https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Around 631,000 years ago—a geological blink of an eye—catastrophe unfolded in what is now northwestern Wyoming, U.S. During what is thought to have been a series of immense volcanic eruptions, life within hundreds of kilometers of the blasts was shattered. Ash was dispersed across much of North America, and the effects were felt worldwide. This was a super-eruption of the massive volcanic system located in what is now Yellowstone National Park. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-humanity-blowbyblow-account-yellowstone-supervolcano.html Earth Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 10:40:06 EDT news709205583 Volcanoes emit smoke. Beneath a volcano lies a huge chamber filled with liquid magma. A series of earthquakes means an eruption is imminent. And if a "supervolcano" like Yellowstone were to awaken, a global catastrophe would be upon us. These are images and ideas that regularly crop up in news reports, documentaries and on social media. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-volcano-myths-unravel-plumes-yellowstone.html Earth Sciences Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:00:05 EDT news706348561 How can magma buried 5, 10, or even 15 km underground be detected without any surface indicators? The answer lies in ambient noise tomography, a technique that analyzes natural ground vibrations with high precision. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources (CNR-IGG), and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) has identified a vast reservoir containing approximately 6,000 km3 of magma beneath Tuscany. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-super-magma-reservoirs-beneath-tuscany.html Earth Sciences Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:40:03 EDT news695377589 A lot of research goes into determining how to best predict the next eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Part of this involves pinning down how the magma migration system functions and evolves over time. The exact mechanism driving Yellowstone's volcanism and how magma travels from deep within Earth to the surface is still debated, but a new study, published in Science, offers up evidence that Yellowstone's underground magma system is largely driven by tectonics. This is in contrast with some previous theories which posit that a deep mantle plume is the main source of magma. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-yellowstone-magma-plumbing-tectonic-deep.html Earth Sciences Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:20:01 EDT news695041316 Supereruptions are extremely large volcanic eruptions that eject more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of magma, rock and ash. They are among the most hazardous geological events on Earth and have profound impacts on the environment, climate, and human society. For this reason, understanding the subsurface processes behind supereruptions is essential for improving volcanic hazard assessments and mitigating risks. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-yellowstone-magma-source-closer-thought.html Earth Sciences Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:40:01 EDT news695039043 The magma reservoir of the largest volcanic eruption of the Holocene is refilling. This Kobe University insight on the Kikai caldera in Japan allows us to understand giant caldera volcanoes like Yellowstone or Toba more generally and gets us closer to predicting their behavior, too. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-japan-giant-caldera-volcano-refilling.html Earth Sciences Fri, 27 Mar 2026 06:00:08 EDT news693739024 Rhinos that flourished across much of North America 12 million years ago gathered in huge herds, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-evidence-prehistoric-rhinos-huge-herds.html Ecology Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:37:03 EDT news663341821 Some 252 million years ago the world was going through a tumultuous period of rapid global warming. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-volcanic-bombardment-ancient-australia-world.html Earth Sciences Tue, 10 May 2022 09:38:57 EDT news571394331 Scientists say it is extremely challenging to try and predict when a supervolcano might erupt again due to the sheer diversity of events that have gone before. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-eruption-supervolcanoes.html Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Jul 2021 08:58:15 EDT news546595087 A swarm of more than 141 earthquakes is rattling Yellowstone National Park, geologists said. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-yellowstone-rattled-swarm-earthquakes-day.html Earth Sciences Mon, 19 Jul 2021 11:10:16 EDT news545911810 The question of what happens in the atmosphere when a supervolcano erupts, has concerned scientists in atmospheric chemistry and meteorology for a while. Now, a research team from UiO, GEOMAR, NCAR, and MPI-M have worked together and come closer to an answer. They present their new findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-supervolcano-eruption-periodic-tropical-stratosphere.html Earth Sciences Mon, 29 Mar 2021 09:02:18 EDT news536227336 Supervolcanoes are one of Mother Nature's deadliest phenomena, and when they erupt, they can change the climate of the entire planet. https://phys.org/news/2018-07-platinum-evidence-ancient-volcanic-related-climate.html Earth Sciences Tue, 31 Jul 2018 07:04:49 EDT news452239462 Researchers at Washington State University and the University of Idaho have found a new way to estimate how fast magma is recharging beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano. While their findings offer no help in predicting if the volcano will erupt, they can now get a better understanding of a key factor—a pool of basalt magma recharging the system—in how it works. https://phys.org/news/2018-06-magma-beneath-yellowstone-supervolcano.html Earth Sciences Mon, 04 Jun 2018 15:46:18 EDT news447345970 Concern over the potential imminent eruptions of Earth's supervolcanoes, like Taupo in New Zealand or Yellowstone in the United States, may be quelled by the results of a new study suggesting that geological signs pointing to a catastrophic eruption would be clear far in advance. