You always explain things in an easy to understand way without being condescending and I really appreciate that! Keep up the good work and thanks for another interesting report
Great episode. I always look forward to these updates. Have visited Yellowstone a few times, but our visits in winter were the best. Keep up the great reports.
We arrived at Norris Geyser Basin on July 3, 2020, our first stop in Yellowstone. We saw the signs and saw the warning about Steamboat Geyser leaving stuff on your car. We were like yeah whatever, that's not going to happen. It happened. My kids were spoiled as the rest of the geysers weren't as big as the first one they saw.
Yes, in this case it's what goes down comes up... and out! Last year I spent a week in Iceland (my 50th birthday present from my parents) I spent a couple of days of it in a little town called Hveragerdi ( Pronounced Hveragerethi, and translates to something like 'Hot-water Gardens). There is a little geothermal park with a cafe cum shop cum museum there, good to spend a wet or very cold morning in as I did. One very interesting display came from a geothermal feature. This had been an actively erupting geyser which had fallen silent for several decades, if not a century or so, when it literally exploded back into life, much to the townsfolk's consternation. You see, they'd been using the pool of hot water as a dumping ground for their rubbish, and that first, renewed eruption brought broken plates, dishes, bits of clay smoking pipes, glass bottles and all manner of inorganic debris back into the light of day. Sad to say, that geothermal feature no longer exists, even as a steaming pool of hot water. A recent earthquake altered the flow of water underground, and the geyser, along with other former hot spring pools, has completely dried up. However, they may all 'wake up' again if another earthquake again reroutes the flow of water back to these features. I guess the moral of this story is: never use a dormant or apparently extinct geyser as a rubbish dump: you never know if and when it'll all be spat back up at you!
Something similar happened at Ear Spring (near Old Faithful) in 2018. That pool hadn't erupted in ~60-70 years. When it did finally erupt, it ejected coins, hats, a cinder block, a pacifier, cans with pull tabs... A few decades worth of stuff that accidentally fell or was thrown in.
@@usgs My best bet is that it was thrown in, especially coins. I know there was an ancient Celtic practice of making offerings to the gods by casting precious items, especially metal ones, into springs, lakes and rivers. Given that a large number of fountains and things have their bottoms covered in coins, says the practice hasn't stopped, even if we no longer remember exactly why we're doing it. Which reminds me: the river that flows through the rift valley at Thingvellir in Iceland hasn't been immune to this practice. I remember standing on the middle of a bridge crossing that river, and looking down into it. The water was extremely clear: you could see every detail of the bottom, including the carpet of coins on it. The water was so clear you couldn't guess how deep the river was at that point, pretty deep as the water was distinctly blue in colour, and though you could see the coins on the bottom, you couldn't make out either the currencies or the denominations.
As a kid in the early 90s, I was really fascinated by steamboat and tried to get my dad to hang out there until it erupted. 😅 I magically thought it would have to happen while I was there.
Thank you! Always enjoy your sharing the activity and accompanying data going on at Yellowstone. I was a geology major back in the 1970s I would’ve loved to of worked for the USGS and been stationed at Yellowstone. Could’ve spent my life there and been very happy.
@@prophetzarquonit’s an incredible place, one that needs to be experienced. Had the privilege of visiting for a couple of days a few years ago. Probably my biggest thrill was seeing a beautiful wild swan swimming peacefully on the river. Was able to pull off the road and observe, take a few pictures. Others saw me & knew I was watching something, several stopped too. We were all quiet & respectful, not disturbing that beautiful bird. A wonderful shared experience.
I don't see electrical conductivity instruments on your page anymore. Is there a change in conductivity in the outflow from the basin before/after events like this?
That's a good question, and we're not really sure -- no conductivity measurements have ever been made at the time of a hydrothermal explosion. But some temporary conductivity equipment was deployed at Biscuit Basin in August, so hopefully it will have caught some interesting activity. We'll know when the equipment is recovered and the data analyzed. Seems likely that there should be a signal...
@@usgs Measuring simple conductivity alone would indicate fluctuations in conductive ions but it wouldn't tell you just what those ions were. It would be more informative, geologically speaking, to actually use some type of liquid chromatography, e.g., ion chromatography, to determine just what type of ions are populating the water and if the amount and/or relative concentrations are changing. I realize that such analysis, particularly real-time, might be beyond the budget of the Park Service.
@@avsystem3142 For a warning system, the specific compositions might not be that important. Conductivity variations due to changes in the proportions of liquid water and steam, or of the amount of boiling water that is present, may well provide important indicators of the buildup to an explosion, allowing for the hazard to be recognized before it happens.
