Yellowstone magma: a new chamber, bigger and deeper

Will the Yellowstone magma chamber--make that chambers--ever stop growing? Well, they're not actually growing per se; rather, scientists are discovering that Yellowstone's magma chambers are bigger--and more numerous--than previously believed. In 2013, the upper magma chamber was revealed to be more than double its previously estimated volume. Then, this month, geophysicists announced the existence of an additional, deeper, larger magma reservoir sitting between the upper chamber and the mantle plume feeding the legendary volcano. Check out the video below, by the University of Utah, to see a 3D animation of the setup. You can read more about Yellowstone eruptions in my previous post, which has been updated.

Image credit: Huang et al. 2015

Image credit: Huang et al. 2015

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