The Physical Geography of Yellowstone National Park: What is Responsible for Yellow Stone's Volcanos?

There are two theories that have been used to explain the volcanic activity of Yellow Stone National Park: plate tectonics, and hot spots.

Plate tectonics is a theory that has been used to explain why our planet is shaped the way it is as well as the phenomenon that occurs on Earth’s land masses. The Yellow Stone area is no exception; an important aspect of the famous volcanic activity of the region can be explained by the theory of plate tectonics.

The Earth is comprised of several layers of different materials. The two most important layers to the plate tectonic theory are the Lithosphere, or crust, and the Asthenosphere which is the layer beneath the crust. The Asthenosphere is comprised of molten rock that. This rock is heated by the Earth’s core as the core heats the Asthenosphere currents of warmer material circulate with cooler material to create a liquid current just like in Earth’s oceans. This current causes the crust on top to move in different directions.

The crust of the Earth is not one solid piece of rock, rather different plates that our oceans and continents sit on. The boundaries of these plates are widely known for their volcanic activity, earthquakes mountain ranges, and under sea subduction zones. Yellow Stone however, does not sit on a plate boundary, so what could explain the volcanic activity here?

The hot spot theory builds on the idea of plate tectonics that explains how Yellow Stone was created. This theory says that as the continents drift there are areas of the Asthenosphere that are hotter, in these areas the molten rock can putrid through the crust of the Earth, causing a trail of volcanic activity.

Yellow Stone may not be known for a large cone volcano, like the one that created the island chain of Hawaii, but the hot spot that created Yellow Stone may be larger than Hawaii’s. The Yellow Stone volcano has had a series of large eruptions that are responsible for creating the Yellow Stone caldera. A caldera is a large area of land that has collapsed due to the force of a volcanic eruption.