Damon01
Newbie
Posts: 3
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« on: January 14, 2012, 10:15:46 pm » |
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According to the popular definition the answer is no. Volcanoes that erupt regularly are called active, those that have erupted in historical times but are now quiet called dormant, and those that have not erupted in historical times called extinct. As the last Yellowstone eruption was 600,000 years ago Yellowstone seems extinct.
However, volcanologists call a volcano extinct only if the volcano does no longer have a magma chamber filled with a lava supply. But the Yellowstone does have an active magma chamber.
The Yellowstone Caldera is at least 2 million years old and hasn't erupted violently for approximately 640,000 years, although there has been some lesser activity more recently, with hydrothermal eruptions less than 10,000 years ago and lava flows about 70,000 years ago. For this reason, scientists do not consider the Yellowstone Caldera extinct, but only dormant.
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