Lava Creek Tuff

Extent of Lava Creek ash bed.

Tuff Cliff showing the Lava Creek Tuff formation.

Lava Creek Tuff is a tuff formation, in Wyoming, created when the Yellowstone Caldera erupted about 640,000 years ago.

The Lava Creek Tuff distributed in a radial pattern around the caldera and is formed of 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cu mi) of ash in pyroclastic flows.

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. Density of the tuff ranges from fine-grained to aphanitic and is densely welded. Thickness of the tuff layer ranges from 180–200 m (590–660 ft).

See also

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

References

1. ^ "Undine Falls, Lava Creek, Yellowstone National Park". Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/images/20010519-082_caption.html. 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. http://web.archive.org/web/20040501035126/http://www.nps.gov/yell/nature/sciencetalks/transcriptmorgan1.htm. Retrieved September 16, 2005. 
3. ^ "U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2816" (PDF). http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/websites/pubsusgsgovproducts/pubs.usgs.gov/sim/2004/2816/2816_508.pdf. Retrieved September 16, 2005.