Thermal Steam Vent Emerging as Focal Point in Dynamic Yellowstone National Park
Head's up, folks! A freshSteamin' spectacle has popped up at Yellowstone National Park, causing a bit of a stir. This bad boy is located on a busy road rather than the park's crazy-packed areas of geysers, hot springs, and mud pots.
Once the park's roads open for car traffic in April, peep this steam pillar from a convenient pullout—provided it's still spouting steam. Situated around a mile north of the Norris Geyser Basin, this show-stopper thermal feature was first caught by scientists' peepers last summer, inspiring a swamp hike for a temperature check and mud inspection. Yep, they confirmed it was a fresh-faced vent![1]
Now, about that vent. Mike Poland, the chief scientist of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, chimed in recently, saying that new vents and shifts in Yellowstone are as common as a cat chasing its tail. What's noteworthy, he explained, is that this particular vent can't be missed![3]
This vent isn't alone in its warm lover's embrace, tucked within a 200-foot area of hot soil and linked to a big water feature that surfaced in 2003, about 700 feet away.[2]
Winter might have dampened the party, but whether this vent is still going to steal the show or get smothered by water remains to be seen.[4]
While geological changes in Yellowstone are all the rage (because we're sitting on a sleeping giant volcano), remember it's been well over 70,000 years since there's been a lava eruption, and an impressive 631,000 years since the last major shindig.[5]
Deadly eruptions are far from imminent, geologists say—although that doesn't stop Yellowstone's fun little dramatic events, like a hydrothermal explosion last summer that had tourists doin' the running man.[6]
Despite all the come and go of Yellowstone's thermal features, Old Faithful Geyser remains the alpha dog of the bunch.
"There's so many thermal features. Not only do they come and go, but they change," says Poland.[3]
- Mike Poland from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory mentioned that this newly confirmed vent isn't an uncommon occurrence in Yellowstone, comparing it to a cat chasing its tail.
- The new vent is not merely a solitary thermal feature; it's within a 200-foot area of hot soil and connected to a large water feature that surfaced in 2003, approximately 700 feet away.
- Tourists sometimes witness dramatic thermal events at Yellowstone, as evidenced by a hydrothermal explosion last summer, but geologists assure us that deadly eruptions are not imminent.
