volcano <\/a>to ‘breathe’, according to scientists. <\/p>\nThey say new models show the cap to be regularly releasing small belches of gas that keep internal pressures stable and hold off an eruption.<\/p>\n
Based on the timing of previous explosions, scientists at the United States Geological Survey\u00a0predict\u00a0the risk of a Yellowstone super-eruption is about 0.00014% each year.<\/p>\n
If enough air was restricted in the\u00a0supervolcano’s ‘throat’, scientists believe a catastrophic explosion could follow. <\/p>\n
“For decades, we’ve known there’s magma beneath Yellowstone, but the exact depth and structure of its upper boundary has been a big question,”\u00a0Earth scientist Brandon Schmandt from Rice University explained.<\/p>\n
“What we’ve found is that this reservoir hasn’t shut down – it’s been sitting there for a couple million years, but it’s still dynamic.”<\/p>\n
Yellowstone Eruption Sends Tourists Running for Cover<\/p>\n
Using a new technique developed by Schmandt’s co-lead author Chenglong Duan, scientists sent vibrations into the ground to create a model of\u00a0layers in Earth’s crust.<\/p>\n
Duan\u00a0says the technique has provided the “first super clear images of the top of the magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone caldera.”<\/p>\n
The vibrations – seismic waves – flowed through the rock but began moving slowly, suggesting they were penetrating a muddy mixture of supercritical fluid and magma.<\/p>\n
This was located between 3km and 8km deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing such a strong reflector at that depth was a surprise,\u201d added Schmandt. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt tells us that something physically distinct is happening there \u2014 likely a buildup of partially molten rock interspersed with gas bubbles.\u201d<\/p>\n
But atop this reservoir is a “sharply defined top” – the cap. <\/p>\n
It is considered a ‘self-sealed’ lid because it is only slightly porous – meaning it can let out trace amounts of gases to release any pressure build up.<\/p>\n
Beneath the lid there appears to be supercritical water, which is heated and pressurised to a point where the line between liquid and gas blur. <\/p>\n
This process could result in an eruption, if not for the gradual cooling and crystallisation of the sludgy material in the upper crust which creates a minimally leaky magma cap.<\/p>\n
It looks like the system is venting gas – which is good news.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we detected a volatile-rich layer, its bubble and melt contents are below the levels typically associated with imminent eruption,\u201d Schmandt said. <\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, it looks like the system is efficiently venting gas through cracks and channels between mineral crystals, which makes sense to me given Yellowstone\u2019s abundant hydrothermal features emitting magmatic gases.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Brandon Schmandt (left) and Chenglong Duan (right)Credit: Linda Fries \/ Rice University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCIENTISTS have discovered a hidden lid that keeps the vast reservoir of magma beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[70,1897,16,15,31972,1899],"class_list":{"0":"post-68239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-section-techscience","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-volcanoes","13":"tag-weird-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114437975268128285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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