{"id":464323,"date":"2026-02-12T14:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/464323\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:22:09","slug":"yellowstones-supervolcano-is-creating-a-19-mile-bulge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/464323\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellowstone\u2019s supervolcano is creating a 19-mile bulge"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Yellowstone National Park<\/a>, a bulge the size of 279 football fields has risen by an inch since last July. With no signs of slowing down, the bump that\u2019s roughly 19 miles across may cause some worry that the iconic locale\u2019s hibernating supervolcano<\/a> is readying for an apocalyptic reawakening. Although impressed by the situation, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory\u2019s scientist-in-charge doesn\u2019t sound particularly worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty stunning even if it\u2019s not particularly unusual,\u201d Mike Poland recently explained to Cowboy State Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This particular example of uplift or deformation is occurring at the northern rim of Yellowstone Caldera in northwest Wyoming. However, it\u2019s far from the first time researchers documented the geological occurrence. The most recent instance spanned around 16 years before wrapping up in 2020. In 1996, yet another deformation took place over four years. These events aren\u2019t visible to the average park visitor, but they can be dramatic when viewed by highly sensitive seismological equipment and other observational tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can see things that are moving up and away from this area of uplift on radar maps and satellites we use to measure this sort of thing,\u201d said Poland, adding that his team monitors the park with 17 GPS stations that help determine where the uplift started.<\/p>\n

While the chance for an eruption is extremely low, the supervolcano is still likely to blame. A 2025 study from the United States Geological Survey<\/a> determined that Yellowstone\u2019s magma chamber currently contains a low amount of molten rock, but there is still enough for some activity. Poland theorizes the bulging is owed to an \u201caccumulation and withdrawal\u201d of magma about nine miles below the Earth\u2019s surface. If an eruption was in the cards, the deformation would also be much shallower. Poland says that since there is a known magma chamber, it is \u201cnot surprising that there\u2019s stuff moving around down there.\u201d<\/p>\n

If anything, last year was particularly calm for Yellowstone. The park annually experiences an average of 1,500 to 2,500 earthquakes, but scientists recorded only 1,119 earthquakes in 2025. So while the bump may continue to rumble for years to come, it\u2019s just Yellowstone being its same, wondrous self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Yellowstone National Park, a bulge the size of 279 football fields has risen by an inch since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[212182,216249,14890,216248,216245,79,216246,216247,216244],"class_list":{"0":"post-464323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-cowboy-state","9":"tag-deformation","10":"tag-earthquakes","11":"tag-magma-chamber","12":"tag-mike-poland","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-supervolcano","15":"tag-united-states-geological-survey","16":"tag-yellowstone-volcano"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}