Yellowstone News and Information

  Travertine: Yellowstone’s Hydrothermal Timekeeper Release Date: May 24, 2021 Standing on the boardwalk next to any of Yellowstone’s hot, steamy, vigorously bubbling hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles, or geysers, you may be struck by the sheer amount of energy that powers this system, night and day. But how long have these features been active?  To address this question, geologists can turn to the “clock” that is frozen within hydrothermal travertine deposits. Yellowstone  Caldera  Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Lauren Harrison, a postdoctoral researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. Travertine is a form of limestone composed of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are both made of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ). In contrast to limestones that are formed in the ocean from the shells of tiny plankton a...

 Thomas Brock, Whose Discovery Paved the Way for PCR Tests, Dies at 94