<html> <body> No--the first to postulate that Yellowstone was part of a hot spot track was Jason Morgan (1972) in his classic paper where he compiled an inventory of hot spots around the world (W.J. Morgan, 1972, Plate motions and deep mantle convection:  Geological Society of America Memoir 132, p. 7-22).  This was followed by another classic paper by Armstrong, Leeman, and Malde, 1975, K-Ar dating, Quaternary and Neogene volcanic rocks of the Snake River Plain, Idaho:  American Journal of Science, v. 275, p. 225-251. I should also note that there is considerable debate as to whether Yellowstone is the product of a hot spot and many prominent researchers have argued it is not.  Their papers include: Christiansen, R.L., Foulger, G.R., Evans, J.R., 2002. Upper mantle origin of the Yellowstone hotspot.  GSA Bulletin 114, 1245-1256.  Humphreys, E.D., Dueker, K.G., Schutt, D.L., Smith, R.B., 2000. Beneath Yellowstone: Evaluating plume and nonplume models using teleseismic images of the upper Mantle.  GSA Today, 10, p. 1-6.    I suggested Pierce and Morgan, 1990, 1992 as a reference in that it contains a good discussion of the problem and the pros and cons of a hot spot origin for the Snake River Plain--Yellowstone volcanic province. A couple other excellent papers on this subject are: Anders, M.H., Geissman, J.W., Piety, L.A., Sullivan, J.T., 1989. Parabolic distribution of circum-eastern Snake River Plain seismicity and latest Quaternary faulting:  Migratory pattern and association with the Yellowstone hotspot.  Journal of Geophysical Research 94, 1589-1621.  Camp, V.E., 1995. Mid-Miocene propagation of the Yellowstone mantle plume head beneath the Columbia River Basalt source region.  Geology 23, 435-438.  At 06:33 PM 10/17/2006, Randall Marrett wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I believe the first paper was by Bob Smith at Univ Utah: Smith, R.B., Shuey, R.T., Freidline, R.O., Otis, R.M., and Alley, L.B., 1974, Yellowstone Hot Spot: New Magnetic and Seismic Evidence: Geology, v. 2, n. 9, p. 451-455. At 9:49 PM -0700 10/15/06, Meg Justus wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Does anyone have a good source on the history of the Yellowstone Hot Spot?  Actually, not of the hot spot itself, but of how it got figured out?  Especially when it became an accepted piece of knowledge?  And when it was disseminated and how widely?   I've checked what I've got, but I can't find anything on the subject.   Thanks!   Meg Justus</blockquote> <pre>-- </pre> Randall Marrett Associate Professor Department of Geological Sciences Jackson School of Geosciences University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station C1100 Austin, Texas  78712-0254 phone:   (512) 471-2113 fax:      (512) 471-9425 e-mail:  marrett@mail.utexas.edu web:      <a href="http://www.geo.utexas.edu/faculty/marrett/" eudora="autourl">http://www.geo.utexas.edu/faculty/marrett/</a> _______________________________________________ Geysers mailing list Geysers@wwc.edu <a href="https://mailman.wwc.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers" eudora="autourl">https://mailman.wwc.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers</a></blockquote> <x-sigsep></x-sigsep> Lisa A. Morgan                   U.S. Geological Survey Research Geologist            Denver Federal Center,                                             Box 25046, MS 966 lmorgan@usgs.gov            Denver, CO  80225-004 phone: 303-273-8646 fax:       303-273-8600 home:   303-938-8520   </body> </html>