for reference from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_inner_core

Recent geophysical studies show that Yellowstone’s shallow magma reservoirs are replenished by melts from the asthenosphere. Both seismic and magnetotelluric images reveal that the Yellowstone caldera complex and magma reservoirs are connected by a southwest-dipping plumbing network that extends to the uppermost asthenosphere beneath the eastern Snake River Plain, where hot asthenosphere partially melts. This tilted translithospheric magma plumbing system (TLMPS) is a robust feature of different observational studies, but its geodynamic origin remains unknown.

To identify the driving mechanism of Yellowstone’s tilted TLMPS and the origin of melts, we constructed a comprehensive three-dimensional geodynamic model using geophysically and geodynamically constrained present-day structures of the convective mantle and the continental lithosphere. In this model, we simultaneously calculated the present-day dynamics of the lithosphere and the convective mantle in a unified physical framework.

Our results show that Yellowstone’s tilted TLMPS is primarily controlled by lithospheric tectonics. Below Yellowstone, our model predicts a southwest-dipping extension zone, jointly shaped by the lithospheric body force due to lithospheric density structure and basal traction caused by eastward-flowing hot asthenosphere interacting with the lithosphere. This tilted translithospheric deforming zone closely resembles the geophysically imaged TLMPS beneath Yellowstone, confirming the key role of tectonic extension in tapping melts from the uppermost asthenosphere and bringing them to the surface.

Cartoon showing Yellowstone’s present-day translithospheric magma plumbing system (TLMPS).

The blue region in the lithosphere, representing the tectonic extensional region, generally outlines the TLMPS in the Yellowstone region. In the asthenosphere beneath Yellowstone, eastward-flowing hot material produces primary melts with little input from the mantle plume. After penetrating into the lithosphere, primary melts migrate into the tilted TLMPS and ultimately fuel Yellowstone’s surface volcanism. LAB, lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary.

for reference from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle_plume

The above graphic from wikipedia illustrates how most geologists formerly believed volcanic activity at Yellowstone arose, a modern example can be seen in the Hawaiian Island Chain. This new research proposes an alternate view of Yellowstone.