New paper in Geology

Linking rapid magma reservoir assembly and eruption trigger mechanisms at evolved Yellowstone-type supervolcanoes

J.-F. Wotzlaw, I.N. Bindeman, K.E. Watts, A.K. Schmitt, L. Caricchi, U. Schaltegger

Caldera-forming eruptions of supervolcanoes such as Yellowstone and Toba release hundreds to thousands of cubic kilometres of pyroclastic material. We here show that the magma reservoirs that feed such eruptions can be assembled within a few thousand years by amalgamation of several smaller isolated sub-reservoirs. This assembly process also causes a rapid increase in buoyancy overpressure, potentially sufficient to trigger such eruptions.