Thanks for the Update! Interesting information and well explained!! What is the most critical piece of data that USGS collects in Yellowstone Volcano Observatory? And what are some additional pieces of data that the USGS is looking for? I'd like to learn how data is collected and the average field work that is needed to perform ?
Volcano monitoring is sort of like building a house -- you need a good toolbox. No one tool is really more critical than any other. But with that said, seismic monitoring is clearly the backbone of the monitoring network. And Yellowstone is well covered in that regard (there are 47 stations!). There are a lot of underutilized data types that might bear fruit in Yellowstone -- like electromagnetic monitoring. That is being tested in various ways right now, and maybe continuous deployments that are radio telemetered will be done in the future!
The dynamic nature of the park is the primary interest. There are many effectively static features elsewhere such as the petrified forest, but such pale in comparison to the dynamics.
2 місяці тому+1
Elucidation from subject matter experts seems a dying art and/or under-promoted science. Thank you for the update.
That's an excellent question. The water was already boiling, so right at the liquid water - steam interface. The water also carries a lot of dissolved solids -- mostly silica -- and as that comes out of solution, it can seal off some of the conduits. That traps the boiling water and steam and causes pressure to build. When the rock cracks as a result of that pressure, you release all of that boiling water and steam, and the depressurization causes additional water to flash to steam -- it can become something of a runaway process.
Hey man, we've all had that "Morning After Taco Bell" moment? And come on, the poor thing is 15,000 years old! Accidents happen at that age. Thanks for the update! Good work keeping us all informed and educated!
Hey usgs I was wondering if you've ever done a video or can point me to a good read on the reconstruction of the Lava Creek Tuff eruption? I've been looking for a while but it's gotten nearly impossible to search anything about Yellowstone without getting inundated with the crackpots screaming it's about to go Middle Pleistocene on us. Thanks in advance for any help you could provide.
Something on the Lava Creek Tuff is on our list for a future video. But the sequence is still being worked out -- there is a lot of new research that shows it is a much more complicated eruption than previously thought. The original idea was that it was composed of two "members" that erupted perhaps in rapid succession. But new work casts doubt on the idea of only 2 units (the original distinguishing characteristics of the members aren't holding up to scrutiny), and it seems that the area around Sour Creek dome, on the east side of the caldera, is very complicated, with lots of different units that might indicate the presence of an eruptive vent with a complex history. The original description of the Lava Creek Tuff is in Bob Christiansen's Yellowstone Professional Paper: pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp729g/. Some of the newer research on the Sour Creek dome area is published in our weekly "Caldera Chronicles" articles: www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/exciting-insights-yellowstones-youngest-supereruption www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/case-lava-creek-tuff-and-empty-reentrants www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/mystery-flagg-ranch-or-case-unknown-ignimbrite We also talk about some of the Sour Creek dome mapping in our annual reports: pubs.usgs.gov/publication/cir1524 pubs.usgs.gov/publication/cir1508 pubs.usgs.gov/publication/cir1494
That's happening! Every year more stations are upgraded to the latest technology. It's a challenge, as many of the stations were installed in the 1980s (with analog technology!). But within a few years, all the older stations will have been replaced with the latest digital broadband equipment.
Of course we would. We're people, just like you. Not James Bond villains. Prior to any major volcanic activity at Yellowstone, the signs would be unmistakable -- huge numbers of felt earthquakes, dramatic ground deformation, park-wide changes in gas and thermal emissions and geyser activity, and so forth. Every geologist in the world (including us), as well as the thousands of people who work and live in the park, would be screaming about it.
Learning from verifiable scientific data is key to understanding the what and how of these natural occurring events in our physical evolving and changing World which increases scientific awareness and understanding which is vital for future best business practices in protecting human safety and life on all levels. Nature Happens. A verifiable scientific data fact.
USGS, Tell about the cosmic stress and the impact our neighbors will be subject to. Add to that the solar activity and alignment of our solar system players and we’re in for a bumpy ride. I’m enjoying this cosmic display and the lessons. The feeling is definitely worth waking up for!
What sort of answer do you think we are "dancing around"? It's all pretty simple -- the water was already boiling, became confined due to silica precipitation on the conduit walls (we see that in eh debris that was deposited by the explosion), pressure built, and rock ruptured. This caused a feedback where the pressure drop caused more boiling liquid water to flash to steam, fueling the explosion. It was not caused by any change in magmatic activity. If it were, the activity would have manifested much much differently. This sort of thing happens in the park with some regularity. Something this size happens about every decade or so, but smaller events happen multiple times a year. A steam explosion occurred in Norris Geyser Basin in April of this year and created a crater that was 10 feet across! It just happened at a time that no one was present in the basin to witness it, so it didn't get much attention.
