Science Questions

What is happening with the Yellowstone supervolcano?

Can you just give us a quick update on the situation with Yellowstone? What’s happening there? Dave, Peterborough

Yellowstone is a huge system and between eruptions which generally happen every six hundred thousand years or so it’s not a dead system. Instead the magma chamber is inflating. Indeed, we can see that now at Yellowstone – a very slow rate of deformation - but it’s certainly inflating, preparing for its next eruption which probably won’t happen in our lifetime.

June 2008