilometers (672cumi) of volcanic material. 2. The magma melting off the mantle at a hotspot initially has a low-silica, basalt composition. 44 39 30.27 (Lat) -111 05 49.87 (Long) The Yellowstone hotspot is well known for generating supereruptions in the geologic past that are far more explosive than historic examples. This volcanic arc occupied in the exact area of today's Yellowstone National Park, forming the Absaroka Mountains. Yellow and orange ovals show volcanic centers where the hotspot produced one or more caldera eruptions- essentially "ancient Yellowstones"- during the time periods indicated. Some of the lava traveled more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) all the way to the Pacific Ocean. [30][31], In December 2008, continuing into January 2009, more than 500 quakes were detected under the northwest end of Yellowstone Lake over a seven-day span, with the largest registering a magnitude of 3.9. Although it is still solid, the heated mantle can rise slowly toward the surface. Modified from Beauty from the Beast: Plate Tectonics and the Landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, by Robert J. Lillie, Wells Creek Publishers, 92 pp., 2015, www.amazon.com/dp/1512211893. He enjoys writing most about space, geoscience and the mysteries of the universe. Hawaii sits on a thin oceanic plate, which is easily breached by magma coming to the surface. See, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, "Possible regional tectonic controls on mammalian evolution in western North America", Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, "Chapter 12, Age and possible source of air-fall tuffs of the Miocene Carlin Formation, Northern Nevada", 10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<0559:RAFTOT>2.0.CO;2, Kathryn E. Watts, Ilya N. Bindeman and Axel K. Schmitt (2011) Petrology, Vol. The hotspot first surfaced 17 million years ago as massive outpourings of fluid basalt lava in the Columbia Plateau and Steens Basalt region. After a few million years, the mushroom head of the hotspot dissipates, leaving only a thin stem. The rhyolite lava flows found throughout the park weather to very acidic soil. The Yellowstone region, at 8,000 feet (2,500 meters) elevation, is about 2,000 to 3,000 feet (600 to 1,000 meters) higher than the surrounding territory.