Publications

Hydrothermal explosions are one of the geological hazards most likely to impact people in Yellowstone National Park, but their frequency is poorly known. Infrasound and seismic sensors identified an explosion in Norris Geyser Basin on 15 April 2024, at 14:56 MDT (20:56 UTC)—the first instrumentally detected hydrothermal explosion in the Yellowstone region. The event affected an area tens...

The Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field has a large magmatic system supplying heat and mass into the overlying hydrothermal system. To interpret changes in the composition and/or emission rates of hydrothermal fluids as possible indicators of volcanic unrest requires discriminating between magmatic, crustal, hydrothermal, and hybrid sources and processes. Significant progress in...

Renewable energy technologies rely on the extraction of metals not historically in high demand, such as lithium (Li), for which ore deposit models are incompletely understood. One of the world’s largest Li deposits is hosted in lake sediments of the 16.4 Ma McDermitt caldera, which formed during the early stages of Yellowstone hotspot volcanism in the western United States. Eruptive and

A multiscale magnetic survey of the northern basin of Yellowstone Lake was undertaken in 2016 as part of the Hydrothermal Dynamics of Yellowstone Lake Project (HD‐YLAKE)—a broad research effort to characterize the cause‐and‐effect relationships between geologic and environmental processes and hydrothermal activity on the lake floor. The magnetic survey includes lake surface, regional...

In the past two decades, the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service have studied hydrothermal activity across the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field (YPVF) to improve the understanding of the magmatic-hydrothermal system and to provide a baseline for detecting future anomalous activity. In 2017 and 2018 we sampled water and gas over a large area in the southwest YPVF and...

Recent activity has provided new insights into the causes of surface deformation in and around the Yellowstone Caldera, a topic that has been debated since the discovery of caldera floor uplift more than four decades ago. An episode of unusually rapid uplift (>15 cm/yr) centered near Norris Geyser Basin along the north caldera rim began in late 2013 and continued until a Mw 4.9...

Ion‐microprobe 206Pb/238U geochronology and trace element geochemistry of the unpolished rims and sectioned interiors of zircons from Yellowstone caldera's oldest post‐caldera lavas provide insight into the magmatic system during the prelude and aftermath of the caldera‐forming Lava Creek supereruption. The post‐caldera lavas compose the Upper Basin Member of the Plateau Rhyolite and...

Vapor‐dominated hydrothermal systems are characterized by localized and elevated heat and gas flux. In these systems, steam and gas ascend from a boiling water reservoir, steam condenses beneath a low‐permeability cap layer, and liquid water descends, driven by gravity (“heat pipe” model). We combine magnetic, electromagnetic, and geoelectrical methods and CO2 flux and subsurface...

The Greater Yellowstone Glacial System (GYGS) covered about 20,000 km2 at its maximum Pleistocene extent. The initiation, culmination, and ultimate decay of the GYGS involved complex interactions between several coalescent ice masses flowing from glacial source areas adjoining and including the Yellowstone Plateau. Here, we present an updated review of the history and dynamics of the...

As one of the most geochemically unique drill cores recovered within the Yellowstone–Snake River Plain (YSRP) province, the Sugar City geothermal test well was drilled into intra-caldera rhyolite lavas and tuffs erupted during the middle to late Pliocene and the resurgent basaltic volcanism erupted during the Pleistocene. This sequence parallels the two main stages proposed for YSRP...

The youngest major caldera-forming event at Yellowstone was the ~ 630-ka eruption of the Lava Creek Tuff. The tuff as mapped consists of two major ignimbrite packages (members A and B), linked to widespread coeval fall deposits and formation of the Yellowstone Caldera. Subsequent activity included emplacement of numerous rhyolite flows and domes, and development of two structurally...

Geysers provide a natural laboratory to study multiphase eruptive processes. We present results from a four–day experiment at Lone Star Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, USA. We simultaneously measured water discharge, acoustic emissions, infraredintensity, and visible and infrared video to quantify the energetics and dynamics of eruptions, occurring approximately every three hours...