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Since 1.25 Ma, three volcanic systems in the western U.S. Cordillera hosted rhyolitic eruptions of ≳300 km3 dense rock equivalent creating the Yellowstone (0.63 Ma), Long Valley (0.76 Ma), and Valles (1.25 Ma) calderas. Their similar time scales since caldera-forming eruptions and rich histories of seismic research motivate a review of seismic constraints on the modern magma reservoirs beneath these calderas from the uppermost mantle to the upper crust. Across the Cordillera upper mantle seismic velocities are generally below the continental average and each of the calderas is underlain by exceptionally low velocities consistent with the presence of mantle melt, ≲3%. Concentrated upper mantle low-velocity anomalies are found beneath the eastern Snake River plain southwest of Yellowstone caldera and beneath Long Valley caldera. Valles caldera is located above a broadly distributed low-velocity anomaly associated with the Rio Grande Rift and Jemez volcanic lineament. At lower crustal depths potential magma reservoirs exhibit weaker seismic velocity anomalies and greater variability among the results of different tomographic inversion methods compared to shallower depths. At middle-to-upper crustal depths, ~5–15 km, seismic tomography provides evidence of magmatic reservoirs beneath all three calderas, and scattered wave imaging supports sharp upper, lateral, and/or lower boundaries of each inferred magma reservoir. Estimates of average melt fractions in these reservoirs vary from ~9–23% based on recent tomography, with localized melt fraction estimates as high as ~30–60% based on sharp interfaces detected by scattering and ray bending analyses. The wide range of inferred melt fractions likely results from contrasting sensitivities of different seismic imaging methods combined with spatially heterogeneous melt fractions and uncertainties in mapping seismic velocities to silicate melt fractions. Seismic radial anisotropy beneath Yellowstone and Long Valley calderas indicates that middle-to-upper crustal reservoirs are organized as sill complexes with relatively crystal-poor and crystal-rich layers, suggesting magma storage in many weakly connected volumes. Future estimates of (an)isotropic seismic velocities and melt fractions across 3D reservoirs may be improved through expanded applications of full waveform tomography to body and surface waves and increasingly dense array studies facilitated by combinations of broadband and rapidly-deployable shorter-period seismographs. Advanced seismic imaging offers potential for improved delineation of magma reservoir boundaries and constraints on intra-reservoir structures such as sill complexes that provide insight into magma reservoir mechanics and compositional heterogeneity.

Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is the tallest active geyser on Earth and is believed to have hydrologic connection to Cistern Spring, a hydrothermal pool ~100 m southwest from the ge...

The 18 March 2020 M 5.7 Magna earthquake near Salt Lake City, Utah, offers a rare glimpse into the subsurface geometry of the Wasatch fault system—one of the world’s longest active norm...

We investigated upper crustal structure with data from a dense seismic array deployed around Mount St. Helens for two weeks in the summer of 2014. Inter-station cross-correlations of ambient seismic noise data from the array were obtained and clear fundamental mode Rayleigh waves were observed between 2.5 and 5 s periods. In addition, higher-mode signals were observed around 2 s period. Frequency-time analysis was applied to measure fundamental mode Rayleigh wave phase velocities, which were used to invert for 2-D phase velocity maps. An azimuth-dependent travel time correction was implemented to mitigate potential biases introduced due to an inhomogeneous noise source distribution. Reliable phase velocity maps were only obtained between 3 and 4 s periods due to limitations imposed by the array aperture and higher-mode contamination. The phase velocity tomography results, which are sensitive to structure shallower than 6 km depth, reveal a ~10-15% low-velocity anomaly centered beneath the volcanic edifice and peripheral high-velocity anomalies that likely correspond to cooled igneous intrusions. We suggest that the low-velocity anomaly reflects the high porosity mixture of lava and ash deposits near the surface of the edifice, a highly fractured magmatic conduit and hydrothermal system beneath the volcano, and possibly a small contribution from silicate melt.

