Images

Melt inclusions (<50 micrometers in diameter) in a quartz crystal from the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, erupted 2.1 million years ago. Photomicrograph taken by Behnaz Hosseini at Montana State University.

Schematic of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff magma storage configuration, consisting of discrete batches of magma. Analyzing the compositions of melt inclusions can help paint this type of big picture of the magmatic system. Figure modified from Myers et al. (2016).

Map of the locations of water samples collected in and around Yellowstone National Park and detailed in the USGS Data Release "Historic Water Chemistry Data for Thermal Features, Streams, and Rivers in the Yellowstone National Park Area, 1883-2021." Colors indicate type of water sample.

Vertical motion at GPS station P720, near the Slough Creek Campground in the northeast part of Yellowstone National Park, clearly shows a large annual cycle.

Histogram showing the number of earthquakes per 3-month period (quarter) in the Yellowstone region during 1973–2023.  Red bars represent all earthquakes located in the area, and blue bars indicate swarm seismicity.

Map of Yellowstone earthquakes that were located during 1973-2023. Red circles are earthquakes located in the Yellowstone region, and blue circles indicate swarm seismicity.  The size of the circle scales with the magnitude of the earthquake.

Map of areas predicted as having conditions favorable for fostering a hydrothermal system in the western United States.  Black dots are mapped hydrothermal systems.  From Mordensky et al., 2023 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0375650523000160).

Trigger Action Response Plan (TARP) for the Yellowstone River Bridge replacement project.  The plan gives three levels of response for various conditions that might be encountered during drilling of bridge footings.  The level of severity is indicated by the colors, with green being least severe and red being most severe.

Map of seismicity (red circles) in the Yellowstone region during 2023. 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.

Infrasound-array processing for the newly installed station YNB, at Norris Geyser Basin. Top panel shows the pressure waveform from one of the three elements that comprise the array, filtered between 1 and 15 Hz. Bottom panel shows the backazimuth from the station to the source.

Thermal imagery from near Beryl Spring showing heat from a buried pipe that vents steam from the concrete containment box built in1962 around a spring that opened in the adjacent roadbed in 1942. National Park Service photo by Erin Dundas, November 8, 2023.

Flagg Ranch exposure showing lower unknown ignimbrite (ash flow), the Lava Creek Tuff (LCT) ash fall deposit, and upper ignimbrite of the LCT. Thanks to work by Montana State University geologists, it is now known that the unknown ignimbrite was deposited immediately prior to the ash fall, with no significant time gap in between.

Photo of ash-fall deposit of the Lava Creek Tuff overlying the lower “unknown” ignimbrite (an ash-flow unit, denoted by light yellow box).  Images of quartz-hosted melt inclusions show fully “baked” (dark) melt inclusions in the lowest ash fall layers (1–2).

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) photograph of a diatom on a lodgepole pine needle from Upper Geyser Basin. A 10 micrometer (µm) scale is shown at the bottom of the image (slightly less than the width of human hair).

River levels and vertical deformation of Yellowstone caldera during 2016–2022.  River level (blue) was measured at the Corwin Springs gaging station on the Yellowstone River, just north of Yellowstone National Park.  Vertical deformation (red) is from the WLWY GPS station on the east side of Yellowstone caldera.  The GPS data indicate overall subsiden

Map of Yellowstone caldera showing the locations and ages of the most recent rhyolite eruptions at Yellowstone, the Central Plateau Member rhyolites. Unit boundaries are from Christiansen (2001).

Photograph of Panel Discussion at USGS ASIST Project Open House related to Drought Issues in Tribal Lands in and near the Colorado River Basin, held at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 26, 2023

Bison in Yellowstone National Park. USGS photo by Jennifer Lewicki, September 20, 2023.

A view of the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring from the vantage point of the Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. 

A picturesque shot of the sun setting while driving through north Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

A rainbow rises over Ledge Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. "Ledge is the second largest geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin, capable of shooting water 125 feet into the air. Because it erupts at an angle, however, the water will sometimes reach the ground 220 feet away." - NPS