YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYO. -- New seismic images of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park is larger than first thought and contradicts claims that only shallow hot rock exists.
University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest.
The studies also indicate the banana-shaped magma chamber a few miles beneath Yellowstone is 20 percent larger than previously thought- meaning a cataclysmic eruption could be even larger.
"We have a clear image, using seismic waves from earthquakes, showing a mantle plume that extends from beneath Yellowstone,'' Smith says.
read more ksl.com - Plumbing of Yellowstone supervolcano larger than first thought
University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest.
The studies also indicate the banana-shaped magma chamber a few miles beneath Yellowstone is 20 percent larger than previously thought- meaning a cataclysmic eruption could be even larger.
"We have a clear image, using seismic waves from earthquakes, showing a mantle plume that extends from beneath Yellowstone,'' Smith says.
read more ksl.com - Plumbing of Yellowstone supervolcano larger than first thought
