The Yellowstone Supervolcano Holds Way More Liquid Magma Than We Realized - ScienceAlert

In particular, they wanted to identify melt (magma in its liquid form), which is often used to predict eruptions by way of comparing current conditions to those that preceded prior eruptions.

"Although our results indicate that Yellowstone's magma reservoir contains substantial melt at depths that fueled prior eruptions, our study does not confirm the presence of an eruptible body or imply a future eruption," Maguire and colleagues write in their published paper.

Based on how the speed of the measured waves changes at different depths, the researchers estimated the mushy magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone has a partial melt fraction of between 16 percent and 20 percent, compared with previous models estimating 10 percent or less.

"The melt fraction we estimated is substantially lower than what would be expected if a large fraction of the Yellowstone reservoir were in the eruptible stage of its life cycle," write the researchers.