Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the withdrawal of molten rock from twin
magma chambers on the rim of the Yellow-
stone caldera.
No one knows for sure what will happen if
(or when) Yellowstone's slumbering giant
awakens. The last major Yellowstone eruption
dwarfed every other volcanic eruption on the earth's surface for the past several million
years, and such an explosion remains beyond human experience. The bulging of magma
chambers on the rim of the Yellowstone caldera indicates that another eruption is likely
but scientists agree, not for at least another 10,000 years. A major eruption would un-
doubtedly destroy the park as we know it, and cause major climate change that would af-
fect human activity around the world.
Until then, enjoy the wondrous spectacle of Yellowstone's thermal features, and as you
gaze up at Old Faithful or down through a hot spring into the bowels of the earth, remem-
ber the awesome forces at work below the grandeur.
pers have decomposed as the glacier melts due to
global warming.