The intense unrest of the Yellowstone volcanic plateau is manifested through diffuse seismic activity, earthquake swarms, and episodes of complex surficial deformation that have been related to magmatic fluid transfer in the upper crust over the past several decades. While past studies have focused on modeling contemporary geophysical data, there has not been a fully-integrated evaluation of seismicity, fault kinematics, and stress field. Here we analyze a catalog of 10,201 relocated earthquakes recorded between 2010 and 2016 and determine 224 well-constrained double-couple focal mechanisms. The majority of the focal mechanisms (65%) are associated with the 2010 Madison Plateau seismic swarm. The focal mechanisms are predominantly strike-slip with subordinate normal faulting mechanisms. Possible causes of this predominance and of the concurrence of both kinematics are here discussed, in order to unravel the influence of magmatic processes such as past sill intrusions. The earthquake catalog has been analyzed in terms of location, time, and kinematics according to the phases of surficial deformation documented by GPS data in order to identify systematic patterns of deformation and has been compared to the 1988–2009 seismicity. The continuous downwarping of the overburden from 2010 to 2016 was accomodated by structural adjustment of the shallow crust through strike-slip motions on a multitude of scattered small fault planes. Furthermore, the predominance of strike-slip faulting during seismic swarms occurs when the fluid overpressure induces horizontal propagation of vertical fractures with strike-slip motions, followed by horizontal fluid flow.

The Yellowstone volcanic field has experienced three of Earth's most explosive volcanic eruptions in the last 2.1 Ma. The most recent eruption occurred 0.64 Ma forming the 60 km long Yellowstone caldera. We have compiled earthquake data from the Yellowstone Seismic Network from 1984 to 2011 and tomographically imaged the three-dimensional P wave velocity (Vp) structure of the Yellowstone volcanic system. The resulting model reveals a large, low Vp body, interpreted to be the crustal magma reservoir that has fueled Yellowstone's youthful volcanism. Our imaged magma body is 90 km long, 5–17 km deep, and 2.5 times larger than previously imaged. The magma body extends ~15 km NE of the caldera and correlates with the location of the largest negative gravity anomaly, a −80 mGal gravity low. This new seismic image provides important constraints on the dynamics of the Yellowstone magma system and its potential for future volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

[1] Over the past several decades, the Yellowstone caldera has experienced frequent earthquake swarms and repeated cycles of uplift and subsidence, reflecting dynamic volcanic and tectonic processes. Here we examine the detailed spatial-temporal evolution of the 2010 Madison Plateau swarm, which occurred near the northwest boundary of the Yellowstone caldera. To fully explore the evolution of the swarm, we integrated procedures for seismic waveform-based earthquake detection with precise double-difference relative relocation. Using cross correlation of continuous seismic data and waveform templates constructed from cataloged events, we detected and precisely located 8710 earthquakes during the 3 week swarm, nearly 4 times the number of events included in the standard catalog. This high-resolution analysis reveals distinct migration of earthquake activity over the course of the swarm. The swarm initiated abruptly on 17 January 2010 at about 10 km depth and expanded dramatically outward (both shallower and deeper) over time, primarily along a NNW striking, ~55° ENE dipping structure. To explain these characteristics, we hypothesize that the swarm was triggered by the rupture of a zone of confined high-pressure aqueous fluids into a preexisting crustal fault system, prompting release of accumulated stress. The high-pressure fluid injection may have been accommodated by hybrid shear and dilatational failure, as is commonly observed in exhumed hydrothermally affected fault zones. This process has likely occurred repeatedly in Yellowstone as aqueous fluids exsolved from magma migrate into the brittle crust, and it may be a key element in the observed cycles of caldera uplift and subsidence.