Using triple periods... instead of normal punctuation... doesn't make you sound any smarter... Also, considering it's not just the USGS watching this thing, but also pretty much every geologist in the Central Rockies, and that this is the most extreme thing to happen in the caldera in several years, I get the feeling we'll be just fine for a couple decades.
Hey Mike...great episode. Thank you. Next year is my bucket list trip to Yellowstone. I cant wait to see it in person. BTW another bucket list item...earthquake. Maybe a two-fer?
You always explain things in an easy to understand way without being condescending and I really appreciate that! Keep up the good work and thanks for another interesting report
Great episode. I always look forward to these updates. Have visited Yellowstone a few times, but our visits in winter were the best. Keep up the great reports.
We arrived at Norris Geyser Basin on July 3, 2020, our first stop in Yellowstone. We saw the signs and saw the warning about Steamboat Geyser leaving stuff on your car. We were like yeah whatever, that's not going to happen. It happened. My kids were spoiled as the rest of the geysers weren't as big as the first one they saw.
We were there too! Incredible.
Yes, in this case it's what goes down comes up... and out!
Last year I spent a week in Iceland (my 50th birthday present from my parents) I spent a couple of days of it in a little town called Hveragerdi ( Pronounced Hveragerethi, and translates to something like 'Hot-water Gardens). There is a little geothermal park with a cafe cum shop cum museum there, good to spend a wet or very cold morning in as I did. One very interesting display came from a geothermal feature. This had been an actively erupting geyser which had fallen silent for several decades, if not a century or so, when it literally exploded back into life, much to the townsfolk's consternation. You see, they'd been using the pool of hot water as a dumping ground for their rubbish, and that first, renewed eruption brought broken plates, dishes, bits of clay smoking pipes, glass bottles and all manner of inorganic debris back into the light of day.
Sad to say, that geothermal feature no longer exists, even as a steaming pool of hot water. A recent earthquake altered the flow of water underground, and the geyser, along with other former hot spring pools, has completely dried up. However, they may all 'wake up' again if another earthquake again reroutes the flow of water back to these features. I guess the moral of this story is: never use a dormant or apparently extinct geyser as a rubbish dump: you never know if and when it'll all be spat back up at you!
Something similar happened at Ear Spring (near Old Faithful) in 2018. That pool hadn't erupted in ~60-70 years. When it did finally erupt, it ejected coins, hats, a cinder block, a pacifier, cans with pull tabs... A few decades worth of stuff that accidentally fell or was thrown in.
@@usgs My best bet is that it was thrown in, especially coins. I know there was an ancient Celtic practice of making offerings to the gods by casting precious items, especially metal ones, into springs, lakes and rivers. Given that a large number of fountains and things have their bottoms covered in coins, says the practice hasn't stopped, even if we no longer remember exactly why we're doing it.
Which reminds me: the river that flows through the rift valley at Thingvellir in Iceland hasn't been immune to this practice. I remember standing on the middle of a bridge crossing that river, and looking down into it. The water was extremely clear: you could see every detail of the bottom, including the carpet of coins on it. The water was so clear you couldn't guess how deep the river was at that point, pretty deep as the water was distinctly blue in colour, and though you could see the coins on the bottom, you couldn't make out either the currencies or the denominations.
This Earth and Space Science teacher thanks you for your work! Students are always asking about Yellowstone!
The update on Biscuit Basin is appreciated. What a great place Yellowstone is.
Thanks Mike! Really enjoy these updates.
Subscribed. Quick, factual and interesting.
I look forward to these informative uploads,
As a kid in the early 90s, I was really fascinated by steamboat and tried to get my dad to hang out there until it erupted. 😅 I magically thought it would have to happen while I was there.
You left too early 😂
Thank you! Always enjoy your sharing the activity and accompanying data going on at Yellowstone. I was a geology major back in the 1970s I would’ve loved to of worked for the USGS and been stationed at Yellowstone. Could’ve spent my life there and been very happy.
Thanks for doing a follow-up. Very informative!
Great information. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Mike,thank you for stories and monthly updates
Thank you very much for the update on the hydrothermal event, Mike. :-)
I'm saving up my nickels (no pennies in Canada) to visit Yellowstone. Hopefully I'll be there within two years.
I hope you're able to, it is so worth the trip.
It's a bucket list kind of place. I've been there a few times and every time I went, it was different.
I have been visiting for over 65 years and still love the park
I have no desire whatsoever to be anywhere near there, but I'm glad it's protected!
