(Photo by Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)] That’s ‘an estimated melt volume that is one to four times greater than the eruptive volume of the largest past caldera-forming eruption’, a new United States Geological Survey (USGS) noted.
As many as 3,000 earthquakes each year rock Yellowstone, where vast chambers of magma – molten rock – lie between 4km and 47km beneath the surface.
Yellowstone supervolcano’s last eruption covered most of what is now the USA in volcanic ash and lava that flowed for hundreds of kilometres.
With major eruptions estimated to occur every 700,000 years, scientists are wondering whether Yellowstone will soon blow again.
Despite the tranquility of the 8,900 square kilometre national park’s rivers, canyons, forests and ice-capped mountains, volcanic activity is stirring.
