Yellowstone’s Dreaded Supervolcano Has an Unexpected Power Source, Study Says

Yellowstone’s Dreaded Supervolcano Has an Unexpected Power Source, Study Says

A new model suggests Yellowstone's underground magma is driven by tectonic forces that shape Earth's crust.

The Furnace Beneath Yellowstone: Scientists Discover the Supervolcano Is Fed by a Power Source Nobody Expected

For decades, the prevailing theory about what keeps Yellowstone’s supervolcano alive was straightforward enough: a massive plume of hot rock rising from deep within the Earth’s mantle, feeding the magma chamber beneath one of America’s most iconic national parks. That theory, it turns out, was incomplete. A new study published in the journal Science has found that Yellowstone’s volcanic system draws significant thermal energy not just from a dee…