HOW IT WORKS

NASA wants to pump water into the Yellowstone volcano to make the magma too sticky to rise.

1 An 8km- deep borehole is drilled into the hydrothermal system. This vast body of hot groundwater surrounds the shallow magma chamber and absorbs more than two-thirds of the heat generated there.

2 Huge quantities of water are pumped down the borehole, cooling the hydrothermal fluids so that they can suck out even more of the magma’s heat.

3 The magma cools and starts to congeal, making it more difficult for it to reach the surface and feed an eruption.

4 Superheated water returned to the surface via the borehole could be used to drive turbines and generate electricity.