Yellowstone National Park, centered in the northwest corner of Wyoming, was America’s first national park, established in 1872, but the story of Yellowstone’s current landscape starts just over 2 million years ago with a series of terrific volcanic eruptions that triggered the collapse of the volcanoes and formation of calderas—large, basin-like depressions.
Yellowstone Lake occupies the youngest caldera that formed in the last big eruption about 600,000 years ago. The volcanic activity and geothermal features in Yellowstone are attributed to the presence of a hot spot, or upwelling of hot mantle material deep below the park, and as long as that subterranean heat source lasts, Yellowstone’s landscape will continue to evolve.
Photo: Yellowstone geyser. Photo by the author.
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