History

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Volcanos erupt all over Yellowstone National Park. About 30 different rhyolite lava flows erupted after the most recent eruption that happened to the Yellowstone caldera. More frequent eruptions consist of basalt and rhyolite. The eruptions that occur are separated in time by several tens of thousands of years. Volcanic activity began in the Yellowestone Natonal Park region a little before about million years ago. The first eruption that occured in the Yellowstone caldera was about 2.1 million years ago. The huge blast removed so much magma from its subsurface storage reservoir that the ground above it collapsed into the magma chamber and left a gigantic depression in the ground [a hole larger than the state of Rhode Island]. The most recent volcanic eruption consisted of rhyolitic lava flows that erupted approximately 70,000 years ago. The largest of these eruptions formed the Pitchstone Plateau in southwestern Yellowstone National Park. This Volcano is one of largest and most active volcanoes in the world. This huge caldera fits into the history and culture around it because in Yelllowstone there are many other large moutains or calderas.