UNM researchers make new discovery about Yellowstone National Park supervolcano

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UNM researchers make new discovery about Yellowstone National Park supervolcano

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 (KRQE) – It’s one of the world’s largest supervolcanoes, and recent work out of the University of New Mexico led to a breakthrough discovery that could help geoscientists better predict an eruption and save lives. “So it’s very satisfying to see that come to fruition,” said Tobias Fischer, Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM.

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Fischer teamed up with a colleague to investigate Yellowstone National Park’s volcanic system. “Professor Brandon Schmandt is really the person who started this project. He’s a geophysicist and he wanted to investigate the composition of the magma and where the magma is under Yellowstone, and especially how much volatiles are in the magma right now,” said Fischer.

Fischer said Yellowstone’s last volcanic eruption was about 70,000 years ago, and there is still an entire system sitting below the park today. “So the hydrothermal system has all these beautiful geysers and hot springs and mud pots that attract millions of people a year to see the park and see these features,” said Fischer.

Last August, KRQE News 13 reported on a “localized” hydrothermal explosion that happened at the national park.

The team’s study led them to look at earthquakes they produced themselves with a big thumper truck. “With that detailed geophysical study, they can make a very nice CT scan essentially of what’s under Yellowstone, and they discovered that there is a really gas-rich, volatile-rich cap on top of the magma chamber,” said Fischer.

Fischer said that when volcanoes erupt, they are driven by new magma coming into the system. They use samples from Yellowstone on a machine in one of UNM’s labs to learn more. “As magma rises towards the surface, gases like water and CO2 exalt from that magma at shallower levels,” said Fischer.

Those gases migrate up to the surface and then eventually accumulate at some depth. The group found exactly where that accumulation happens, allowing them a better picture at what’s taking place right under our feet. “So it’s a very detailed image of the quantity of water, the quantities of pores, the quantities of magma, and where exactly it sits under Yellowstone and how big it is,” said Fischer.

Fischer said the Yellowstone system is similar to the Valles Caldera in New Mexico. Although Valles Caldera is smaller, it’s a super volcano that produced large eruptions roughly a million years ago.

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