How deep is the magma chamber under Yellowstone?

How large is the magma chamber that is currently under Yellowstone? The magma chamber is believed to be about 40 by 80 kilometers across, similar in size to the overlying Yellowstone caldera. The top of the chamber is about 8 km deep and the bottom is around 16 km deep.

How deep has the magma pipe been imaged beneath Yellowstone?

April 23, 2015 – University of Utah seismologists discovered and made images of a reservoir of hot, partly molten rock 12 to 28 miles beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano, and it is 4.4 times larger than the shallower, long-known magma chamber.

How much magma is underneath Yellowstone?

The first three-dimensional image of the inner workings of the Yellowstone supervolcano has revealed an 11,200-cubic-mile magma reservoir about 28 miles below the surface. A previously known 2,500-cubic-mile magma chamber sits above that, at about 12 miles deep.

How big is the magma pool under Yellowstone?

University of Utah geology and geophysics professor Fan-Chi Lin said the blob-shaped lower magma reservoir in Earth's lower crust is located 12 to 28 miles (20-45 km) under Yellowstone, with a volume of 11,500 cubic miles (46,000 cubic km), or 11.2 times the volume of Arizona's Grand Canyon.

How deep is the volcanic pipe that was mapped under Yellowstone Park?

Some researchers suspect it originates 1,800 miles deep at Earth's core. The plume rises from the depths northwest of Yellowstone. The plume conduit is roughly 50 miles wide as it rises through Earth's mantle and then spreads out like a pancake as it hits the uppermost mantle about 40 miles deep.

Why the Yellowstone Supervolcano Could Be Huge

How many miles down is magma?

This liquid layer around the core meets Earth's lower mantle about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) below the surface.

How close is Yellowstone to erupting?

Although another catastrophic eruption at Yellowstone is possible, scientists are not convinced that one will ever happen. The rhyolite magma chamber beneath Yellowstone is only 5-15% molten (the rest is solidified but still hot), so it is unclear if there is even enough magma beneath the caldera to feed an eruption.

What is found beneath the Yellowstone National Park?

Beneath Yellowstone National Park lies a supervolcano, a behemoth far more powerful than your average volcano. It has the ability to expel more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of rock and ash at once — 2,500 times more material than erupted from Mount St. Helens in 1980, which killed 57 people.

How deep is a magma chamber?

Summary: Computer models show why eruptive magma chambers tend to reside between six and 10 kilometers underground. A new study reveals why the magma chambers that feed recurrent and often explosive volcanic eruptions tend to reside in a very narrow depth range within the Earth's crust.

How deep is the magma under Old Faithful?

The magma chamber is believed to be about 40 by 80 kilometers across, similar in size to the overlying Yellowstone caldera. The top of the chamber is about 8 km deep and the bottom is around 16 km deep.

What is found 250 miles below the surface of Yellowstone?

That is the base of the global transition zone – from 250 miles to 410 miles deep – that is the boundary between the upper and lower mantle – the layers below Earth's crust. At that depth, the plume is about 410 miles beneath the town of Wisdom, Mont., which is 150 miles west-northwest of Yellowstone, says Smith.

Where is the biggest magma chamber?

University of Utah seismologists have discovered a reservoir of hot, partly molten rock 12 to 28 miles beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano that is 4.4 times larger than the shallower, long-known magma chamber.

What does a magma chamber look like?

A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it upwards.

How hot is the plume under Yellowstone?

How hot? Try 1,800 degrees. The heat produced by the scorching hot rocks — officially known as a mantle plume — was measured at 150 milliwatts per square meter. That's not far from the heat produced under Yellowstone National Park, which is measured at about 200 milliwatts per square meter.

How much lava is in the Yellowstone caldera?

The chamber is mostly solid, with only about 5-15% melt. The deeper reservoir is composed of basalt (a low-silica rock type) and extends from 20 to 50 km (12 to 30 mi) beneath the surface. Even though the deeper chamber is about 4.5 times larger than the shallow chamber, it contains only about 2% melt.

Where was Yellowstone 12 million years ago?

Up to 12 massive volcanic blasts occurred between 8 million and 12 million years ago in Idaho's Snake River Plain, leading up to today's Yellowstone supervolcano, new research reveals.

How hot is a magma chamber?

Answer and Explanation: Magma in the magma chamber of a volcano can range in temperature from approximately 700 to 1,300 degrees Celsius. This is equivalent to between 1,292 and 2,372 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why the rock material that forms magma is in a liquid state.

Can magma escape through a magma chamber?

Magma Escape Routes Magma leaves the confines of the upper mantle and crust in two major ways: as an intrusion or as an extrusion. An intrusion can form features such as dikes and xenoliths. An extrusion could include lava and volcanic rock.

How deep is a volcano hole?

Hence why many volcanoes are located above a magma chamber. Most known magma chambers are located close to the Earth's surface, usually between 1 km and 10 km deep. In geological terms, this makes them part of the Earth's crust – which ranges from 5–70 km (~3–44 miles) deep.

What volcano could destroy the world?

Effects of a major eruption: When the Yellowstone Caldera, or "supervolcano," in Yellowstone National erupts again, it will render a huge swath of North America, from Vancouver to Oklahoma City, uninhabitable. It would have incalculable human and economic consequences.

Is Yellowstone going to end the world?

If Yellowstone's volcano erupted, it would be catastrophic. The eruption would shoot a tower of ash into the air, taller than Mount Everest, covering nearby cities in over a meter of ash and creating giant clouds that would block the sun for decades.

What would happen if the volcano in Yellowstone erupted?

The enormous amount of volcanic material in the atmosphere would subsequently rain down toxic ash; across the entire US, but principally in the Northwest. The ash would also kill plants, animals, crush buildings with its weight, block freeways, and ruin the country's farmland for a generation.

Will Yellowstone erupt in our lifetime?

Will the Yellowstone volcano erupt soon? Another caldera-forming eruption is theoretically possible, but it is very unlikely in the next thousand or even 10,000 years. Scientists have also found no indication of an imminent smaller eruption of lava in more than 30 years of monitoring.

Which supervolcano is most likely to erupt next?

The researchers say that an extra four cubic kilometres of magma builds up in Toba every thousand years. This means that next equivalent super-eruption would occur in 600,000 years – though smaller ones could happen in the meantime.

What states would be destroyed if Yellowstone erupts?

A statement on the USGS site reads: “Parts of the surrounding states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming that are closest to Yellowstone would be affected by pyroclastic flows, while other places in the United States would be impacted by falling ash.