{"id":132926,"date":"2024-09-12T10:44:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T10:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/as-yellowstones-supervolcano-slumbers-another-big-danger-lurks\/"},"modified":"2024-09-12T10:44:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T10:44:39","slug":"as-yellowstones-supervolcano-slumbers-another-big-danger-lurks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/12\/as-yellowstones-supervolcano-slumbers-another-big-danger-lurks\/","title":{"rendered":"As Yellowstone\u2019s supervolcano slumbers, another big danger lurks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"1020\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline1.jpg?resize=680,1020&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"As Yellowstone\u2019s supervolcano slumbers, another big danger lurks\" title=\"As Yellowstone\u2019s supervolcano slumbers, another big danger lurks\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"video-embed\">\n<p>Yellowstone National Park is known for its bubbling hot springs and steaming geysers. These hydrothermal wonders are powered by a massive cauldron of partly melted rock deep underground. It holds enough seething magma to build several Mount Everests.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text alignright\"\/>\n<p>Yellowstone\u2019s volcano last erupted 70,000 years ago. If it did so again, it could bury a vast area under lava.<\/p>\n<p>Most scientists consider this unlikely, at least for the next several thousand years. But another serious hazard lurks \u2014 one more sudden and treacherous than lava. To understand its destructive power, it helps to know what happened a decade ago at Japan\u2019s Mount Ontake.<\/p>\n<p>September 27, 2014, was a sunny day with a gentle wind. At 11:52 a.m., more than 100 hikers stood atop the mountain, snacking and taking photos.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image  has-alignleft\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3139370\">The phreatic steam explosion at Mount Ontake in Japan in 2014 (seen here) shot a million tons of rock and old volcanic ash into the air. Some of the rocks blasted out were as big as watermelons or beach balls.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3139370\">The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Then trouble struck. And it came with little warning.<\/p>\n<p>Windows in a nearby hut suddenly shook. They were rattled by a powerful shock wave, one too low-pitched for human ears to hear.<\/p>\n<p>Then a massive gray cloud billowed up from the mountain\u2019s southwestern slope.<\/p>\n<p>It swept over the summit, blinding people in swirling dust. They couldn\u2019t see as a million tons of rock and dust, blasted from the mountain, rained down on them. Sixty-three people died. Most were killed by falling debris.<\/p>\n<p>But this volcano\u2019s sudden explosion was not driven by lava or fire. It had been powered by water.<\/p>\n<p>A pool of underground water heated suddenly, likely by volcanic gases or magma rising up from below. The water boiled to steam almost instantly. As this happened, it expanded to hundreds of times its original volume. This shattered the mountain\u2019s slope, shooting rocks into the air.<\/p>\n<p>This kind of steam blast is called a phreatic (Free-AAH-tick) explosion. It\u2019s triggered by a sudden pulse of heat within an active volcano. But similar steam explosions, called hydrothermal explosions, also can erupt far from active volcanoes.<\/p>\n<p>Yellowstone is pockmarked with craters left by these explosions. There have likely been thousands over the past 14,000 years. These include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VjhJF9EtZEk\" rel=\"noopener\">one terrifying blast this past July 23<\/a>; it tossed out rocks and sent tourists fleeing.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"961\" src=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion.jpg\" alt=\"a photo an explosion tossing dsteam and gravel hundresds of feet into the air\" class=\"wp-image-3143610\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion-574x383.jpg 574w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion-674x450.jpg 674w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion-279x186.jpg 279w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion-869x580.jpg 869w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_hydrothermal_explosion-1163x776.jpg 1163w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3143610\">A small hydrothermal explosion (shown here) occurred in 2009 at Wall Pool in Yellowstone\u2019s Biscuit Basin. A larger explosion occurred in this same basin on July 23, 2024. Black Diamond Pool \u2014 not known as a geyser \u2014 suddenly sprayed steam and gravel hundreds of feet in the air. The blast tossed out beach ball-sized blocks around the edges of the pool and sent grapefruit-sized rocks flying tens to hundreds of feet. Tourists who were there ran away quickly enough to avoid injury, but the wooden boardwalk was destroyed.