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Magma intrusion and volatile ascent beneath Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
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  • Charles Wicks,
  • Daniel Dzurisin,
  • Jacob Lowenstern,
  • Jerry Svarc
Charles Wicks
U.S. Geological Survey

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Daniel Dzurisin
USGS
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Jacob Lowenstern
USGS
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Jerry Svarc
U.S. Geological Survey
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Abstract

Recent activity has provided new insights into the causes of surface deformation in and around the Yellowstone Caldera, a topic that has been debated since the discovery of caldera-floor uplift more than four decades ago. An episode of unusually rapid uplift (>15 cm/yr) centered near Norris Geyser Basin along the north caldera rim began in late 2013 and continued until a Mw 4.9 earthquake on 30 March 2014; thereafter, uplift abruptly switched to subsidence. Uplift at rates of several cm/yr resumed in 2016 and continued at least through the end of 2018. Modeling of Global Positioning System (GPS) and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data suggests an evolving process of deep magma intrusion during 1996-2001 followed by volatile ascent and accumulation at shallow levels, perhaps as shallow as a few hundred meters depth. The preferred deformation model in which the volatiles accumulated is a shallow uplifted (domed) reservoir. The depth of shallow volatile accumulation appears to have shallowed from the 2014 to the 2016 deformation episode, from 3.2 km depth to 1.8 km depth respectively, and frequent eruptions of Steamboat Geyser since March 2018 might be a surface manifestation of this ongoing process. Hydrothermal explosion features are prominent in the Norris Geyser Basin area, and the apparent shallow nature of the inferred volatile accumulation might represent an increased risk of hydrothermal explosions in the vicinity of Norris Geyser Basin.
Feb 2020Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth volume 125 issue 2. 10.1029/2019JB018208