The Yellowstone magmatic system from the mantle plume to the upper crust
Abstract
The Yellowstone supervolcano is one of the largest active continental silicic volcanic fields in the world. An understanding of its properties is key to enhancing our knowledge of volcanic mechanisms and corresponding risk. Using a joint local and teleseismic earthquake P-wave seismic inversion, we unveil a basaltic lower-crustal magma body that provides a magmatic link between the Yellowstone mantle plume and the previously imaged upper-crustal magma reservoir. This lower-crustal magma body has a volume of 46,000 km^3, ~4.5 times larger than the upper-crustal magma reservoir, and contains a melt fraction of ~2%. These estimates are critical to understanding the evolution of bimodal basaltic-rhyolitic volcanism, explaining the magnitude of CO_2 discharge, and constraining dynamic models of the magmatic system for volcanic hazard assessment.
Additional Information
© 2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 20 January 2015; accepted 1 April 2015. Published online 23 April 2015. Data were collected from the Yellowstone seismograph network operated by the University of Utah, the NSF funded EarthScope project, and a temporary seismic array operated by Stanford University. All waveform data used in this project can be obtained through the IRIS Data Management Center. This study was supported by the University of Utah, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, the U.S. National Science Foundation in support of the EarthScope Transportable Array, Cyber-SEES-1442665, EAR-1252191, and the Brinson Foundation and Carrico funds.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - Huang.SM.pdf
Files
Name | Size | Download all |
---|---|---|
md5:4098fdecbd5ec64eb68f5d9520daed1a
|
4.6 MB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 57198
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.aaa5648
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20150504-121706460
- University of Utah
- CyberSEES-1442665
- NSF
- EAR-1252191
- NSF
- Brinson Foundation
- Carrico funds
- Created
-
2015-05-04Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Seismological Laboratory