Yellowstone supervolcano may have
underwater magma 'anomaly,' researchers suggest
The Silex Spring in the Fountain Paint Pot area in
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart)
An underwater river or "fountain" of magma has been
located underneath the Yellowstone supervolcano. Despite fears that this could
trigger a major eruption in the near future, experts say it's not expected to
blow anytime soon.
According to a research paper published
in Nature this week, scientists Peter Nelson and Stephen Grand believe the
magma may stretch as far as Mexico.
The researchers describe "a single narrow, cylindrically
shaped slow anomaly, approximately 350 km in diameter that we interpret as a
whole-mantle plume," according to the study's abstract.
The scientists note the approximate length of the plume was made
"using the travel times of core waves recorded by the dense seismic
network."
Whether the plume could cause magma to rise in a vertical stream
is still unclear, the researchers added. They also noted the Yellowstone
hotspot itself, which is home to the famous bubbling springs, is also a source
of debate.
The researchers also indicate they've demonstrated the plume's
existence because the structure "gradually decreases in strength" as
it nears the surface and could have temperatures near the mantle of at least
650 degrees Celsius (1,202 degrees Fahreneheit), perhaps in excess of 850
degress Celsius (1,562 degrees Fahrenheit).
"Our results strongly support a deep origin for the
Yellowstone hotspot, and also provide evidence for the existence of thin
thermal mantle plumes that are currently beyond the resolution of global
tomography models," the researchers wrote.
Concerns have cropped up in recent memory, most notably in the
last week when Yellowstone experienced four mini-tremors, that the supervolcano
would erupt faster than initially thought.
However, any talk of it potentially wiping out life as we know
it is incorrect.
According to National
Geographic, researchers Hannah Shamloo and Christy Till analyzed
minerals in fossilized ash from the most recent eruption in the summer of 2017.
What they discovered surprised them – the changes in temperature and
composition only took a few decades, much faster than the centuries previously
thought.
Despite some sensationalist claims seen in the media, the
supervolcano is not expected to erupt anytime soon and if it did, the events
would not be catastrophic. "There's no reason to think it could impact
mass transport the way the Iceland eruption did nor would it have any effect on
crops," Till told Fox News in October 2017. "There is no evidence to
suggest it could destroy mankind."
The supervolcano last had a major eruption about 630,000 years
ago, Till added. Prior to that, the last major eruption was 1.3 million years
ago, per a report from ZME
Science. A smaller eruption, the most current on record, occurred
70,000 years ago.
Follow Chris Ciaccia on
Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia
