Images

Schematic cartoon of an idealized rhyolite lava flow with structures identified. Figure modified from Sweetkind et al. (2015) [https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20155022]. 

Eruptions between 1064 and 1067 AD produced three lava flows that covered 8 km² (3 mi²) and a field of scoria and spatter that covers 2300 km² (890 mi²). Archeological evidence shows that there were communities of people living in the area who were impacted by the eruption.

Data from GPS station AB53 near the peak of a mountain on Mitkof Island, Alaska, including measured snow depth down at the base of the mountain. Notice how the North (top), east (second from the top), and vertical (third from the top) positions are impacted by the presence of snow. This is an extreme example of the influence of snow on GPS data.

Map of the Heart Mountain slide block. From Mitchell et al., 2015 ("Catastrophic emplacement of giant landslides aided by thermal decomposition: Heart Mountain, Wyoming." Earth and Planetary Science Letters 411: 199-207), modified from Anders et al. (2010).

(Left) Sample of the Pitchstone Plateau rhyolite flow, which erupted about 72,000 years ago, making it is the youngest rhyolite at Yellowstone. The blocky white crystals in this sample are the mineral sanidine, whereas the rounded crystals are quartz.

Big Southern Butte, Idaho.  The butte is among the largest rhyolite domes in the world and is located in the eastern Snake River Plain. Photo by James Neeley, BLM (https://flic.kr/p/CsA4TV).

Lava Mountain, Wyoming.  (A) View from Dubois, WY, in the Wind River basin looking northwest ~30 km toward Lava Mountain.

Lidar coverage of the Hebgen and Red Canyon faults collected in 2014. Magenta lines show fault scarps mapped by USGS geologists shortly after the 1959 earthquake. Yellow lines show fault scarps interpreted from lidar data 55 years after the earthquake.

Schematic cross section of the magmatic and hydrothermal systems underlying Yellowstone Caldera, showing magmatic volatiles emitted during crystallization of the rhyolitic magma and/or from basalt intrusions or convection, and the hypothesized relation with earthquake swarms on the caldera margins.  The exsolved fluids accumulate at lithostatic pressures in the

Frosted trees in the Fairy Falls area of Yellowstone National Park near the Firehole River.  National Park Service photo by Annie Carlson, 2014.

The contact (red arrow) between Huckleberry Ridge Tuff ignimbrite members A and B is marked by a time break of probably weeks to a month or so.

Titanium tubed used to collect gas from a fumarole near Lassen Peak, California.

A mud pot in the Obsidian Pool Thermal Area, near Mud Volcano. The large amounts of suspended sediment make the thermal water much more viscous than pure water. Photo by Shaul Hurwitz, September 2014.

Example model output of possible ash distribution from a month-long Yellowstone supereruption. Results vary depending on wind and eruption conditions. Historical winds for January 2001 used here.

Beryl Spring's strongly boiling blue pool is about 8 m (25 ft) wide and contains high-chloride liquid water with a near-neutral pH. Immediately behind the pool is a loud, hissing fumarole producing a white cloud of steam. USGS Photo by Pat Shanks, 2002.

Record section showing horizontal component seismograms from stations in the Yellowstone region from the M4.8 earthquake that occurred near Norris Geyser Basin on March 30, 2014.  The vertical blue dashed line represents the origin time of the earthquake at 12:34:39.16 UTC.  The red line represents the P-wave arrival with a velocity of ~5.7 km/s.  The

3-component seismograms from station YHB for the M4.8 earthquake that occurred near Norris Geyser Basin on March 30, 2014, and showing the P-wave arrival pick (red) and the S-wave arrival pick (green) as determined by UUSS analysts.  The vertical blue dashed line represents the origin time of the earthquake at 12:34:39.16 UTC.

Station map showing seismograph stations used in the location of the M4.8 earthquake that occurred near Norris Geyser Basin on March 30, 2014.  The yellow star shows the earthquake epicenter.  Red triangles represent seismograph stations with a P-wave arrival pick.  Green triangles represent seismograph stations with both a P-wave and a S-wave arrival

Seismograms of the magnitude 4.8 earthquake that occurred in Yellowstone on March 30, 2014, as recorded by seismometers at station YNR near Norris Geyser Basin.  Top: Seismogram recorded on the accelerometer, which stayed on scale during the shaking.  Bottom: “Clipped” seismogram recorded on the broadband seismometer, which went off scale during the shakin

Telemetry system of the Yellowstone Seismic Network operated by the University of Utah Seismograph Stations.  Black arrows show analog telemetry and pink arrows show digital telemetry.  The green line is the boundary of Yellowstone National Park.

Top: Examples of some of the photos taken from helicopter over Mammoth Hot Springs in September 2013. Photos taken by Hank Heasler. Bottom: Hill-shade image calculated from the 2013 DEM over Mammoth Hot Springs and that was derived from a series of overlapping photos using Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry.