What supervolcano caldera lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in the United States?

The Yellowstone Caldera is the supervolcano caldera beneath Yellowstone National Park in the United States.

It is a vast volcanic depression created by enormous eruptions, rather than a classic cone-shaped mountain. The modern Yellowstone Caldera formed after an eruption about 631,000 years ago, when the collapse of the ground followed the removal of magma from the underlying system.

Yellowstone has also experienced two earlier major caldera-forming eruptions. The Huckleberry Ridge eruption occurred about 2.1 million years ago, and the Mesa Falls eruption occurred about 1.3 million years ago. These events helped create the large volcanic system beneath the park.

The word “supervolcano” is a popular descriptive term, not a formal volcano type. Yellowstone is not considered overdue for an eruption, and its many geysers and hot springs mainly reflect heat and groundwater circulation in the active geothermal system.