Is Yellowstone a super volcano?
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
In 2005, a BBC/Discovery docudrama entitled Supervolcano was released on cable television. The drama imagines the reaction of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory to a super eruption at the Yellowstone Caldera. Producer Ailsa Orr credits YVO scientists as inspiration for the film's three primary characters. The YVO Scientist-in-Charge reflected on the hype associated with volcanism at Yellowstone in a 2005 magazine article.
Yellowstone hotspot
The eastern Snake River Plain is a topographic depression that cuts across Basin and Range Mountain structures, more or less parallel to North American plate motion. Beneath more recent basalts are rhyolite lavas and ignimbrites that erupted as the lithosphere passed over the hotspot. Younger volcanoes that erupted after passing over the hotspot covered the plain with young basalt lava flows in places, including Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.