Magma Reservoir Discovered beneath Yellowstone's Magma Chamber (IMAGE)

University of Utah

Magma Reservoir Discovered beneath Yellowstone's Magma Chamber

Caption

A new University of Utah study in the journal <i>Science</i> provides the first complete view of the plumbing system that supplies hot and partly molten rock from the Yellowstone hotspot to the Yellowstone supervolcano. The study revealed a gigantic magma reservoir beneath the previously known magma chamber. This cross-section illustration cutting southwest-northeast under Yelowstone depicts the view revealed by seismic imaging. Seismologists say new techniques have provided a better view of Yellowstone's plumbing system, and that it hasn't grown larger or closer to erupting. They estimate the annual chance of a Yellowstone supervolcano eruption is 1 in 700,000.

Credit

Hsin-Hua Huang, University of Utah

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