Images

Exposure of rhyolite volcanic rocks in the central Snake River Plain showing a thick sequence of 10-12 million-year-old, densely welded, pyroclastic density flow units (darker units from middle of photo to top of hill) overlying a thick sequence of white, friable, ash fall deposits.  USGS Photo by L. A. Morgan (May 2004).

Simplified geologic map detailing locations of volcanics at Sepulcher Mountain and igneous intrusion at Electric Peak and surrounding area. This map is Fig. 2.

(Top) 1996–2000 interferogram draped over a 30-m DEM and showing uplift centered a few kilometers (miles) west of South Sister volcano. (Bottom) Geochemical data on top of the 1996–2000 interferogram. The columns show chloride (Cl) and sulfate (SO4) concentrations at sampled springs.

Criteria for estimation of the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI).  Modified from: Newhall, C.G., and Self, S., 1982, The volcanic explosivity index (VEI): An estimate of explosive magnitude for historical volcanism. Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 87, no. C2, p.

Benchmark T366, was installed in 1987 a few miles north of Canyon Junction in Yellowstone National Park. Rather than being a brass or aluminum disk, the benchmark is a rod that was driven into the ground until it would not sink any lower.  The precise elevation of the top of the rod was established by surveying methods, and an access cover flush with the g

Interpretive reconstruction of the Yellowstone Plateau region before initial plateau volcanism (a little before 2 million years ago). The region was entirely an elevated and faulted mountainous terrain with no basin in the present plateau area.

Geologic map of the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic field generated by Bob Christiansen and published in 2001.  Available from https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp729g/plate1.pdf.

Geological Map of the area around Monument Geyser Basin and Beryl Spring, taken from the Geological Map of the Yellowstone Plateau Area (Christiansen, 2001)

Left: Map of Yellowstone showing the extent of mapped Lava Creek Tuff members A and B, which erupted during the formation of Yellowstone Caldera about 631,000 years ago. Right: Geologic map of Madison Junction (1:125,000).

Landsat-7 satellite image of Jemez Mountains and Valles Caldera, New Mexico.  The Valles and Toledo Caldera margins are approximated by dashed yellow lines, and the resurgent dome and lava domes are labeled.  The Banco Bonito lava flow is the youngest in the region at 68,000 years old.  The town of Los Alamos is located just east of the caldera. 

Schematic illustration showing the 1912 Novarupta eruption in Alaska and the caldera collapse at Mount Katmai, 10.6 km (about 6.6 miles) to the northeast.

Mount Epomeo on the island of Ischia. The visible western slope of the resurgent block consists of 55,000 year old rocks that formed one of the most widespread Late Quaternary pyroclastic deposits in the Mediterranean region.  INGV photo (https://www.ingv.it/en/Ischia).

View from the SE rim of McDermitt caldera, Nevada and Oregon, showing rhyolite lavas overlain by thin outflow McDermitt Tuff in the south wall of the caldera. The low area that makes up most of the photo is intracaldera tuffaceous sediment. This is Thacker Pass, the site of largest and highest-grade lithium deposits in the region.

Folds in outflow sheets of McDermitt Tuff, from the eruption that formed McDermitt Caldera in Nevada and Oregon about 16.4 million years ago.  The folding is called “rheomorphism” and occurred as the hot ash deposit flowed under its own weight shortly after it was deposited over preexisting topographic highs and lows.  The texture resembles that of rhyolit

Excerpt from the Geological Map of the Gardiner 30’ x 60’ Quadrangle, South-Central Montana, by Berg and others (1999), focused on Devil’s Slide (colorful blue-green stripes at center of map excerpt).  Full unit description and map available online as Montana Bureau of Miles and Geology Open File No.

Steam rises above a hot pool at Agua Shuca, one of many thermal areas of the Ahuachapán geothermal field of El Salvador. A sudden hydrothermal explosion at Agua Shuca in October 1990 ejected steam and debris within a 200-m-radius, and about 25 people living adjacent to the thermal area were killed.

Yellowstone National Park employees Rick Hutchinson (right) and Jim Peaco (left) guide the specially designed Little Dipper boat into the boiling waters of Grand Prismatic Spring to collect measurements of the temperature and structure of the feature. National Park Service photo by Josh Robbins in 1996.

Cross section of the Western Snake River Plain, Idaho.

A gas plume rises above lava fountains in a lava lake in the summit crater of Nyiragongo volcano on 20 August 1994. USGS photo by Jack Lockwood.

Geologic map of the Wind River Range from Blackstone, 1993 (The Wind River Range, Wyoming: An Overview. Wyoming Geological Association. Jubilee Anniversary Field Conference Guidebook: Wyoming Geology, Past, Present, and Future. Pg. 121-140).

Photo of a deep-ocean hydrothermal vent system from the East Pacific Rise at 9º39’N latitude and 2550 m (8366 ft) depth showing vigorously venting “black smoker” hydrothermal fluids (329 °C, or 624 °F) that are dark gray to black due to rapid precipitation of iron, copper, and zinc sulfide minerals as the hot water mixes with cold bottom waters.