Yellowstone

Google Earth Placemark
  • Country
  • Subregion Name
  • Volcano Type
  • Last Known Eruption
  • 2805 m
    9200 ft
  • 44.430°
  • -110.670°
  • Elevation
  •  
  • Latitude
  • Longitude

There are no activity reports for Yellowstone.



 Available Weekly Reports


There are no Weekly Reports available for Yellowstone.

Summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

Start Date Stop Date Eruption Certainty VEI Evidence Activity Area or Unit
1350 BCE ± 200 years Unknown Confirmed   Radiocarbon (corrected) Indian Pond crater (N of Yellowstone Lake)
3050 BCE (?) Unknown Confirmed   Tephrochronology Duck Lake, Evil Twin Craters (West Thumb)
6050 BCE (?) Unknown Confirmed   Tephrochronology Elliott's Crater (Yellowstone Lake)
7400 BCE ± 1000 years Unknown Confirmed   Radiocarbon (corrected) Turbid Lake (NE of Yellowstone Lake)

The Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field developed through three volcanic cycles spanning two million years that included some of the world's largest known eruptions. Eruption of the >2450 cu km Huckleberry Ridge Tuff about 2.1 million years ago created the more than 75-km-long Island Park caldera. The second cycle concluded with the eruption of the Mesa Falls Tuff around 1.3 million years ago, forming the 16-km-wide Henrys Fork caldera at the western end of the first caldera. Activity subsequently shifted to the present Yellowstone Plateau and culminated 640,000 years ago with the eruption of the >1000 cu km Lava Creek Tuff and the formation of the present 45 x 85 km caldera. Resurgent doming subsequently occurred at both the NE and SW sides of the caldera and voluminous (1000 cu km) intracaldera rhyolitic lava flows were erupted between 150,000 and 70,000 years ago. No magmatic eruptions have occurred since the late Pleistocene, but large hydrothermal eruptions took place near Yellowstone Lake during the Holocene. Yellowstone is presently the site of one of the world's largest hydrothermal systems including Earth's largest concentration of geysers.