Supervolcano Remains Found Near Yellowstone

Near the Yellowstone National Park, scientists have found some remains of an ancient supervolcano, which indicate that it might recur in some distant future.

Being a hotbed of volcanic activity, the center shows an eruption of magnitude 8 or more than that on the Volcano Explosivity Index (VEI). Measuring the volume of ejecta, as well as the column height, made the scientists arrive at the conclusion that it was a supervolcano.

However, the experts have arrived at the conclusion only by examining the ejecta remains, as the super-eruptions have not taken place for millions of years. About 12 super-eruptions took place in the Cassia Hills in southern Idaho, which have left the remains of large-scale glassy deposits. Each of them preserve various traits allowing them to be traced right to their source.

Thomas R. Knott and colleagues arrived at the conclusions after examining the remains carefully.

Analysing the "magnetic, mineralogical and chemical" characteristics in the Cassia Hills, the experts found large-scale eruptions that made the crust collapse by over three kilometres on the Snake River Plain, leaving a deep volcanic basin here.

As the older eruptions were hotter and occurred very frequently in Yellowstone, it seems evident that the supervolcanic eruptions in the past were fairly frequent earlier.

There does not seem to be any hint of a supereruption occurring in the near future or even for centuries, according to scientific exploration. However, even though the annual "probability" of another caldera-forming eruption is only one in 730,000 or .00014 percent, it does not rule out the possibility of another supervolcano occurring again.

The volcanic activity is monitored by the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO), which is a joint collaboration between the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and the University of Utah.

The study was published in the journal Geological Society of America Bulletin.