Yellowstone's Lava Flow GeologyAug 1-4, 2007. We are staying in Grizzly RV-Park in West Yellowstone, Montana just out the west gate of Yellowstone National Park. We stayed in a different site every night because we did not have reservations and at this time of year they are FULL. The only way we got to stay there for 4-nights was to move into cancellation sites. The rates range from around $37 to $47 depending on a variety of things but generally back in sites were cheaper than pull-thru sites. Then they charge $4 for wifi. I suppose the pull-thru sites are a bit larger so the BIG rigs would probably be forced into one of them. Grizzly is a nice park, the nicest campground in the area. Bottom line is if you are planning to visit WEST YELLOWSTONE during July thru Aug-15 you need a reservation as every campground in the area is FULL. After August 15 you can have your choice of campgrounds with no reservations.
Yellowstone National Park is one of the world's largest, most explosive, and most unusual volcanoes. The molten rock several miles beneath Yellowstone affects everything in the park---the landscape, the wildlife, and even the climate. Madison Plateau Giant Lava Flow above the Madison River
The Madison River on the west side of Yellowstone flows between thousand foot high walls of the Madison Plateau, which oozed thick and viscous after the eruption and collapse of the great Yellowstone caldera, 600,000 years ago. Generally, in central Yellowstone forest cover the lava flows, while meadows cover the sand and gravel left by glaciers in the low places (ie. in the valleys and river bottoms) between the lava flows. All the rock you see in this picture is a giant lava flow.
Yellowstone does not look like a familiar cone shaped volcano. However, a volcano is any place where molten rock, called magma, rises from within the Earth and erupts onto the surface. Yellowstone's three caldera eruptions were devastating. The smallest of those eruptions was 280 times larger than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. During that recent eruption, ash and rock were hurled at hurricane speeds, mudflows were triggered that traveled up to 90 miles per hour, and powerful winds snapped giant trees like matchsticks.
Basalt from a lava flow
This solid basalt cliff hugs Grand Loop Road in the northeastern part of the park. This basalt was formed from a lava flow.
Columnar Basalt
The speed with which lava cools can determine the type of rock that is formed. In this instance the cooling lava has formed columnar basalt.
Columnar basalt cap rock protecting a thick layer of glacial moraine
The cliff wall on the other side of the Yellowstone River near Tower Falls has some interesting geology. A thick layer of columnar basalt provides a cap over an even thicker layer of glacial moraine (river rock or cobblestones if you will) that appears to be around 50 feet thick.
Glacial moraine covered by a thick layer of columnar basalt
This is a closer look at the thick layer of glacial moraine covered by that thick layer of columnar basalt.
A kiosk indicated that the lava flow across the river is 25 feet deep and was deposited 1.3 million years ago. The kiosk indicates there is a loose mix of gravel (river rock/cobblestones) carried here by glacial melt water on top of the columnar basalt. I can see earth on top of the basalt layer but I can not identify it as cobblestones from this distance. If that be the case then the deep deposit of glacial debris was in place before the lava welled up and flowed over the debris field. Then another glacier formed and deposited yet another layer of glacial debris on top.
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Mike & Joyce Hendrix
Mike & Joyce Hendrix who we are We hope you liked this page. If you do you might be interested in some of our other Travel Adventures: Mike & Joyce Hendrix's home page Travel Adventures by Year ** Travel Adventures by State ** Plants ** Marine-Boats ** Geology ** Exciting Drives ** Cute Signs ** RV Subjects ** Miscellaneous Subjects
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