@@prophetzarquonit’s an incredible place, one that needs to be experienced. Had the privilege of visiting for a couple of days a few years ago. Probably my biggest thrill was seeing a beautiful wild swan swimming peacefully on the river. Was able to pull off the road and observe, take a few pictures. Others saw me & knew I was watching something, several stopped too. We were all quiet & respectful, not disturbing that beautiful bird. A wonderful shared experience.
The fact that NO ONE WAS HURT is a miracle. There was visitors walking there when exploded
This is very interesting. Thank you for the updates!
long time i have not seen USGS news...
Very cool event hope no one was injured.
Thank you!
I don't see electrical conductivity instruments on your page anymore. Is there a change in conductivity in the outflow from the basin before/after events like this?
That's a good question, and we're not really sure -- no conductivity measurements have ever been made at the time of a hydrothermal explosion. But some temporary conductivity equipment was deployed at Biscuit Basin in August, so hopefully it will have caught some interesting activity. We'll know when the equipment is recovered and the data analyzed.
Seems likely that there should be a signal...
@@usgs Measuring simple conductivity alone would indicate fluctuations in conductive ions but it wouldn't tell you just what those ions were. It would be more informative, geologically speaking, to actually use some type of liquid chromatography, e.g., ion chromatography, to determine just what type of ions are populating the water and if the amount and/or relative concentrations are changing. I realize that such analysis, particularly real-time, might be beyond the budget of the Park Service.
@@avsystem3142 For a warning system, the specific compositions might not be that important. Conductivity variations due to changes in the proportions of liquid water and steam, or of the amount of boiling water that is present, may well provide important indicators of the buildup to an explosion, allowing for the hazard to be recognized before it happens.
Thanks for the information.
Very Cool! Thank You!!👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Thanks for the Update! Interesting information and well explained!! What is the most critical piece of data that USGS collects in Yellowstone Volcano Observatory? And what are some additional pieces of data that the USGS is looking for? I'd like to learn how data is collected and the average field work that is needed to perform ?
Volcano monitoring is sort of like building a house -- you need a good toolbox. No one tool is really more critical than any other. But with that said, seismic monitoring is clearly the backbone of the monitoring network. And Yellowstone is well covered in that regard (there are 47 stations!). There are a lot of underutilized data types that might bear fruit in Yellowstone -- like electromagnetic monitoring. That is being tested in various ways right now, and maybe continuous deployments that are radio telemetered will be done in the future!
@@usgs Fascinating info. Thanks for taking time to answer comments here! Your hard work is appreciated.
Makes you wonder why people are always lying about Yellowstone. Blowing up in making videos. It's sad thank you for true You're awesome
The dynamic nature of the park is the primary interest. There are many effectively static features elsewhere such as the petrified forest, but such pale in comparison to the dynamics.
Elucidation from subject matter experts seems a dying art and/or under-promoted science. Thank you for the update.
Forgive my ignorance, but what caused the boiling water to flash at shallow levels?
That's an excellent question. The water was already boiling, so right at the liquid water - steam interface. The water also carries a lot of dissolved solids -- mostly silica -- and as that comes out of solution, it can seal off some of the conduits. That traps the boiling water and steam and causes pressure to build. When the rock cracks as a result of that pressure, you release all of that boiling water and steam, and the depressurization causes additional water to flash to steam -- it can become something of a runaway process.
@@usgs thank you!
If it wasn't a direct interaction between water and magma, what boiled the water? Unless I missed that part of the video.
so is the pool nothing much to look at now?
It's a bit murky. You can see an aerial view of the pool at the 1:11 mark.
Thank you!👌
Was planning to visit yellow stone on Oct 11th 12 and 13th 2024. Is it safe
It is. Just follow park guidance and stay on the boardwalks. Have a nice visit!
Hey man, we've all had that "Morning After Taco Bell" moment? And come on, the poor thing is 15,000 years old! Accidents happen at that age. Thanks for the update! Good work keeping us all informed and educated!
Hey usgs I was wondering if you've ever done a video or can point me to a good read on the reconstruction of the Lava Creek Tuff eruption?
I've been looking for a while but it's gotten nearly impossible to search anything about Yellowstone without getting inundated with the crackpots screaming it's about to go Middle Pleistocene on us.
Thanks in advance for any help you could provide.
Something on the Lava Creek Tuff is on our list for a future video. But the sequence is still being worked out -- there is a lot of new research that shows it is a much more complicated eruption than previously thought. The original idea was that it was composed of two "members" that erupted perhaps in rapid succession. But new work casts doubt on the idea of only 2 units (the original distinguishing characteristics of the members aren't holding up to scrutiny), and it seems that the area around Sour Creek dome, on the east side of the caldera, is very complicated, with lots of different units that might indicate the presence of an eruptive vent with a complex history.
