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 activity in Yellowstone National Park has been nearly continuous throughout the recent glaciations and has resulted in explosion craters throughout the volcanic field.
However, the ages of these craters remain poorly constrained, limiting our understanding of their recurrence intervals and associated hazards. Using luminescence dating, we have characterized luminescence signals from K-feldspar and quartz grains that compare well with an independently dated Mary Bay explosion. Single aliquot regenerative post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence dating of K-feldspar grains and red thermoluminescence dating of quartz grains are used to date these explosions. These measurements produce cooling ages for sediments that experienced elevated temperatures in hydrothermal reservoirs prior to the explosions. Here we focused on two craters, one without previous geochronologic constraints (Pocket Basin) and one (Mary Bay) with a previously determined radiocarbon age as a control on method accuracy. Dating these hydrothermal explosions could provide insights into their triggering mechanisms and associated hazards, allowing for better risk assessments and monitoring strategies to protect against future hazardous events.
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