We evaluated properties of Yellowstone earthquake swarms employing waveform multiplet analysis. Thirty-seven percent of the earthquakes in the Yellowstone caldera occur in multiplets and generally intensify in areas undergoing crustal subsidence. Outside the caldera, in the Hedgen Lake tectonic area, the clustering rate is higher, up to 75%. The Yellowstone seismicity follows a succession of two phases of earthquake sequence. The first phase is defined between swarms. It is characterized by a decay of clustering rate and by foreshock–aftershock sequences. The second phase is confined to swarms and is characterized by an increase in clustering rate, and dominant aftershock sequences. This phase reflects tectonic swarms that occur on short segments of optimally oriented faults. For example, the largest recorded swarm in Yellowstone occurred in autumn 1985 on the northwest side of the Yellowstone Plateau which was initiated as a tectonic source sequence. Fitting experimental dependence of fluid injection with intrusion migration suggests that the 1985 swarm involved, after 10 days, hydrothermal fluids flowing outward from the caldera. The 2008–2009 Yellowstone Lake swarm exhibited a high migration rate of 1 km/day, a decrease in clustering rate without a main-shock, and appears to be associated with magma injection of 1 to 5 m 3 /s in a succession of migrating magma fronts that incrementally solidify and fracture at its brittle edges. The 2010 Madison Plateau earthquake swarm on the west side of the caldera initiated as a tectonic sequence but the expansion of the swarm front was associated with hydrothermal fluid migration.

The Yellowstone volcanic field, Yellowstone National Park, is one of the most seismically active areas of the western U.S., experiencing the deadly 1959 M 7.5 Hebgen Lake, MT, earthquake adjacent to the 0.64-Ma caldera, as well as more than 30,000 earthquakes from 1973 to 2007. This well-recorded seismic activity offers the opportunity to study the temporal and spatial occurrence of earthquakes and extensive earthquake swarms and how they relate to active volcanic and tectonic processes. We characterize the distribution of earthquakes by analyzing the rate of occurrence characterized by the b -value. To accurately determine b -values, the earthquake catalog was filtered to identify statistically time- and spatially-dependent related events, defined as swarms, from independent single main and aftershocks. An algorithm was employed that identified 69 swarms for 1984–2006 based on inter-event times and spatial clustering. The swarms varied in duration from 1 to 46 days with the number of events varying from 30 to 722 with magnitudes of − 1.2 to 4.8. All of the swarm events as well as the 597 events triggered by the 2002 Denali fault, AK, earthquake were removed from the catalog for analysis. The catalog data were then filtered for a magnitude of completeness ( M COMP ) of 1.5 and the b -value distribution for the Yellowstone region was determined with the de-swarmed data. b -values ranged from 0.6 ± 0.1 to 1.5 ± 0.05 with the highest values associated with the youthful 150,000-year old Mallard Lake resurgent dome. These variations are interpreted to be related to variations in stresses accompanying the migration of magmatic and hydrothermal fluids. An area of high b -values (up to 1.3 ± 0.1) associated with the Hebgen Lake fault zone west of the Yellowstone caldera could be related to the transport of magmatic fluids out of the Yellowstone volcanic system or could be indicative of a relative low stress regime resulting from the stress release by the Hebgen Lake earthquake. An area of low b -values (0.6 ± 0.1) south of the Yellowstone caldera is interpreted as evidence of a relatively higher stress regime associated with an area of dominantly extensional stress. This seismicity was associated with a nearly 90° change in the principal stress axes direction to northeast-southwest, compared to east-west within the Yellowstone caldera, and may be influenced by buoyancy loading by the Yellowstone hotspot.

