Rock Layers

The Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field forms the high continental divide between the northern and middle Rocky Mountains.

Yellowstone's volcanism is the most recent in a 17 million-year history of volcanic activity that progressed from southwest to northeast along the Snake River Plain.

Volcanic rock deposits from eruptions in the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field reveal that a typical sequence occurs as the magma storage region evolves.

Decades of geologic work in Yellowstone has led scientists to understanding how and when eruptions took place from the Plateau.