Scientists discover massive magma chamber beneath Yellowstone supervolcano
There's enough magma beneath Yellowstone National Park to fill the Grand Canyon almost 14 times.
Researchers have discovered a previously unknown magma reservoir below the supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park. The chamber, which is about 28 miles beneath the earth's surface, contains about 11,200 cubic miles of magma, Smithsonian reports. Before the new findings, scientists only knew about the 2,500 cubic miles of magma in an upper chamber beneath the volcano.
Scientists from the University of Utah discovered the chamber by creating a 3D map of the ground beneath the volcano, using earthquake data. The researchers hope that studying the chamber will help scientists better understand the timing of the volcanic cycle and magma's movements.
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There's still much to be learned about the hotspot, but the chances of the supervolcano erupting are only one in 700,000 each year. The last time Yellowstone's supervolcano erupted was about 640,000 years ago.
