Gibbon Falls

Gibbon Falls. . , Cascading to the Caldera , This frothy veil of water plunges 84 feet (26 m), then tumbles toward the Yellowstone Caldera about ¼ mile (.4 km) downriver. As Gibbon Falls erodes the rock below, the waterfall forever grows higher and migrates farther from the rim of the caldera., Cradled by Tuff , Volcanic history surrounds you. When the Yellowstone volcano erupted about 640,000 years ago, untold volumes of volcanic ash spewed forth. Intense heat welded the mountains of ash into rock called Lava Creek tuff., The Gibbon River rushes toward you through a canyon of Lava Creek tuff. Tuff formed the hillsides high above the river. The road behind you cuts through a wall of tuff strewn with rocks that were deposited by the Yellowstone ice cap around 14,000 – 16,000 years ago., You cannot clearly see the caldera that formed when the Yellowstone Volcano erupted. Subsequent eruptions of underground magma oozed through cracks, spreading lava over the earth’s surface. Lava flowed and cooled for millennia, partially filling the caldera to create the landscape you see now., Were Are You? , ← If you travel south you move INTO the caldera. , → If you travel north you move AWAY from the caldera.