The Yellowstone supervolcano is one of our planet's restless giants. Could it erupt in our lifetimes? Discover how geologists are monitoring the pulse of the Yellowstone volcano. Duration: 6 minutes.
Think of Yellowstone, and most people think of geysers. And while over three million people come to Yellowstone National Park each year to see the park’s geysers, hot springs, steam vents, and mudpots, many don’t know that the heat fueling these wonders is coming from a volcano, possibly the largest on Earth.
A volcano that lies directly beneath their feet. The Yellowstone supervolcano, hot enough to fuel 10,000 hot water features that have been spewing, hissing and surging for hundreds and thousands of years. A volcano whose restless shifting triggers thousands of small earthquakes in the park each year. A volcano that has had eruptions thousands of times more powerful than Mount St. Helens. A volcano that could, in an instant, change our world forever.
The Yellowstone volcano is one of our planet’s restless giants. For scientists, the question is not one of whether it will erupt again, but when.
In 2003, rangers at the Norris Geyser Basin noticed a rapid rise in ground temperatures. In the same area, previously dormant geysers suddenly sprang to life and others boiled dry.
Park Ranger Denise Herman: “I was walking the trails on the morning of July 11th, talking with visitors, when I was in the area of the Corporal Geyser. We noticed that the area had been heating up because we noticed that the trees were emitting a maple syrup smell, which meant the heat was cooking the sap in the trees themselves. It looked like there might be some heat in the trail itself, so I took some temperature readings, and just a few centimeters below the surface the temperature of the earth was 200 degrees Fahrenheit.”
At that altitude, 200 degrees is the boiling point of water. The park decided to temporarily close the trail to keep people from getting burned.
The rangers reported what they saw to Hank Heasler, Yellowstone’s park geologist. With the help of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, he set up a grid of ground monitoring equipment to study the changes.
Park Geologist Hank Heasler: “There are three indicators we look at for an imminent volcanic eruption in Yellowstone. The first is increased earthquakes in one particular area. The second is increased ground deformation - the ground rising on the order of feet to perhaps yards in one particular area. And then also, changes in thermal activity – geyser basins becoming hotter and producing more gas.”
Jake Lowenstern: “At Yellowstone, all of those things are happening all of the time. We know, though, that this sort of thing at Yellowstone has been going on for thousands of years. But it doesn’t always mean, or in fact, it almost never means, that we get an eruption here. So we get all of this geological activity that in some places might mean an eruption was coming but in Yellowstone it just means that’s the way the place works.”
But Yellowstone still delivers some surprises. Several years ago, U.S. Geological Survey researchers mapping the floor of Yellowstone Lake made a series of stunning finds: large underwater hot springs, submerged earthquake faults, underwater spires, and a submerged dome 100 feet tall and almost half a mile long.
These discoveries, along with the increased activity at Norris, generated a great deal of interest in the media and raised concerns among some park visitors as to the safety of visiting Yellowstone park. But with such a large volcano underlying Yellowstone, scientists have learned to expect the unusual. At Norris, the flurry of activity continued for several weeks. Then, as suddenly as it began, the disturbance disappeared. For now, Yellowstone’s volcano slumbers in relative peace.
Park Geologist Hank Heasler: “Yellowstone is truly a magical place and that magic is rooted in the Yellowstone volcano. We have a very good volcano monitoring system in Yellowstone and we’ll know if the volcano, and when the volcano, starts to become excited. So, until that time, Yellowstone is a great place to come and visit and experience the beauty of the volcano directly.”
One day, Yellowstone’s restless giant will reawaken. It will change Yellowstone as we know it. But in the meantime and for the duration of our lives and generations to come, this giant will be a creative force, not a destructive one. The Yellowstone volcano breathes life into the geysers, the hot springs, the mudpots. It fuels the geologic wonders that have amazed countless generations and will thrill countless more. And it is alive right now. Right beneath our feet.
In the summer of 2003, the Norris Geyser Basin suddenly heated up. Hot springs boiled dry and new thermal features sprang up. What did all of this mean? Duration: 3 minutes, 44 seconds
Sometimes Son of Green Dragon is actually spritzing out onto the walkway. The new feature, the mudpot that bubbled up sometime yesterday morning or the night before, occasionally spritzing out a little mud. Some of it right in the walkway. Some of it appears almost like a lava flow of mud. By the thudding sound it’s making it sounds like it may even be hollow underneath the walkway.
This area out there where all the steam is coming from is called Hydrophane. Lately it’s really heating up over there. In fact, all these brown pine trees have been killed in the last few months.
Jetsam Pool, normally opalescent blue, in the last few days has turned this milky green, heating up. The algae/bacterial mat has also been cooked and is now floating around the perimeter of the pool.
Pearl is now in full steam phase. I watched this progress from a full pool with blue milky water. In a matter of less than eight hours, the water receded, splashed, and then now all it’s pumping is steam.
Hardly any runoff at Steamboat compared to two days ago. But both vents seem to be extremely active all day today.
Cistern appears to be superheated. Much more intense boiling-type activity since the last two days, since this event started.
Vixen geyser, in major eruption, has been going for over 12 minutes prior to our arrival. Sometimes heights are going as high as forty feet. Prior to two days ago, it was going sometimes hours between eruptions. Over the last 36 hours it’s increased to the point where it’s every few minutes. Sometimes eruptions are lasting 45 minutes to an hour.
New feature near Porkchop, just south of Porkchop, that just broke through. Had been warm – cooking – for several months. Now there’s a tremendous amount of steam.
This whole frying pan area out here is really drying up. Where the brown was extended out into the white considerably.
These little mud spritzes here were small bubbling geysers about one foot high all spring and then yesterday they began geysing mud.
Green Dragon Spring intense geysing activity. Very, very muddy water. Much more active than average. On the left side of the cave mouth it can sometimes go over two meters high – over six feet high.
Colloidal Pool normally clear, bluish, except after a rainstorm when mud gets washed in, now is very murky, very active churning. We’ve had no rainfall in the last few days so this is something underground causing this activity.
Volcanic Hazards Program - U.S. Geological Survey. This site provides up-to-date information on current volcanic activity and hazards in the United States
Yellowstone contains approximately one-half of the world’s hydrothermal features. There are over 10,000 hydrothermal features, including over 300 geysers, in the park.
