Images

Cross sections from one-dimensional electrical resistivity (top of each section) and three-dimensional magnetic susceptibility inverted models (bottom of each section) along profiles that span (a) Norris Geyser Basin, and (b) Upper Geyser Basin.  Geologic and geothermal features are from the Yellowstone geologic map. VE=vertical exaggeration.

Map of North American showing the Continental Divide -- an invisible line that separates the major watersheds flowing to different oceans.

Examples of some of the instrumentation commonly found in a geology experimental research lab.

Schematic cross section of the magmatic system underneath Yellowstone Caldera and illustrating the processes of rhyolite formation.

Vertical deformation measured at three caldera systems: Yellowstone, Wyoming (red), Long Valley, California (green), and Campi Flegrei, Italy (blue).  Triangles show data collected by leveling, and circles by GPS.  All three calderas have gone up and down over time, but the scale of change at Campi Flegrei dwarfs that at Long Valley and Yellowstone. 

3D renderings of elevation change between August 2007 and October 2020 along the Lamar River in the northeast part of Yellowstone National Park.  Red regions represent >1 m (3 ft) of elevation loss, yellow indicates no change, and blue represents >1 m (3 ft) of elevation gain.

Top image is a view of the Silver Gate landslide complex, near Mammoth Hot Springs, from Bunsen Peak. Bottom shows roughly the same view using lidar data, colored to show elevation highs and lows and shaded by slope. Landslide scarps, roads, trails, and Glen Creek (lower left), all obscured by trees in the photograph, are much more visible in the lidar.

Top shows aerial photo of a section of US Highway 191 north of West Yellowstone in Montana. Bottom shows lidar imagery that reveals the road traversing a landslide deposit. High elevations are brown and white, and green is lower elevation. Shading indicates steeper slopes.

Spectrogram of a possible long-period (LP) earthquake in Yellowstone that occurred on August 26, 2021, near Norris Geyser Basin.  The top panel shows a 30-second seismogram recorded at seismic station YHH.  The bottom panel shows the spectrogram with energy concentrated in the 1–3 Hz range and lasting for ~15 seconds.

Spectrogram of a typical volcano-tectonic (VT) earthquake that occurred near Norris Geyser Basin, in the same region similar depth as the possible long-period (LP) event that was recorded on August 26, 2021.  The top panel shows a 30-second seismogram recorded at seismic station YHH.  The bottom panel shows the spectrogram with energy ranging from 1-15 Hz

Landsat 8 nighttime thermal infrared image of Yellowstone from 28 January 2022.  Inset images are zoomed in on the area outlined by the white square.  Inset image (A) has the raw data values, which range from 9070 to 21284.  Inset image (B) shows the same image converted to spectral radiance, where values range from 3.13 to 7.21 W/m²/micron

Map of seismicity (red circles) in the Yellowstone region during 2021. Gray lines are roads, black dashed line shows the caldera boundary, Yellowstone National Park is outlined by black dot-dashed line, and gray dashed lines denote state boundaries.

Boiling River near Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park.  Photo by R. Robinson.

Left photo shows a loose piece of siliceous sinter that was precipitated around a photosynthetic microbial mat in the Lower Geyser Basin.  The microbial mat died when the outflow channel changed positions.

On the left is Castle Geyser during an eruption with a pool from nearby Tortoise Shell Spring showing photosynthetic pigments at the bottom. The middle image is of a small pool in the Geyser Hill Group in the Upper Geyser Basin with an outflow channel full of yellow, green, orange, red, and brown pigmented phototrophic microbial mats.

A 200-kilogram (440-pound) fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite that was found at Meteor Crater in Arizona.

Map of the Uhl Hill fault in eastern Grand Teton National Park. Base map is a 1-meter lidar hillshade. Black arrows mark the visible fault scarp, and red lines mark locations where scarp profiles were generated from lidar data or field surveying.

Scarp of the Uhl Hill fault. Photo (top) is looking west at the east-facing fault scarp, with a geologist at the top of the scarp for scale. Here, the fault cuts through Pinedale-1 glacial deposits just south of a Pinedale-2 end moraine. Plot (bottom) is a scarp profile generated from lidar elevation data.

Simplified geologic maps showing the difference in mapped rock units from the current, large-scale geologic maps dividing Mount Everts and that join along the boundary between Montana and Wyoming.

Reconstructed fossil horse skeleton found at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument, Idaho. National Park Service photo, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/equus_simplicidens.htm.

Screenshot of the December 8, 2021 Yellowstone volcano monitoring map. Seismometers, GPS, and earthquakes are the displayed icons, which can be filtered in the right menu.