The original description of the Lava Creek Tuff is in Bob Christiansen's Yellowstone Professional Paper: pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp729g/. Some of the newer research on the Sour Creek dome area is published in our weekly "Caldera Chronicles" articles:
www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/exciting-insights-yellowstones-youngest-supereruption
www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/case-lava-creek-tuff-and-empty-reentrants
www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/mystery-flagg-ranch-or-case-unknown-ignimbrite
We also talk about some of the Sour Creek dome mapping in our annual reports:
pubs.usgs.gov/publication/cir1524
pubs.usgs.gov/publication/cir1508
pubs.usgs.gov/publication/cir1494
me and my family were at old faithful when it happened, than drove by it seeing at least a dozen rangers there
Never saw one biscuit in the basin, only in the restaurants, biscuits and gravy.
What a well presented video..well done very proffesionell and im not really into the subject
Pompeii hears as well, Steve.
Natural pressure release valve
Is this the calm before the storm
Yes...about a thousand years before any possible "storm."
The magmachamber is under 20 percent full. It needs to. E above 80 to erupt
Hi Mike 👋
👍
So, what can we do to get the volcano to go off? I'm ready for a change.
upgrade the technologie as well software to the hyper newest
That's happening! Every year more stations are upgraded to the latest technology. It's a challenge, as many of the stations were installed in the 1980s (with analog technology!). But within a few years, all the older stations will have been replaced with the latest digital broadband equipment.
They are not going to tell us when this is the big one.
Of course we would. We're people, just like you. Not James Bond villains. Prior to any major volcanic activity at Yellowstone, the signs would be unmistakable -- huge numbers of felt earthquakes, dramatic ground deformation, park-wide changes in gas and thermal emissions and geyser activity, and so forth. Every geologist in the world (including us), as well as the thousands of people who work and live in the park, would be screaming about it.
Learning from verifiable scientific data is key to understanding the what and how of these natural occurring events in our physical evolving and changing World which increases scientific awareness and understanding which is vital for future best business practices in protecting human safety and life on all levels.
Nature Happens. A verifiable scientific data fact.
USGS, Tell about the cosmic stress and the impact our neighbors will be subject to. Add to that the solar activity and alignment of our solar system players and we’re in for a bumpy ride. I’m enjoying this cosmic display and the lessons. The feeling is definitely worth waking up for!
Just another phreatomagmatic explosion
Meh. I have a bigger explosion after eating Taco Bell.
the way you dance around the answer is what... i hate most about government agencies... thanks for sharing your obvious narrative...
then why u even watchin bruh? don't like don't watch. 👋
@@spdyjake there is another option where i... do and say as i please... thanks for sharing...
What sort of answer do you think we are "dancing around"? It's all pretty simple -- the water was already boiling, became confined due to silica precipitation on the conduit walls (we see that in eh debris that was deposited by the explosion), pressure built, and rock ruptured. This caused a feedback where the pressure drop caused more boiling liquid water to flash to steam, fueling the explosion. It was not caused by any change in magmatic activity. If it were, the activity would have manifested much much differently.
This sort of thing happens in the park with some regularity. Something this size happens about every decade or so, but smaller events happen multiple times a year. A steam explosion occurred in Norris Geyser Basin in April of this year and created a crater that was 10 feet across! It just happened at a time that no one was present in the basin to witness it, so it didn't get much attention.
Using triple periods... instead of normal punctuation... doesn't make you sound any smarter...
Also, considering it's not just the USGS watching this thing, but also pretty much every geologist in the Central Rockies, and that this is the most extreme thing to happen in the caldera in several years, I get the feeling we'll be just fine for a couple decades.
I didnt come here to watch this guy and his hands waving around. USBS
Maybe you should try listening next time. Opening your mind would probably help, too.
Don't talk bad about Mike. He's the real truth about Yellowstone out there.
Why do you have to be so rude to Mike? That's not cool.
Do tell. What did you come here for?
🤡👹
Hey Mike...great episode. Thank you. Next year is my bucket list trip to Yellowstone. I cant wait to see it in person. BTW another bucket list item...earthquake. Maybe a two-fer?
Hopefully not. Earthquakes in the Yellowstone area can be big and very damaging. So, just hope for a small one for your bucket list!
Cześć Mike Poland. Czy twoje korzenie są polskie?
Possibly, several generations back. He says that one part of the family might have had their name changed upon emigrating to the USA.