The Yellowstone magmatic system from the mantle plume to the upper crust
Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2015 papers
Abstract
The Yellowstone supervolcano is one of the largest active continental silicic volcanic fields in the world. An understanding of its properties is key to enhancing our knowledge of volcanic mechanisms and corresponding risk. Using a joint local and teleseismic earthquake P-wave seismic inversion, we revealed a basaltic lower-crustal magma body that provides a magmatic link between the Yellowstone mantle plume and the previously imaged upper-crustal magma reservoir. This lower-crustal magma body has a volume of 46,000 cubic kilometers, ~4.5 times that of the upper-crustal magma reservoir, and contains a melt fraction of ~2%. These estimates are critical to understanding the evolution of bimodal basaltic-rhyolitic volcanism, explaining the magnitude of CO2 discharge, and constraining dynamic models of the magmatic system for volcanic hazard assessment.
Related Papers
- → Laboratory investigation of the interaction of off-axis mantle plumes and spreading centres(1995)76 cited
- → Thermal plume models and melt generation in East Africa: A dynamic modeling approach(2005)44 cited
- → The interaction between mantle plumes and lithosphere and its surface expressions: 3-D numerical modelling(2021)23 cited
- → Geodynamic experiments suggest that mantle plume caused Late Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province in Southern China(2020)9 cited
- → 10.1007/s11495-008-1003-3(2010)