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3143610\">2009 UNAVCO Earthscope Field Trip Participants\/USGS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the past century, there\u2019ve been \u201conly small ones,\u201d says Paul Bedrosian. He\u2019s a geophysicist with the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) in Lakewood, Colo. \u201cBut we know [Yellowstone] is capable of creating whoppers,\u201d he says \u2014 ones much bigger even than Ontake\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>To learn what triggers them, researchers have explored the depths of Yellowstone Lake (on the park\u2019s east side). Hundreds of hot-water vents dot the lake\u2019s floor. That floor also hosts some of the world\u2019s largest hydrothermal-explosion craters. And rising from the lake bottom are hard, brittle domes that might one day explode.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHydrothermal explosions are very, very dangerous,\u201d says Lisa Morgan. She\u2019s a volcanologist with the USGS in Denver, Colo. For 25 years, she\u2019s studied Yellowstone\u2019s biggest explosions.<\/p>\n<p>And another, she says, \u201ccould very well happen today.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"m73fIvlTOYQ\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"InDepth - Episode 7 - Geysers\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m73fIvlTOYQ?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Yellowstone contains the world\u2019s largest cluster of geysers, so it\u2019s not surprising that hydrothermal explosions can happen here. But large hydrothermal explosions also happen in other parts of the world, including Greece, New Zealand, Iceland, <a>Central America<\/a>, and Northern California.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A marshy disaster<\/h2>\n<p>Scientists have studied Yellowstone\u2019s hot springs and geysers since the late 1800s. But it wasn\u2019t until 1966 that they realized it had been the site of violent steam explosions.<\/p>\n<p>That summer, Patrick Muffler made his first visit to Pocket Basin. It\u2019s near the western edge of Yellowstone. He was a young scientist with USGS. He traveled with his boss, Donald White, a USGS scientist who studied hot springs and geysers.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-sciencenews-inline-related-post alignleft\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/lets-learn-about-geysers-and-hydrothermal-vents\">Let\u2019s learn about geysers and hydrothermal vents<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Pocket Basin is a broad, bowl-shaped meadow. A rocky ridge surrounds it on three sides. Hydrothermal pools and springs are scattered across the meadow. They scent the air with the sour smell of hydrochloric acid. That acid constantly seeps out of hot water burbling up from below.<\/p>\n<p>As the two scientists explored this area, White recognized something he had seen before. Back in 1951, he had visited Lake City, Calif., to check out something strange.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image  has-alignleft\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline5.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph of a brown, white and turquoise-blue rock from Yellowstone Lake that shows signs of being altered by hot water\" class=\"wp-image-3139376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline5.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline5-488x383.jpg 488w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline5-573x450.jpg 573w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline5-237x186.jpg 237w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3139376\">Some rocks at Yellowstone, including the one shown, contain minerals that indicate they were altered by hot water, a clue to a past explosion.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3139376\">L.A. Morgan <em>et al<\/em>\/<em>GSA Special Papers<\/em> 2009<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Five nights earlier, a once-peaceful group of hot springs in a marshy meadow had exploded. That blast flung 300,000 tons of mud and rock onto nearby fields. The rocks were made of gravel and sand. These had been cemented together with minerals \u2014 whitish zeolite and opal.<\/p>\n<p>White knew that these materials form when hot water full of dissolved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/scientists-say-mineral\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"5446\">minerals<\/a> comes close to the surface. As the rising water cools, the dissolved minerals crystalize into solids, forming these rocks.<\/p>\n<p>Underground water had suddenly flashed into steam, White concluded. Its instant expansion had flung out those rocks.<\/p>\n<p>As White and Muffler walked up the ridge surrounding Pocket Basin, their boots crunched over similar stuff. This meadow, White realized, was the crater left by a hydrothermal explosion. It spanned an area the size of 10 football fields! And that surrounding ridge? It was made of rocks blasted out by the explosion.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Yellowstone\u2019s water under pressure<\/h2>\n<p>Water that fuels such explosions starts as snow and rain. That moisture trickles underground through cracks. Eventually, several kilometers below Yellowstone, it nears the magma chamber.<\/p>\n<p>Here, the water becomes heated to more than 250\u00ba Celsius (482\u00ba Fahrenheit). That\u2019s way hotter than water\u2019s normal boiling point, 100 \u00b0C (212 \u00b0F). This water stays liquid because the immense pressure underground keeps it from expanding into steam.