Want something a little bit different than your usual "here's the best hikes to go on" guide to a national park? The US Geological Survey publishes "Field Trip Guides" to many of the western national parks. These are intended for professional geologists, to guide them to places of interest. But if you are a rockhound, have a teenager curious about science, or just like a deep dive into natural history, you might enjoy using this to give you a few tips of things to look for in Yellowstone.
All the USGS publications are available as free downloads at pubs.er.usgs.gov, so I don't plan to copy a lot of them to MaM.
From the web
Yellowstone National Park, a nearly 9,000 km2 (~3,468 mi2) area, was preserved in 1872 as the world’s first national park for its unique, extraordinary, and magnificent natural features. Rimmed by a crescent of older mountainous terrain, Yellowstone National Park has at its core the Quaternary Yellowstone Plateau, an undulating landscape shaped by forces of late Cenozoic explosive and effusive volcanism, on-going tectonism, glaciation, and hydrothermal activity. The Yellowstone Caldera is the centerpiece of the Yellowstone Plateau.
The Yellowstone Plateau lies at the most northeastern front of the 17-Ma Yellowstone hot spot track, one of the few places on Earth where time-transgressive processes on continental crust can be observed in the volcanic and tectonic (faulting and uplift) record at the rate and direction predicted by plate motion.
Over six days, this field trip presents an intensive overview into volcanism, tectonism, and hydrothermal activity on the Yellowstone Plateau (fig. 1). Field stops are linked directly to conceptual models related to monitoring of the various volcanic, geochemical, hydrothermal, and tectonic aspects of the greater Yellowstone system. Recent interest in young and possible future volcanism at Yellowstone as well as new discoveries and synthesis of previous studies, (for example, tomographic, deformation, gas, aeromagnetic, bathymetric, and seismic surveys), provide a framework in which to discuss volcanic, hydrothermal, and seismic activity in this dynamic region.
Author(s): Lisa A. Morgan
Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 115
City: Reston
Preface
Contributing Authors
Abstract
The Yellowstone Hot Spot and Snake River Plain
Overview
Volcanism
Uplift
Faulting
The Yellowstone Magmatic and Hydrothermal System
Geologic History
Eruptive History of Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field (YPVF)
First-Cycle Volcanism
Second-Cycle Volcanism
Third-Cycle Volcanism
Precaldera Volcanism
Cataclysmic Caldera-Forming Volcanism
Postcaldera Volcanism (Plateau Rhyolite)
Upper Basin Member
Mallard Lake Member
Central Plateau Member
Extracaldera Volcanism
Obsidian Creek Member
Roaring Mountain Member
Present-Day Magmatic System and Crustal Structure
Glacial History
Thermal Areas and Hydrothermal Activity
Types of Geothermal Fluids
Alkaline-Chloride Waters
Acid-Sulfate Waters
Calcium-Carbonate Waters
Gas and Steam
Connection Between Geography and Thermal Area Type
Types of Thermal Features
Fumaroles
Mud Pots
Hot Springs
Geysers
Hydrothermal Explosions
Microorganisms Related to Thermal Features
Geologic History of Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Seismicity
Notable Periods of Unrest: 1985‒2015
Yellowstone National Park and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
Road Log
Day 1: Meet at Bozeman in the Late Afternoon (Fig. 1.)
Day 2: Bozeman to Old Faithful via West Yellowstone, Montana (Figs. 1, 28)
Stop 1a. Hebgen Lake Fault Scarp
Stop 1b. Earthquake Lake Visitor Center
Stop 2. Norris Geyser Basin
Stop 3. Tuff Cliff
Stop 4. Firehole Canyon
Stop 5. Midway Geyser Basin
Day 3: Old Faithful to Pitchstone Plateau and West Thumb Geyser Basin with Return to Old Faithful (Fig. 36)
Stop 6. Phantom Fumarole Trailhead and Pitchstone Plateau Flow
Stop 7. Grant Strainmeter/GPS Site
Stop 8. West Thumb Overlook Trail
Stop 9. West Thumb Geyser Basin
Stop 10. Upper Geyser Basin, Including Old Faithful and Geyser Hill
Old Faithful
Geyser Hill
Day 4: Old Faithful to Mary Bay and Elephant Back Mountain, with Return to Lake Village (Fig. 41)
Stop 11. Indian Pond, Storm Point, and Mary Bay
Indian Pond
Storm Point
Mary Bay
Stop 12. Elephant Back Mountain
Day 5: Lake Village to Mud Volcano, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Crater Hills, and Return to Lake Village (Fig. 41)
Stop 13. Mud Volcano (Fig. 41)
Stop 14. Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Stop 15. Crater Hills
Day 6: Lake Village to Caldera Overlook on Flanks of Mount Washburn, Calcite Springs Overlook, Lava Creek Tuff at Lost Creek, and Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces Finishing at Chico Hot Springs (Fig. 48)
Stop 16. Caldera Overlook at Mount Washburn (Figs. 48, 49)
Stop 17. Calcite Springs Overlook
Stop 18. Lava Creek Tuff at Lost Creek
Stop 19. Mammoth Hot Springs
References Cited
What You Need for the Field Trip
