This is just a routine introduction to Yellowstone Sundays — nothing special seems to be stirring, and in fact, the latest round of uplift at Norris paused in mid-January.
From that linked YVO article (but without all the cool hot links):
Should we be worried about a volcanic eruption?
No. This deformation is due to activity deep beneath the ground — well beneath the top of the magma chamber, which is about 3.8 kilometers (2.4 miles) beneath the surface. It is probably a common process in Yellowstone, but only in the past few decades has it been possible to detect such small deformation thanks to improvements in technology and monitoring networks.
Prior to any volcanic eruption, there would be dramatic increases in the rates of deformation and obvious shallowing of the deformation source, coupled with major increases in seismicity, as well as changes in gas emissions and thermal output. Yellowstone’s magma chamber is mostly solid, and a volcanic eruption is unlikely anytime soon. The most recent volcanic eruption occurred 70,000 years ago and was a lava flow that resulted in the formation of Pitchstone Plateau in the south part of Yellowstone National Park. The most likely geologic hazards on human timescales are strong tectonic earthquakes (like the M7.3 that occurred at Hebgen Lake in 1959) and hydrothermal explosions (like the July 23, 2024, explosion at Biscuit Basin).
It’s good to know that this large caldera system is monitored very, very closely. That lets us enjoy all the fun features — like geysers!
Live
Here is an hour-plus August 2025 walking tour through Norris Geyser Basin, which is outside and just north of the caldera rim:
Embedding does not mean endorsement of the company; this just came up on a YouTube search and looked interesting in terms of the Norris geysers.
Next…
What?
Under construction???!!!
Oh. Cool!
Welp, let’s head back to Norris and enjoy a geology talk then.
Next Sunday: More geysers!
For lagniappe:
In Iceland, the original:
The world used to be in black and white, but all that nuclear testing added color to it. Wait. April 1st was last week? Okay. Never mind.
Featured image: Carol Beverly/USGS, public domain. Yes, those are people down there.
Flight To Wonder 