<\/p>\n<p>This superheated water can spurt back up through cracks in the bedrock. Mostly, the rock is strong enough to withstand the hot water\u2019s pressure. Near the surface, it feeds Yellowstone\u2019s hot springs and geysers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"541\" src=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers.png\" alt=\"an illustration showing magma chambers underneat Yellowstone National Park\" class=\"wp-image-3143611\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers.png 1440w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers-680x255.png 680w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers-800x301.png 800w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers-330x124.png 330w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers-768x289.png 768w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers-1030x387.png 1030w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1440_yellowstone_magma_chambers-1380x518.png 1380w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3143611\">Scientists have used seismic sensing to map the magma chambers beneath Yellowstone National Park. The upper chamber of molten rock exists as a \u201cmush,\u201d with tiny bits of solid rock surrounded by thin layers of liquid rock. It is far more viscous than honey, making it unlikely to erupt anytime soon. But heat from the magma drives geysers, hot springs and hydrothermal explosions. The heat flow is especially intense beneath Yellowstone Lake, where the upper magma chamber comes closest to the surface.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3143611\">Adapted from Sin-Mei Wu Wu et al. (2023), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\/Yellowstone Volcano Observatory\/USGS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But sometimes the water\u2019s pressure suddenly exceeds the rocks\u2019 strength. This can happen when the water quickly gets much hotter, boosting its pressure. That causes a steam explosion, as happened at Mount Ontake.<\/p>\n<p>But something different triggered the explosion at Pocket Basin, White and Muffler believed. The underground water didn\u2019t get hotter. Instead, the rocks weakened due to some sudden change at the surface.<\/p>\n<p>Pocket Basin likely exploded at the end of the Ice Age, some 13,500 years ago. A lake would have covered the region back then, held in place by a dam of ice. But at some point the ice melted. This broke the dam, allowing the lake to spill out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you can get rid of that [lake] water instantly,\u201d says Muffler, \u201cthat depressurizes the system \u2014 and bang, it goes off.\u201d With less weight above it, the hot water below explodes into steam.<\/p>\n<p>Muffler and White found nine more large hydrothermal-explosion craters scattered across Yellowstone. They published their results in 1971. Several years later, scientists found Mary Bay crater, in the north end of Yellowstone Lake. At 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) across, it is still the largest hydrothermal-explosion crater known on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan has studied what may have caused some of these big explosions. What she\u2019s found suggests they could happen again \u2014 at any time.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hidden hot zone<\/h2>\n<p>Starting in September 1999, Morgan teamed up with Pat Shanks to explore the northern part of Yellowstone Lake, near Mary Bay. Shanks is a geochemist with USGS.<\/p>\n<p>Workers spent days zigzagging across the lake in a boat. Using sonar, they mapped the lake\u2019s bumpy floor. And they used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/explainer-seismic-waves-come-different-flavors\">seismic sensing<\/a> to show the layers of mud and rock underlying the lakebed.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-sciencenews-inline-related-post alignleft\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/explainer-what-are-lidar-radar-and-sonar\">Explainer: What are lidar, radar and sonar?<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Each evening, Morgan and Shanks watched as new maps of the lake floor printed out. It \u201cwas an incredible eye-opener,\u201d says Shanks.<\/p>\n<p>These maps uncovered a huge crater southwest of Mary Bay. Called Elliott\u2019s crater, it is 830 meters (more than half a mile) across. That makes it the third-largest hydrothermal-explosion crater on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>The team released a remotely operated vehicle into the lake to explore this newfound crater. People crowded around computer screens to watch the live video feed.<\/p>\n<p>Inner walls of the crater loomed steeply in the murky water. Foot-long sucker fish hovered above. They were \u201clined up like airplanes,\u201d Morgan recalls. Why? \u201cThey love the hot water.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dangerous pressure cooker<\/h2>\n<p>This mapping also turned up many smaller explosion craters on the lake floor along with more than 250 hot-water vents. \u201cWe found it to be a far more hydrothermally and tectonically active lake than anyone had ever expected,\u201d says Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>Here and there, rounded domes rise above the lake\u2019s floor. These mark where hot water seeps out. Minerals from that water slowly cement sand and mud into a crust. Eventually, hot water can get trapped beneath that crust. That\u2019s when a bulge forms.