Images

Map of the geologic domains of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Boundaries are approximate.

Map of seismicity (red circles) in the Yellowstone region during 2024. Gray lines are roads, black dashed line shows the caldera boundary, Yellowstone National Park is outlined by black dot-dashed line, and gray dashed lines denote state boundaries.

Comparison of steep subduction (like that occurring today beneath the Pacific Northwest of the United States) and flat-slab subduction (which led to the formation of the Rocky Mountains a few tens of millions of years ago). Black arrows indicate the relative direction of movement of the oceanic plate.

Schematic showing magma storage beneath Yellowstone caldera. Nested calderas resulting from the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, Mesa Falls Tuff, and Lava Creek Tuff caldera forming eruptions are shown as solid black, green, and orange lines, respectively.

Vegetation history based on pollen records from three small lakes on different geological substrates in Yellowstone National Park.   Blue is open vegetation, light green is parkland, dark green is forest.  Top plot is from Slough Creek Pond, in a present grassland area dominated by glacial and lake sediment in the northeast part of Yellowstone Nationa

Modern vegetation on different geological substrates in Yellowstone.  Left: steppe/grassland on glacial clay found in places like Lamar and Hayden Valleys.  Center: Mixed conifer forest in the Absaroka andesite volcanic field in the eastern part of Yellowstone National Park.  Right: Lodgepole pine forest on Central Plateau rhyolite (hydrothermal grass

Graphic showing how InSAR detects ground deformation by measuring changes in the signal that bounces off the Earth. Figure by the EarthScope Consortium.

Bathymetric map of the West Thumb Basin showing numerous mapped active or inactive hydrothermal vent sites (small white circles) and sampled hot springs (white stars or larger white circles) and sediment cores (yellow diamonds).  The white-black line represents the 160,000-year-old West Thumb Caldera margin.  West Thumb Geyser Basin is near the southern en

Schematic summary of rhyolite eruptions in the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field over the past 1.3 million years. Smaller rhyolite eruptions are known intracaldera eruptions, meaning they occurred within existing caldera structures. Additional rhyolite eruptions that occurred outside the caldera are not included in the figure.

Benchmark C9, installed by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey (now the National Geodetic Survey) in 1923 near Apollinaris Spring in Yellowstone National Park.  The number stamped into the mark, “7337.580,” is the elevation in feet that was determined by surveys the year the benchmark was established.  USGS photo by Michael Poland, September 4, 2024.

High-resolution satellite images of Norris Geyser Basin showing the area of Porcelain Basin and Nuphar Lake (both images cover the same area).  In the left image, acquired on April 2, 2024, springs on Porcelain Terrace are full of water, and warm hydrothermal water is flowing into Nuphar Lake from the area circled in yellow.  This warm water kept the north

Photo of dead trees along the edge of Nuphar Lake.  The white staining at the base of the trees is a telltale sign that the trees were immersed in thermal water containing silica.  USGS photo by Mike Poland, September 1, 2024.

New steam vent at the base of a hill north of Nymph Lake, west of the highway and between Norris Geyser Basin and Roaring Mountain. USGS photo by Mike Poland, September 1, 2024.

Drew Robinson, a USGS hydrological technician, is putting a Rapid Deployment Gauge together for the Georgia Department of Transportation on Wednesday, August 7. He built the RDG and deployed it in Statesboro in the early evening. That RDG was used to help the local community experiencing bad floods on Lotts Creek.

(A) Photomicrograph of a quartz-hosted embayment from the Mesa Falls Tuff. “MI” indicates a glassy inclusion of melt within the crystal. (B) Thickness (in centimeters) and extent of the Mesa Falls ash flow deposit (pink areas) and its source, Henrys Fork Caldera (dashed line).  Figure by Kenneth Befus, University of Texas at Austin.

(A) Water distribution in a quartz-hosted embayment measured with synchrotron Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. Warmer colors indicate higher concentrations of water.  Dashed line shows a transect of water content that is modeled in panel (B) to indicate that the emplacement temperature of the ash flow deposit must have been about 500 °C (930 °F).

Shaded relief location map for the East Gallatin-Reese Creek fault system (EGRCFS) in northwest Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The location of the EGRCFS is shown as mapped in the U.S.

Lidar hillshade maps of fault scarps that offset Pinedale glacial till along the East Gallatin-Reese Creek fault system (EGRCFS) near Fawn Creek (A) and Panther Creek (B). Fault scarps are visible as darker lineaments in the hillshade and are marked by the black arrows. Red rectangles on inset maps show location along the EGRCFS.

Plot of size versus annual probability for hydrothermal explosion craters in Yellowstone National Park. The line is a model based on the energy required to form a crater of a specific size, and it is fit to known hydrothermal explosion craters in Yellowstone National Park.

Graph showing explosions recorded at Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin, Yellowstone National Park, during 2006 through 2016. Confirmed events refer to eruptions that were witnessed, recorded by temperature loggers, or inferred from their aftermath. Unconfirmed events refer to eruptions that were questionable or might have been misattributed to Black Diamond.

Mud pots form in a few selected areas of West Thumb Geyser Basin where low-pH acidic fluids dissolve rocks and soil to produce clay-rich muds.  USGS photo by Pat Shanks, 2024.