The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: "Scientists say there's no evidence that Yellowstone is poised for a powerful eruption, such as the one roughly 600,000 years ago that spewed massive amounts of lava and ash.
If the park were ready to blow, there would be several signs that magma was moving toward the surface.
Earthquakes would be more frequent and stronger.
The ground, while often rising and falling in Yellowstone, would most likely gradually rise.
And the chemistry of many geysers would change.
All of those things are constantly monitored by scientists involved with the Yellowstone Volcanic Observatory, or YVO, a long-running study of the park's volcanology.
If the park was poised for a major eruption, the precursors wouldn't be subtle, Heasler said.
'I doubt you'd need seismographs to know that changes were happening in Yellowstone,' he said.
Early signs of an impending outburst would be similar to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. Scientists knew something big was brewing under that peak months ahead of time, although they couldn't predict exactly how big or when the eruption was coming.
The current geologic activity in Yellowstone appears to be much closer to the surface than would be exhibited by magma flows. At such shallow depths, water heated by the earth is driving the changes.
'We're not searching for magmatic fluids,' said Bob Smith, a geologist at the University of Utah who has studied the park for three decades. 'We think this is a very shallow system.'"Here's another perspective on Yellowstone. I know Ed is hoping for a supervolcano, but we'll just have to wait and see for now.
If the park were ready to blow, there would be several signs that magma was moving toward the surface.
Earthquakes would be more frequent and stronger.
The ground, while often rising and falling in Yellowstone, would most likely gradually rise.
And the chemistry of many geysers would change.
All of those things are constantly monitored by scientists involved with the Yellowstone Volcanic Observatory, or YVO, a long-running study of the park's volcanology.
If the park was poised for a major eruption, the precursors wouldn't be subtle, Heasler said.
'I doubt you'd need seismographs to know that changes were happening in Yellowstone,' he said.
Early signs of an impending outburst would be similar to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. Scientists knew something big was brewing under that peak months ahead of time, although they couldn't predict exactly how big or when the eruption was coming.
The current geologic activity in Yellowstone appears to be much closer to the surface than would be exhibited by magma flows. At such shallow depths, water heated by the earth is driving the changes.
'We're not searching for magmatic fluids,' said Bob Smith, a geologist at the University of Utah who has studied the park for three decades. 'We think this is a very shallow system.'"Here's another perspective on Yellowstone. I know Ed is hoping for a supervolcano, but we'll just have to wait and see for now.
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