Future volcanism at Yellowstone caldera: Insights from geochemistry of young volcanic units and monitoring of volcanic unrest

[摘要] In order to understand possiblefuture scenarios of intracaldera volcanism atYellowstone, we provide new insights on the generation and eruption of theyoungest intracaldera rhyolitic magmas using quartz petrography, geochemistry, andgeobarometry. We propose that magma ascent occurred rapidly from the source regionsat 8–10 km to the surface along major regionalfaults, without storage at shallower depths. These source regions coincidewith the upper parts of the present-day imaged magma chamber, while the faults focusmuch of the present-day caldera unrest. Based on these combined observations, wepropose that volcanism has a higher probability to resume in three fault-controlledNNW-trending lineaments, the first coinciding with the western caldera rim, thesecond lying across the central region of the caldera, and the third extending across the northeastern caldera. The firsttwo lineaments focused recent intracaldera volcanism (174–70 ka), while thelatter is the most active in terms of current caldera unrest. Future volcanism couldinclude large-volume lava flows and phreato-magmatic rhyolitic eruptions. The identificationof these three regions together with potentially rapid eruptive mechanisms may helpto better define future monitoring efforts necessary to improve eruption forecastingin this vast area of volcanic unrest.

[学科分类] 地质学

[关键词] Fire safety;fatal fires;smoke alarms