Yellowstone volcano WARNING: MAGMA HEAT build-up higher than previously thought
YELLOWSTONE volcano could be hiding a far greater underground deposit of magma and scorching heat than scientists have previously estimated, a new study has warned.
By SEBASTIAN KETTLEY
Express.co.uk
Wed, Jun 13, 2018
Yellowstone experts at Washington State University (WSU) and the University of Idaho have suggested scientists have so far underestimated how much heat Yellowstone is generating.
The startling claims come after the volcanologists examined a pool of basalt magma recharging the complex supervolcano.
According to Jerry Fairly, a geologist at the University of Idaho, the cache of molten rock below Yellowstone is the primary source for fuel for the National park’s hundreds of hot springs and geysers.
The Yellowstone volcano expert said: “All the heat that drives all the famous hot springs and geysers, ultimately all of that orientates in the mantle.”
Fellow geologist Peter Larson, WSU, added: “It is the coal in the furnace that is heating things up. It’s heating up the boiler.
“The boiler is what explodes. This tells us what is heating up the boiler.”
The two volcanologists “spiked” Yellowstone’s hot springs with a cocktail of deuterium, a stable hydrogen isotope sometimes known as “heavy water”.
The scientists then measured the amount of time it took the compound to surface and the temperature of the hot springs to calculate just how much water and heat was escaping out of the springs.
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