Yellowstone’s Magma Storage: Scientists Uncover Secrets of Volcanic Activity
Yellowstone National Park, famous for its geysers and hot springs, is one of the most popular national parks in the US, attracting millions of visitors annually. The park’s breathtaking sights are due to the magma located miles beneath the surface, part of one of the world’s largest active volcanic systems. However, the exact nature of this magma storage and its potential for eruption has remained a mystery.
Scientists have now utilized advanced techniques to answer the pressing questions: when will Yellowstone erupt and what will be the consequences? According to research published in the journal Nature, a volcanic eruption at Yellowstone National Park is unlikely due to the structure of the underlying magma formations, and the focus of volcanic activity will be shifting northeast.
Lead author Ninfa Bennington, a research geophysicist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, stated that nowhere in Yellowstone do they have regions that are capable of eruption. The park’s magma is stored in separate reservoirs, making it too dispersed to trigger a volcanic eruption within our lifetimes.
Beneath Yellowstone Park, two distinct types of magma exist. The first is basaltic magma, which is responsible for most volcanic activity on Earth. However, under Yellowstone, this type of magma is dense and deeply embedded in the Earth’s crust, making an eruption unlikely. The second type, rhyolitic magma, is thicker and has a higher resistance to flow. While it requires significant pressure build-up to trigger an eruption, such a massive upheaval is vastly different from the regular activity that attracts tourists to the park.
If an eruption were to occur, it could result in highly explosive eruptions accompanied by substantial amounts of ash. Yellowstone has witnessed three major eruptions in the past 2.1 million years, with each one producing enough ash and lava to fill the Grand Canyon. However, the last minor eruption occurred nearly 70,000 years ago, while the last major one was hundreds of thousands of years prior.
The study’s findings indicate a shift in volcanic activity, which is expected as the North American plate continues to move west-southwest over the volcanic hotspot beneath. The impacts of this shift are unlikely to occur in our lifetime.
