Danger lurks beneath the caldera of Yellowstone National Park, USA, famous not only for its breathtaking landscapes and geothermal wonders, but also for the supervolcano hidden beneath its surface.
Yellowstone National Park holds many secrets. One of them is a supervolcano that could erupt.
It has been about 70,000 years since it erupted, but geologists know that this volcano is capable of causing immense explosions, catastrophic eruptions which would be much more dangerous today than tens of thousands of years ago, at a geological time comparable to that of the eruption of the Toba supervolcano.
What is the Yellowstone volcano and why do scientists care about it?
16.5 million years ago, as a tectonic plate slowly moved toward southeastern North America, it passed over a hot spot in the Earth’s mantle. This event triggered intense volcanic activity, whose last major eruption, approximately 640,000 years ago, shaped the current features of Yellowstone, creating one of the largest active volcanic systems in the world. It is important to note that its caldera measures approximately 55 x 72 km in diameter.
So why are scientists worried about this? Because being one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world, it is also one of the most dangerous. What’s more, the activity bubbling beneath this famous park seems to be picking up.
A new study published in the journal Nature revealed that magma deposits fueling supervolcano eruptions appear to be moving northeastward from the Yellowstone caldera. According to Ninfa Bennington, a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey, this region could become the new center of possible future volcanic activity.
Is an eruption of the Yellowstone volcano imminent?
Yellowstone has experienced three major eruptions in the past two million years. The most recent occurred 640,000 years ago and expelled enough lava to form Mount Rainier (an active volcano nearly 4,400 meters above sea level in Washington State).
-Lava comes from deposits of silica-rich rhyolitic molten material, characterized by its viscosity, stickiness and slow movement. Rhyolite is an igneous or volcanic rock, usually pinkish gray, that contains a high percentage of silica.
The researchers discovered these features through a large-scale magnetotelluric survey covering the entire Yellowstone caldera. The data collected made it possible to model the distribution of magma deposits hidden beneath the surface. The results?
A large volume of magma is found between 4 and 47 km depth, distributed over at least seven distinct zones. This basalt magma heats and feeds rhyolitic magma chambers, which could contain up to approximately 500 cubic kilometers of magma (with an estimate ranging from 388 to 489 cubic kilometers).
Consequences of a Yellowstone eruption: what impact on the planet?
It would not represent a human extinction event, but the initial explosion of the Yellowstone caldera would kill thousands after a “super-eruption”, which would project high-velocity “pyroclastic flows” of lava, rocks and burning gas over several US states. But when could it erupt?
Researchers say that to accurately determine when and how these future eruptions will occur, further study will be necessary, requiring continued monitoring of its activity. Indeed, Yellowstone is one of the best-monitored volcanic systems on the planet, with 46 seismic stations and 30 GPS stations that constantly monitor the rising and falling movements of the ground.
Article reference:
N. Bennington, A. Schultz, P. Bedrosian, E. Bowles-Martinez, K. Lynn, M. Stelten, X. Tu & C. Thurber. “The progression of basaltic–rhyolitic melt storage at Yellowstone Caldera”. Nature (2025).
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