Earthquakes of the Teton–Yellowstone region represent a high level of seismicity in the Intermountain west (U.S.A.) that is associated with intraplate extension associated with the Yellowstone hotspot including the nearby Teton and Hebgen Lake faults. The seismicity and the occurrence of high slip-rate late Quaternary faults in this region leads to a high level of seismic hazard that was evaluated using new earthquake catalogues determined from three-dimensional (3-D) seismic velocity models, followed by the estimation of the probabilistic seismic hazard incorporating fault slip and background earthquake occurrence rates. The 3-D P -wave velocity structure of the Teton region was determined using local earthquake data from the Jackson Lake seismic network that operated from 1986–2002. An earthquake catalog was then developed for 1986–2002 for the Teton region using relocated hypocenters. The resulting data revealed a seismically quiescent Teton fault, at M L , local magnitude > 3, with diffuse seismicity in the southern Jackson Hole Valley area but notable seismicity eastward into the Gros Ventre Range. Relocated Yellowstone earthquakes determined by the same methods highlight a dominant E–W zone of seismicity that extends from the aftershock area of the 1959 (M S surface wave magnitude) 7.5 Hebgen Lake, Montana, earthquake along the north side of the 0.64 Ma Yellowstone caldera. Earthquakes are less frequent and shallow beneath the Yellowstone caldera and notably occur along northward trending zones of activity sub-parallel to the post-caldera volcanic vents. Stress-field orientations derived from inversion of focal mechanism data reveal dominant E–W extension across the Teton fault with a NE–SW extension along the northern Teton fault area and southern Yellowstone. The minimum stress axes directions then rotate to E–W extension across the Yellowstone caldera to N–S extension northwest of the caldera and along the Hebgen Lake fault zone. The combination of accurate hypocenters, unified magnitudes, and seismotectonic analysis helped refine the characterization of the background seismicity that was used as input into a probabilistic seismic hazards analysis. Our results reveals the highest seismic hazard is associated with the Teton fault because of its high slip-rate of approximately 1.3 mm/yr compared to the highest rate of 1.4 mm/yr in southern Yellowstone on the Mt. Sheridan fault. This study demonstrates that the Teton–Yellowstone area is among the regions highest seismic hazard in the western U.S.

The Yellowstone caldera began a rapid episode of ground uplift in mid-2004, revealed by Global Positioning System and interferometric synthetic aperture radar measurements, at rates up to 7 centimeters per year, which is over three times faster than previously observed inflation rates. Source modeling of the deformation data suggests an expanding volcanic sill of ∼1200 square kilometers at a 10-kilometer depth beneath the caldera, coincident with the top of a seismically imaged crustal magma chamber. The modeled rate of source volume increase is 0.1 cubic kilometer per year, similar to the amount of magma intrusion required to supply the observed high heat flow of the caldera. This evidence suggests magma recharge as the main mechanism for the accelerated uplift, although pressurization of magmatic fluids cannot be ruled out.

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.

The M w 7.9 earthquake that struck central Alaska on 3 November 2002 was preceded 11 days earlier by an Mw 6.7 strike-slip foreshock on 23 October 2002. Both events were predominantly strike-slip and ruptured structures associated with the Denali fault system. Previous studies have shown that the mainshock began with failure on a relatively small northeast-striking reverse fault, before breaking out for 300 km of right-lateral strike-slip rupture. Aftershock patterns suggest that the fore- shock ruptured a region west of the mainshock, which began near the eastern extent of the foreshock sequence and proceeded east-southeast. To constrain and to quantify source duration and directivity effects, we examine surface-wave displacement seis- mograms and use an empirical Green's function (EGF) to isolate and explore main- shock rupture kinematics. Our particular interest lies in large-amplitude focussing caused by directivity. We observe Love and Rayleigh wave amplification of two orders of magnitude in the period range from 10 to 33 sec. These remarkable directivity-enhanced surface waves triggered small earthquakes more than 3000 km from the mainshock rupture.

[1] Geodetic measurements of Yellowstone ground deformation from 2006 to June 2010 reveal deceleration of the recent uplift of the Yellowstone caldera following an unprecedented period of uplift that began in 2004. In 2006–2008 uplift rates decreased from 7 to 5 cm/yr and 4 to 2 cm/yr in the northern and southwest caldera, respectively, and in 2009 rates further reduced to 2 cm/yr and 0.5 cm/yr in the same areas. Elastic-dislocation modeling of the deformation data robustly indicates an expanding sill at ∼7–10 km depth near the top of a seismically imaged, crystallizing magma reservoir, with a 60% decrease in the volumetric expansion rate between 2006 and 2009. Reduction of hydrothermal-volcanic recharge from beneath the northeast caldera and seismic moment release of the 2008 and 2010 large earthquake swarms are plausible mechanisms for decelerating the caldera uplift and may have influenced the change in recent caldera motion from uplift to subsidence.

