Current Location of the Hot Spot
Basalt flows and cinder cones at Craters of the Moon National Monument have periodically erupted from the north end of the Great Rift over the last 15,000 years. The frequency of these eruptions is about once every 2,000 years and the last eruption was about 2,000 years ago. Basalt flows in the Blackfoot-Gem Valley lava field blocked and rerouted the Bear River, forcing it to bend to the south across the Portneuf Range at Oneida Narrows, and to enter the Bonneville Basin. The additional water from the Bear River was probably a major contributor to the rise of Lake Bonneville, which culminated in a catastrophic  flood about 14,500 years ago. Glacial erosion of the central Idaho mountains and the Yellowstone Plateau produced a tremendous volume of silt that was carried out onto the Snake River Plain by melt-water streams. During periods of low flow, in the winter and spring, strong winds blew the silt eastward forming loess deposits. This loess is now the rich soil that grows the "Famous Potatoes" of Idaho.
Current Location of the Hot Spot Cross-section of the plateau.

Images courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.