Lava Creek Tuff

Extent of the Lava Creek ash bed.

Tuff Cliff showing the Lava Creek Tuff formation.

The Lava Creek Tuff is a tuff formation in Wyoming, created during the Lava Creek eruption around 631,000 years ago,^[1] which formed the Yellowstone Caldera.

The Lava Creek Tuff is distributed in a radial pattern around the caldera and is formed of 1000 km³ (240 mi³) of ignimbrites.

The tuff has been exposed by erosion at Tuff Cliff along the Gibbon River.

Lava Creek Tuff ranges in color from light-gray to pale red in some locales. Rock texture of the tuff ranges from fine-grained to aphanitic and is densely welded. The maximum thickness of the tuff layer is approximately 180–200 m (590–660 ft).

See also

• Snake River Plain
• Island Park Caldera
• Henry's Fork Caldera

References

1. Naomi E Matthews et al., 2015, "Age of the Lava Creek supereruption and magma chamber assembly at Yellowstone based on 40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb dating of sanidine and zircon crystals" DOI: 10.1002/2015GC005881

Bibliography

1. ^ "Undine Falls, Lava Creek, Yellowstone National Park". Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2005-09-16.
2. ^ Lisa Morgan. "Yellowstone Lake Geology Talk Transcript - The floor of Yellowstone Lake is anything but quiet: Volcanic and hydrothermal processes in a large lake above a magma chamber, February 10, 2004". Yellowstone Science Talks. Archived from the original on 2004-05-01. Retrieved September 16, 2005.
3. ^ "U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2816" (PDF). Retrieved September 16, 2005.