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Hydrothermal Research

CROSS SECTION OF A HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEM

Hydrothermal activity supplied hot water, steam, and gases, altering the rhyolitic rocks. The altered rock became softer, more colorful, and more susceptible to erosion.

Water, steam and gases cook the rhyolitic rock and make it susceptible to erosion

Many millennia later, an ice cap covered the area. The weight of the ice allowed the underlying thermal water to reach higher temperatures, causing even faster alteration of the rhyolite.

As the ice melted about 16,000 years ago, a colorful paleo-canyon was exhumed. Erosion, mostly by water, increased its dimensions to form the current Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

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HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW

1.) Observation

2.) Minerology Studies

3.) Dating Techniques: Scientists use a variety of techniques (cosmogenic exposure dating, argon/argon dating, potassium/argon dating, carbon-14 dating/beryllium-10 dating) to determine the age of different rocks and sequence the events involved in the canyon’s formation.

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