Scientists Discover Colossal Magma Chamber Under Yellowstone Park [VIDEO]

Scientists recently discovered two magma chambers beneath the supervolcano that dominates most of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Based on a report and video by i4u, researchers at the University of Utah used seismic tomography to create a complete image of the volcanic system at Yellowstone Park. Seismometers were used to measure the noise of earthquakes to take a kind of sonogram of the Earth's crust. Magma chambers are interpreted by researchers, discovering the second reservoir in the process.

They discovered the giant reservoir of hot and partially molten rock 12 to 28 miles under the supervolcano. It was 4.4 times bigger compared to the magma chamber that has been found and known for several years. The second magma reservoir was so big that it can effectively fill up the Grand Canyon, which spans 1,000 cubic miles, 11.2 times. The first magma chamber can fill the Grand Canyon 2.5 times.

One of the researchers, Hsin-Hua Huang, said in a report by UNews, "For the first time, we have imaged the continuous volcanic plumbing system under Yellowstone. That includes the upper crustal magma chamber we have seen previously plus a lower crustal magma reservoir that has never been imaged before and that connects the upper chamber to the Yellowstone hotspot plume below."

The magma chamber and magma reservoir are actually not full of molten rock, as generally believed. The rock is hot, sponge-like and mostly solid, containing pockets of molten rock inside. The new study showed that the upper magma chamber has an average of about nine percent molten rock, while the lower magma reservoir has an average of about two percent molten rock.

Farrell added, "The magma chamber and reservoir are not getting any bigger than they have been, it's just that we can see them better now using new techniques."

ScienceMag reported that the supervolcano at Yellowstone last erupted 640,000 years ago. It also erupted 1.3 million and 2.1 million years ago. Based on a report by the United States Geological Survey, the probability of a supervolcano eruption at the park in any given year is very low, as shown in computer models. Such an eruption would result to cataclysmic results, covering most of North America in volcanic ash. However, the annual chance is 1 in 700,000.

Fan-Chi Lin, a co-author in the stud, said, "It gives us a better understanding the Yellowstone magmatic system. We can now use these new models to better estimate the potential seismic and volcanic hazards."