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How deep is lava in Yellowstone?

Two large reservoirs full of magma exist beneath the Yellowstone Caldera—one that's about three to ten miles beneath the surface, and another that's 12 to 30 miles below ground.



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It is estimated that the temperature in the underlying magma chamber at Yellowstone may exceed 1,475 °F or 800°C. The average amount of heat that is transmitted from the interior of the Earth to its surface is 30-40 times greater in the Yellowstone area than in other places on Earth's continents.

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A new 3-D model shows the 45-mile-wide (72-kilometer-wide), 410-mile-deep (660-kilometer-deep) plume of hot, molten rock rising under Yellowstone's supervolcano.

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Supervolcano in Southern Utah is 30 times larger than Yellowstone.

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As pressure is released, gases dissolved in the magma come out of solution, turning the magma into a boiling froth. The total energy released would be equivalent to an 875,000 megaton explosion. The shockwave would kill 90,000 people. Most of the lava would fall back into the crater.

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Under the seemingly placid waters of Yellowstone Lake lies the collapsed remains of a supervolcano that erupted 640,000 years ago.

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The lava flows themselves would be contained within a relatively small radius within the park — say, 40 miles or so. In fact, only about one-third of the material would actually make it up into the atmosphere.

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A: For the most likely type of volcanic eruption in Yellowstone, everywhere would be safe except in the immediate vicinity of the advancing lava flow. In the highly improbable event of a large catastrophic eruption, the great the distance from the eruptive center, the safer it would be.

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The Yellowstone Plateau region has crustal thickness of 47–52 km; this thick crust primarily manifests the Laramide age shortening associated with the Beartooth Mountains and the magmatic underplate that created the high-velocity lower crust beneath much of the Wyoming Province crust.

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Three of the seven supervolcanoes in the world are in the U.S.:
  • California: Long Valley Caldera.
  • New Mexico: Valles Caldera.
  • Wyoming: Yellowstone.


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No. A very large volcanic eruption would cause a severe cold period called a volcanic winter, but not an ice age. Volcanic eruptions cool the planet by creating a fine aerosol of sulfuric acid in the stratosphere. The highly reflective droplets prevent a portion of the sun's light from reaching and heating the surface.

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