Caldera Chronicles

A common scale for expressing the size of an explosive volcanic eruption is the VEI—Volcanic Explosivity Index.  Eruption size can’t be determined by...

Changes in gas emissions can forewarn of volcanic or hydrothermal activity.  Continuous monitoring of gas concentrations by a station deployed in the...

The historic flooding event, caused by an “atmospheric river,” that hit the northern areas of Yellowstone from June 10-13, 2022, forever changed the...

A new seismic tomography model using a cutting-edge imaging approach that harnesses supercomputing provides an updated view of Yellowstone’s magma...

The Fountain Hotel was a grand structure in the Lower Geyser Basin, serving hundreds of visitors at a time during an era of stagecoaches and staged...

The Snake River Plain is a prominent river drainage that cuts a broad “smile” across southern Idaho, easily recognizable from satellite imagery. The...

The track of the Yellowstone hotspot is defined by a series of old caldera systems that get older the farther to the southwest you get from...

Many of Yellowstone’s lakes have been in existence for thousands of years, steadily accumulating sediments that capture different climatic periods...

When you envision scientists working in a laboratory, you might not think of geologists.  But there is an important field of geology called...

Young volcanic rocks in Wyoming are not limited to the area in and immediately surrounding Yellowstone Caldera. Eruptions have also occurred in the...

Magma reservoirs beneath large volcanic systems like Yellowstone are not simply large tanks of molten rock, but rather are dynamic mixes of melt and...

What is the difference between an active volcano, a dormant volcano, and an extinct volcano?  It can be a confusing way to describe volcanic activity...

Continuous GPS stations in Yellowstone National Park measure minute ground movements, aiding in monitoring the volcanic system. But by analyzing the...

Today we celebrate the life and career of Robert Christiansen (1935-2022), the first Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, a...

Did you know that Africa is home to more than 100 active volcanoes, including one with a lava lake that produces some of the most fluid lava flows on...

Perhaps you’ve heard the legend of the melting roads in Yellowstone National Park.  The rumor is based in truth but, as you might expect, badly...

Many people assume that earthquakes at Yellowstone are due to magma and the region “heating up.” It turns out that most Yellowstone seismicity is...

Thermal infrared images tell us how much thermal energy is being emitted from the Earth’s surface.  But how does this work, and how are these images...

Surficial geologic mapping by the Wyoming State Geological Survey (WSGS) has shed light on geologically young faults in the Jackson Lake area, just...

What goes into making a geologic map?  Follow along as geologists investigate a perplexing incongruity in adjoining geologic maps in the north part of...