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(Top) Map of seismic and GPS station location deployed for the Yellowstone hotspot experiment. (Bottom) 3D isosurface image from tomographic reconstruction outlining a tilted low-velocity body, i.e. a mantle plume, extending WNS beneath the Yellowstone to resolved depths of 650 km, the bottom of the mantle transition zone.
A collaborative research project funded by the NSF Geodynamics Program with seismic monitoring supported by the IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center and GPS instrumentation supported by UNAVCO Facility.
The goal of this study is to evaluate the underlying source of the Yellowstone Hotspot and to geodynamically model its effect on the tectonics and topography of the western U.S. Yellowstone is characterized by 2 Ma caldera-forming volcanism at the NE end of a 800-km long 16 Ma track of volcanism across the Snake River Plain. This system is modeled by SW motion of the N. American plate across a mantle hotspot source hypothesized to be a plume. To evaluate the causative mechanism, two major field experiments were conducted. An 80-station 600 km x 500 km array of portable seismographs were deployed over two years, 2000-2002. Teleseismic data from this array provided high-resolution 3D Vp and Vs tomographic images that revealed a narrow low-velocity anomaly tilted west and extending from Yellowstone to 650 km depth. GPS data were acquired by 160 temporary deployed stations and 16 permanent stations that were used to assess caldera motions and regional kinematics. Together these data along with constraints from mantle return flow models have been employed to develop kinematic and geodynamical models of the system.
Date Taken: January 29, 2009 Photographer / Contributor: Robert B. Smith • University of Utah; Eugene Humphreys • University of Oregon; Paul Tackley • University of California, Los Angeles; Ken Dueker • University of Wyoming
