Karissa Cordero / Earth & Environmental Sciences / Faculty Mentor: Nathan Brown
“The Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field hosts an active hydrothermal system that has produced some of the largest hydrothermal explosions in the world. Hydrothermal explosions occur when boiling water contained in shallow hydrothermal systems flashes to steam causing a violent release of water, steam, and rock. These hydrothermal explosions can be triggered by events such as seismic activity, pressure release due to deglaciation or draining of a subglacial lake. Yellowstone’s hydrothermal activity has been continuous through recent glaciations and has created a variety of phreatic craters throughout the volcanic field.
The ages of these craters are poorly constrained, especially from direct dating methods. We use luminescence dating as a part of a larger geochronological study to date explosion craters located in Yellowstone National Park. Here we focus on Pocket Basin, a large explosion crater that is surrounded by associated explosion breccias and debris. We present cooling ages for sediments that were at elevated temperatures in hydrothermal reservoirs prior to explosions events. We use single aliquot regenerative post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (post-IR IRSL) on K-feldspar and red thermoluminescence (RTL) on quartz to date the explosion events. Dating these hydrothermal explosions will provide insights into their triggering mechanisms and associated hazards.”
Cindy Lou Skipper
Awesome presentation Karissa!