[1] Yellowstone National Park experienced an unusual earthquake swarm in December–January, 2008–2009 that included rapid northward migration of the activity at 1 km per day and shallowing of the maximum focal depths from 12 to 2 km beneath northern Yellowstone Lake. The swarm consisted of 811 earthquakes, 0.5 < MW < 4.1, aligned on a N–S 12-km-long vertical plane of hypocenters. The largest earthquake of the swarm had a 50% tensile crack-opening source determined by a full waveform inversion that we interpret as a magmatic expansion component. In addition, GPS data revealed E–W crustal extension coincident with the swarm. Modeling of GPS and seismic data is consistent with E–W opening of ∼10 cm on a N–S striking vertical dike. Our interpretation is that the swarm was induced by magmatic fluid migration or propagation of a poroelastic stress pulse along a pre-existing fracture zone.

Integration of geophysical and geological data show that the Yellowstone hotspot resulted from a mantle plume interacting with the overriding North America plate, a process that has highly modified continental lithosphere by magmatic and tectonic processes and produced the 16-17 Ma, 700-km-long Yellowstone-Snake River Plain (YSRP) silicic volcanic system. Accessibility of the YSRP allowed large-scale geophysical projects to seismically image the hotspot and evaluate its kinematic properties using geodetic measurements. Seismic tomography reveals a crustal magma reservoir of 8% to 15% melt, 6 km to 16 km deep, beneath the Yellowstone caldera. An upper-mantle low-P-wave-velocity body extends vertically from 80 km to 250 km beneath Yellowstone, but the anomalous body tilts 60 °WNW and extends to 660 km depth into the mantle transition zone. We interpret this conduit-shaped low-velocity body as a plume of up to - 3.5% Vp and - 5.5% Vs perturbation that corresponds to a 1-2% partial melt. Models of whole mantle convection reveal eastward upper-mantle flow beneath Yellowstone at relatively high rates of 5 cm/yr that deflects the ascending plume into its west-tilted geometry. A geodynamic model of the Yellowstone plume constrained by Vp and Vs velocities and attenuation parameters suggests low excess temperatures of up to 120 K, corresponding to a maximum 2.5% melt, and a small buoyancy flux of 0.25 Mg/s, i.e., properties of a cool, weak plume. The buoyancy flux is many times smaller than for oceanic plumes, nonetheless, plume buoyancy has produced a ~ 400-km-wide, ~ 500-m-high topographic swell centered on the Yellowstone Plateau. Contemporary deformation derived from GPS measurements reveals SW extension of 2-3 mm/yr across the Yellowstone Plateau, one-fourth of the total Basin-Range opening rate, which we consider to be part of Basin-Range intraplate extension. Locally, decadal episodes of subsidence and uplift, averaging ~ 2 cm/yr, characterize the 80-year Yellowstone caldera monitored history and are modeled as hydrothermal-magmatic sources. Moreover a recent episode, 2004-2009, of accelerated uplift of the Yellowstone caldera at rates up to 7 cm/yr has been modeled as resulting from magmatic recharge of a 10-km-deep sill at the top of the crustal magma reservoir. Regionally, gravitational potential energy of the Yellowstone swell drives the lithosphere southwest and “downhill” from the Yellowstone Plateau 400 km where it coalesces with Basin-Range province-wide westward extension. Based on the geometry and its assumed 660 km depth, we extrapolate the plume source southwest to its original location at 17 Ma and 600 km southwest and 200 km north of the YSRP. Importantly, this location is beneath the southern part of the Columbia Plateau flood basalt field of the same age and implies that the Yellowstone mantle plume may be the common source for both of these large volcanic fields. Our time-progression model suggests that the original plume head rose vertically behind the Juan de Fuca plate, but at ~ 12 Ma it lost the protection of the subducting plate from eastward mantle flow and encountered cooler, thicker continental lithosphere, becoming entrained in eastward upper-mantle flow. These results reveal that Yellowstone plume-plate processes have had a profound effect on Late Cenozoic geologic evolution and topography of a large part of the western U.S.