A GEOLOGIC-GIS DATABASE FOR THE YELLOWSTONE-TETON VOLCANIC AND TECTONIC REGION

The Yellowstone-Teton volcano-tectono system is centered on the youthful Yellowstone volcanic field and is the thermal source of Yellowstone's over 10,000 hydrothermal features. This region is also characterized by concentrated zones of seismicity having experienced historic earthquakes as large as M7.5 that extend south on the Teton fault and west on the Hebgen Lake fault. The Yellowstone volcanic/tectonic system has experienced three giant silicic caldera-forming eruptions 2, 1.3 and 0.6 Ma years ago. Moreover, seismic tomography reveals a mid-crustal magma chamber that is fed by molten rock from an upper mantle plume which extends from ~650 km depth to the base of the lithosphere. In addition crustal deformation from high quality GPS measurements show that the Yellowstone Plateau is deforming at rates of several mm per year and changing from crustal expansion to contraction over decadal periods. Dynamics of the Yellowstone system drive its seismicity, crustal deformation and hydrothermal systems. Over the last decade, extensive geologic and geophysical data have been acquired on the active volcano-tectono processes of this system. The University of Utah, with support of GEON, is building a multidimensional GIS database that will serve as a central web site for geological, geophysical and geographical information of the Yellowstone region. The website (http://yellowstonegis.gg.utah.edu/~Farrell) provides online, near-realtime information for the visitor, researcher, general public, students, and emergency managers maintaining our long term outreach and educational goals. To assist with the visualization of some datasets, such as seismicity, tomographic imaging, GPS deformation, geodynamic models, etc., various visualization tools have been employed to provide 3D data representation. Since this region is constantly changing the datasets are updated continuously providing true 4D information.