“Geologists Discover Shifting Volcanic Activity in Yellowstone: Northeast Bound!”

A group of geologists affiliated with the US Geological Survey, in collaboration with three associates from Oregon State University and one from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has uncovered signs of rhyolitic volcanism in Yellowstone caldera shifting towards the northeast.

In their article published in the journal Nature, the team outlines how they employed an electromagnetic geophysical technique to survey the area beneath Yellowstone’s caldera.

The Yellowstone Caldera is a volcanic caldera and super-volcano situated in Yellowstone National Park, in the Western United States—it has occasionally been called the Yellowstone Super-volcano due to its immense size; it ranks among the largest on Earth.

Previous studies have indicated that the super-volcano has undergone three significant caldera-forming eruptions during the past 2.1 million years—with the last lava flow occurring roughly 70,000 years ago. It remains uncertain when it might erupt again.

In this recent investigation, the researchers examined the composition of the materials beneath the caldera, which is part of a broader effort to enhance the understanding of volcanic eruptions to assist in predicting future events.

Earlier attempts to achieve an accurate assessment of the variety and volume of materials beneath the Yellowstone caldera have yielded inconsistent outcomes owing to the harsh conditions. The research team adopted a novel approach—they conducted an extensive magnetotelluric survey across the entire caldera. This method involved measuring electromagnetic geophysical properties that considered fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field—it also enabled the inference of the conductivity structure of the crust.

The survey revealed that there exist seven, and quite possibly more, distinct regions of magma beneath the caldera, with some interconnected, at depths varying from 4 to 47 kilometers—near the mantle’s boundary.

The team noted that the most intriguing melt storage reservoirs were situated in the northeastern sections of the caldera, implying these areas are likely to be the most active in the future. The reservoirs they identified contain basaltic magma in their lower sections and rhyolitic magma in the upper sections.

The researchers even managed to estimate the volumes—they discovered that there was a melt storage capacity of approximately 388 to 489 cubic kilometers. This amount was significantly greater than in the southern, western, and northern regions, which is where past eruptions had predominantly occurred.

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