<\/p>\n<p>As this continues, \u201cyou\u2019re going to have a pressure cooker,\u201d says Bedrosian of USGS.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan believes that Elliott\u2019s crater formed when one of these pressure cookers exploded. Other lake-floor domes could also explode one day.<\/p>\n<p>Many are smaller than an umbrella. But the North Basin Hydrothermal Dome is 750 meters (nearly a half mile) across. It currently rises a full seven stories above the lake floor!<\/p>\n<p>Hot water still burbles out through its crust. \u201cBut over time that\u2019s going to change,\u201d says Morgan. \u201cThose open spaces will seal.\u201d Once that happens, \u201cit\u2019s a perfect candidate for a potential hydrothermal explosion.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Little catastrophes<\/h2>\n<p>The history of Yellowstone Lake might help reveal what set off big explosions in the past \u2014 and when. So in 2016, Morgan and Shanks led a team of workers who extracted eight cores of sediment from the muddy lake floor.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image  has-alignright\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"338\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline3-338x450.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph of two scientists on a coring platform on Yellowstone Lake\" class=\"wp-image-3139373\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline3-338x450.jpg 338w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline3-288x383.jpg 288w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline3-140x186.jpg 140w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline3-436x580.jpg 436w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline3-584x776.jpg 584w, https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline3.jpg 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3139373\">In 2016, scientists took a coring platform out onto Yellowstone Lake to collect sediments from the lake bottom and learn more about what triggered past explosions.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3139373\">L. Morgan\/USGS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Interspersed in the dark mud were layers of whitish gravel. That gravel was debris from hydrothermal explosions. Those layers revealed the lake\u2019s violent past.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan and Shanks shared what they learned in the <em>GSA Bulletin<\/em> in 2022. They had turned up explosion layers from Mary Bay and Elliott\u2019s craters. They also found evidence of up to 14 smaller previously unknown blasts. The most recent happened around 165 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, Elliott\u2019s crater exploded about 8,000 years ago, they found. Morgan believes a major earthquake around that time had triggered it. The ground movements may have cracked the dome, releasing the pressure inside it. That would have let hot water trapped there explode into steam.<\/p>\n<p>Mary Bay exploded around 13,000 years ago, the cores showed. Morgan thinks an earthquake also triggered this blast \u2014 but indirectly.<\/p>\n<p>She and her colleagues found geologic evidence that the quake triggered a massive wave, called a lake tsunami. The wave may have broken through a natural dam of rocks and dirt on the lake\u2019s north end. That would have allowed much of the lake\u2019s water to drain out.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, \u201cThe lake dropped suddenly 14 meters [46 feet],\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s huge!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As downward pressure on the lake floor decreased, superheated water below would have expanded into steam. The resulting blast created the largest hydrothermal crater on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Earthquakes and tsunamis can occur without warning, Morgan points out. There\u2019s no reason they couldn\u2019t trigger a giant explosion at Yellowstone today.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group cheat-sheet-cta\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Do you have a science question? We can help!<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/YbhPosFTMqjbSNnV7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Submit your question here<\/a>, and we might answer it an upcoming issue of\u00a0<em>Science News Explores<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Atomic boom<\/h2>\n<p>A Yellowstone explosion today could be far worse than the 2014 blast at Mount Ontake. Morgan estimates that the Mary Bay explosion ejected a quarter of a cubic kilometer (0.06 cubic mile) of sediment and rock out of its crater. That\u2019s 15 times as much material as was used to build Egypt\u2019s Great Pyramid of Giza. It is 100 to 400 times the volume ejected by Mount Ontake in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Even more alarming is how it compares to an atom bomb.<\/p>\n<p>In 1962, the U.S. conducted the Storax Sedan nuclear test. This 104-kiloton underground bomb blasted five million cubic meters of rock and sand out of the Nevada desert floor. But the explosion at Mary Bay spewed 50 times that much material!