Pinpointing where Yellowstone will erupt in the very distant future

U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researchers published new findings suggesting a location where the Yellowstone Caldera could erupt, hundreds of thousands of years from now.

The Yellowstone Caldera is one of the largest volcanic systems on Earth. It lurks beneath Yellowstone National Park and touches three states: Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Over the past two million years, the volcano significantly erupted three times, leaving behind calderas, or massive craters.

To better understand future eruptions, Ninfa Bennington, a volcanic seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, used magnetotelluric methods to identify four pots of magma stored underneath the Yellowstone Caldera.

Magnetotelluric instruments help scientists identify materials that can conduct electricity beneath Earth's crust. The team used those instruments at over 100 measuring stations across the caldera to identify magma, which has a much higher conductivity than solid rocks.

Of the four magma-rich regions the team discovered, only the northeastern one will remain hot enough to keep magma liquid on a long-term scale and eventually erupt. Previous major eruptions took place in different locations across the caldera.