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Yellowstone volcano: How scientists found magma chamber 'four times bigger than thought'
When that thing blows it is going to be devastating. Of course it might not happen for thousands of years or longer from now.
The Yellowstone volcano gets its chilling label as a supervolcano due to the ability to inflict devastation on a global level. Spread below the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the volcano is constantly monitored by the USGS (United States Geological Survey) for signs that a supereruption is on its way. However, researchers at the University of Utah were left stunned when they discovered and produced images of a reservoir of hot, partly molten rock 12 to 28 miles beneath the surface.
The hot rock in the chamber is 4.4 times larger than the shallower, long-known tunnel previously mapped out, according to the study.
Hsin-Hua Huang, who lead the research said in 2015: “For the first time, we have imaged the continuous volcanic plumbing system under Yellowstone.
“That includes the upper crustal magma chamber we have seen previously plus a lower crustal magma reservoir that has never been imaged before and that connects the upper chamber to the Yellowstone hotspot plume below.”
Despite popular beliefs, these magma chambers are not full of molten rock ready to erupt, instead, it is mostly solid and spongelike rock, with pockets of magma.
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Originally Posted by Peter1469