<\/p>\n<p>The Mary Bay blast tossed refrigerator-sized boulders out of the lake. A wave of boiling mud surged onto the lake shore. It left a pile that is four to eight stories tall in some places.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-sciencenews-inline-related-post alignleft\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/analyze-can-you-outrun-these-geological-disasters\">Analyze This: Can you outrun these geological disasters?<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/aside>\n<p>This sounds scary. But it\u2019s no reason to stay away from Yellowstone. After all, most people don\u2019t avoid visiting Los Angeles just because they are worried about earthquakes. The chances that a massive quake or hydrothermal explosion will happen on any given day are quite low.<\/p>\n<p>Still, it would be useful to predict when big hydrothermal explosions might occur.<\/p>\n<p>Today, no one knows how. But Lauren Harrison has discovered that the risk might change over time. She\u2019s a geologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. And she\u2019s studied how rain and snowfall levels have affected Yellowstone\u2019s hot springs and geysers over thousands of years.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s looked at how the layers of minerals that form as hot water reaches the surface have changed over time in Yellowstone National Park. Water temps below ground were lower 13,900 to 13,600 years ago, she\u2019s found. They dipped once more 12,200 to 9,500 years ago, and again 5,200 to 2,900 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>This hydrothermal system cooled down when Yellowstone\u2019s climate was wetter than today, with more rain and snow.<\/p>\n<section class=\"newsletter-signup__wrapper___lZ0W1 wp-block-house-ads wp-block-newsletter-signup\">\n<picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews-sns-child\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@1x.png 1x,&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews-sns-child\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@2x.png 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 768px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews-sns-child\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module-sm@1x.png 1x,&#10;&#9;&#9;&#9;&#9;https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews-sns-child\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module-sm@2x.png 2x\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"newsletter-signup__background___Eym8W\" src=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews-sns-child\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module-sm@2x.png\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n<\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<div class=\"newsletter-signup__container___srNOL\" data-component=\"newsletter-signup\">\n<h3 class=\"newsletter-signup__heading___0EHmb\">\n\t\t\tEducators and Parents, Sign Up for The Cheat Sheet\t\t<\/h3>\n<div class=\"newsletter-signup__message___pemaq\">\n<p>Weekly updates to help you use <em>Science News Explores<\/em> in the learning environment<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"newsletter-signup__thankyou___K6GGN\">Thank you for signing up!<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-signup__error___hCsJI\">There was a problem signing you up.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>\u201cThere was enough water from the surface coming in to cool it down,\u201d says Harrison. Those cooler waters might have lessened the risk of hydrothermal explosions in some areas. Harrison and her team published these results February 13 in the <em>GSA Bulletin<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Her colleague Shaul Hurwitz found that dry spells, in contrast, supercharged Yellowstone\u2019s Steamboat Geyser. Hurwitz is a hydrologist with USGS in Moffett Field, Calif. During dry periods over the last 500 years, he found, this geyser sprayed more violently, killing trees and crusting their wood with minerals.<\/p>\n<p>As Earth warms over the next century, Yellowstone is expected to have more severe dry spells. As things get drier, \u201cyou tend to have more explosions,\u201d says Harrison. But learning exactly how the climate will affect explosion risk will require a lot more study. For now, she says: \u201cIt\u2019s too soon to know.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/yellowstone-hydrothermal-explosion-steam\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yellowstone National Park is known for its bubbling hot springs and steaming geysers. These hydrothermal wonders are powered by a massive cauldron of partly melted rock deep underground. It holds enough seething magma to build several Mount Everests. Yellowstone\u2019s volcano last erupted 70,000 years ago. If it did so again, it could bury a vast [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/050424_yellowstone_inline1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[995,4215,46981,106684,106683,106682],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132928,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132926\/revisions\/132928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}