Interesting Sights About YellowStone and Other Volcanoes

To see blogs on other volcanoes, go to http://whistlerarenal.blogspot.com/
To get travel information on visiting YellowStone National Park, visit

http://www.wyomingtourism.org/
http://www.yellowstoneparknet.com/travel_plans/summer_vacation_packages.php
http://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/YellowstoneNationalParkWY/vacationPackages.cfm

Citation

These sights and this book were all very helpful in finding the information for this blog. If anyone has any better sights or corrections feel free to leave a comment on my blog.

Sanchez, Mario. Exploring Famous Volcanoes. Oakwood, Georgia: Big Little Book Company, 1999.

USGS, "YellowStone Caldera, Wyoming." USGS Science For a Changing World. 2/23/09. USGS. 29 Mar 2009 http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Yellowstone/.

Monteith, David. "Introduction to the Geysers of YellowStone." YellowStone National Park. Unknown revision date. YellowStone Net. 29 Mar 2009 http://www.yellowstone.net/geysers/.

QUESTIONS

1. What type of magma can be found in the YellowStone Caldera?

2. What are three examples of activity you could see at the YellowStone Caldera?

3. What type of eruption could potentially happen when YellowStone erupts?

4. When was the last eruption at YellowStone?

5. What is the YellowStone Caldera located directly over?

ENVIRONMENTAL DANGERS/BENEFITS

There are many benefits to the YellowStone Caldera. Because the Caldera is constantly active, there are many naturally beautiful occurences to be seen every day. One example is Old Faithful, the geyser. Other examples are the beautiful hot springs and the bubbling mud pots. Although one can find peace and serenity in Yellowstone, there is always the inevitable fact that one day, the YellowStone Caldera will erupt again. Scientists don't know when, or how big it will be, but they do know it will erupt. Maybe even in our lifetime.

This is a picture of Old Faithful, YellowStones famous geyser

Unknown Author, National Agriculture Library Special Collection

ERUPTION STYLE

Although the YellowStone Caldera has not had an eruption in many years, scientists still know quite a bit about the caldera's eruption style.
Because the caldera is a continental hot spot and not in the ocean or on a plate boundary, the ryolitic magma gathers more and more debris and rocks from the earth and traps more gases building up pressure. If the caldera were to erupt, the magma would have such a high pressure it could explode in an extremely destrucive way and potentially cause a super eruption. The hazards could be extreme. There could be extensive pyroclastic flows and an overwhelming amount of debris. The entire eruption depends on the amount of eruptable magma, so there is a chance that the eruption would only be moderate.

Photo: Virtual picture of the YellowStone Caldera

John Kisk, Science World Photos

SHAPE

The YellowStone Caldera's top summit is about 9203 feet tall.

Inside the caldera, there are geysers, boiling springs, mudpots and gorgeous lakes and hills.

This is a 3-D map of the YellowStone Caldera, Photographer unknown

ERUPTION HISTORY

The most famous eruption is the eruption that formed the present day caldera. About 600,000 years ago, the magma underneath the future Caldera had grown restless. The ground erupted, spewing out about 240 cubic miles of debri into the surrounding area. The park's central portion collapsed and formed the massive caldera. Three major cataclysmic eruptions have occured with in the last 2 million years

The Beginning

YELLOW STONE CALDERA

My Assignment is to blog about a volcano, in my case, the YellowStone Caldera.

The YellowStone Caldera is located in Wyoming, USA. Its massive walls extend 28 by 48 miles. It is located on a continental hotspot, directly above a pocket of magma underneath the surface.
Although the YellowStone Caldera hasn't had an eruption in 70,000 years, it is still active. The caldera is home to mudpots, geysers and boiling hot springs, bringing in crowds of tourists every year. The surreal and immense beauty of the YellowStone Caldera cannot be matched.

The picture above is of the river running through the Caldera. Photographer, unknown