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-ample-supervolcano-eruptions.html Earth Sciences Mon, 30 Apr 2018 12:43:08 EDT news444310967 Using supercomputer modeling, University of Oregon scientists have unveiled a new explanation for the geology underlying recent seismic imaging of magma bodies below Yellowstone National Park. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-scientists-decipher-magma-bodies-yellowstone.html Earth Sciences Mon, 16 Apr 2018 17:26:32 EDT news443118373 A new geological record of the Yellowstone supervolcano's last catastrophic eruption is rewriting the story of what happened 630,000 years ago and how it affected Earth's climate. This eruption formed the vast Yellowstone caldera observed today, the second largest on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2017-10-yellowstone-spawned-twin-super-eruptions-global.html Earth Sciences Thu, 26 Oct 2017 03:34:47 EDT news428207671 ETH researchers show that magma chambers under supervolcanoes are more like soggy sponges than reservoirs of molten rock. Before a volcano of this kind erupts, such mush must slowly be reactivated by heat input following deep magma recharge ultimately derived from the Earth's mantle. https://phys.org/news/2017-10-magma-chambers-sponge-like.html Earth Sciences Thu, 05 Oct 2017 08:00:06 EDT news426408655 Most of the lithium used to make the lithium-ion batteries that power modern electronics comes from Australia and Chile. But Stanford scientists say there are large deposits in sources right here in America: supervolcanoes. https://phys.org/news/2017-08-supervolcanoes-key-america-electric-future.html Earth Sciences Wed, 16 Aug 2017 05:00:05 EDT news422077410 New study shows the importance of large reservoirs in creating Earth's most powerful volcanic eruptions and explains why they are so rare https://phys.org/news/2017-06-magma-reservoirs-key-volcanic-eruptions.html Earth Sciences Fri, 02 Jun 2017 09:45:20 EDT news415615509 Researchers have now found an explanation for what triggered the largest volcanic eruption witnessed by mankind. The volcano's secret was revealed by geochemical clues hidden inside volcanic quartz crystals. https://phys.org/news/2017-01-triggered-largest-volcanic-eruption-witnessed.html Earth Sciences Thu, 26 Jan 2017 08:19:31 EST news404641165 Geophysical monitoring of the ground above active supervolcanoes shows that it rises and falls as magma moves beneath the surface of the Earth. Silica-rich magmas like those in the Yellowstone region and along the western margin of North and South America can erupt violently and explosively, throwing vast quantities of ash into the air, followed by slower flows of glassy, viscous magma. https://phys.org/news/2016-06-scientists-gain-supervolcano-insights-wyoming.html Earth Sciences Thu, 02 Jun 2016 08:43:39 EDT news384075809 Understanding the complex geological processes that form supervolcanoes could ultimately help geologists determine what triggers their eruptions. A new study using an advanced computer model casts doubt on previously held theories about the Yellowstone supervolcano's origins, adding to the mystery of Yellowstone's formation. https://phys.org/news/2016-02-widely-theory-yellowstone-formation.html Earth Sciences Wed, 10 Feb 2016 13:25:54 EST news374333143 Supervolcanoes, massive eruptions with potential global consequences, appear not to follow the conventional volcano mechanics of internal pressure building until the volcano blows. Instead, a new study finds, such massive magma chambers might erupt when the roof above them cracks or collapses. https://phys.org/news/2015-11-supervolcanoes-triggered-externally.html Earth Sciences Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:16:30 EST news365868968 The discovery of a fiber-reinforced, concrete-like rock formed in the depths of a dormant supervolcano could help explain the unusual ground swelling that led to the evacuation of an Italian port city and inspire durable building materials in the future, Stanford scientists say. https://phys.org/news/2015-07-volcanic-resembling-roman-concrete-uplift.html Earth Sciences Thu, 09 Jul 2015 14:00:15 EDT news355655136 We've long known that beneath the scenic landscapes of Yellowstone National Park sleeps a supervolcano with a giant chamber of hot, partly molten rock below it. https://phys.org/news/2015-07-stopwatch-volcanic-eruptions.html Earth Sciences Wed, 01 Jul 2015 18:44:34 EDT news354995065 University of Utah seismologists discovered and made images of a reservoir of hot, partly molten rock 12 to 28 miles beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano, and it is 4.4 times larger than the shallower, long-known magma chamber. https://phys.org/news/2015-04-scientists-deeper-yellowstone-magma.html Earth Sciences Thu, 23 Apr 2015 14:00:04 EDT news349011587 The 2010 eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull grounded thousands of air flights and spread ash over much of western Europe, yet it was puny compared to the eruption 200 years ago of Tambora, a volcano that probably killed more than 60,000 people in what is now Indonesia and turned summer into winter over much of the Northern Hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2015-03-200th-anniversary-tambora-eruption-volcanic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 31 Mar 2015 10:07:19 EDT news347015230 Yellowstone National Park are fighting viral rumors of an impending, cataclysmic eruption of a mega volcano slumbering at the US Western preserve known for its geothermal features. https://phys.org/news/2014-04-yellowstone-mega-eruption-experts.html Earth Sciences Sun, 27 Apr 2014 06:48:51 EDT news317800122 (Phys.org) —As with many things in nature, it helps to understand the past when trying to predict the future. https://phys.org/news/2014-03-yellowstone-supervolcano-erupt-million-years.html Earth Sciences Wed, 26 Mar 2014 07:24:31 EDT news315037409 Devastating supervolcanoes can erupt simply due to changes that happen in their giant magma chambers as they slowly cool, according to a new study. This finding marks the first time researchers have been able to explain the mechanism behind the eruptions of the largest volcanoes on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2014-01-earth-devastating-super-volcanoes-erupt.html Earth Sciences Tue, 14 Jan 2014 08:40:01 EST news308908239