Yellowstone News and Information

  New mud-slinging thermal feature at Yellowstone is spewing scalding hot muck

  Caldera Chronicles   Yellowstone's famous biscuits By  Yellowstone Volcano Observatory   May 15, 2023 Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin hosts the legendary Old Faithful, but it's also home to an isolated thermal group famous for its biscuits.  Though, only a few remain of a large batch that existed prior to 1959.  Yellowstone  Caldera  Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Wendy Stovall, volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and Deputy Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Sources/Usage: Public Domain. Sapphire Pool in Biscuit Basin, Yellowstone National Park, in about 1887. Bulbous-shaped geyserite knobs around the pool reminded the photographer, Frank Jay Haynes, of biscuits. Biscuit Basin is located three km (two mi) northwest of Old Faithful Village on the western side of the Grand Loop Road. The basin is within the Yellowstone Cald

Hypoliths: Life thriving under the beach-white sinters of Yellowstone's hydrothermal areas While most attention is given to the hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, and mud pots in Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas, there are lessons just beneath the surface about how life might have taken shape on Earth billions of years ago. Yellowstone  Caldera  Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Dr. Jeff Havig and Professor Trinity Hamilton, researchers in Plant and Microbial Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota. A s one walks along the boardwalks in one of the many hydrothermal areas in Yellowstone National Park, there is a feast for the senses—the rotten egg smell of hydrogen sulfide, the blasting spray of geysers, the bubbling and boiling water in hot springs, the hiss of gas escaping fumaroles, the low thumping of mud pots, and the dazzlingly brig

Yellowstone authorities have still not identified floating human foot found in pool 

How might the floods in and around Yellowstone NP influence seismic and hydrothermal activity?

  Caldera chronicles: Why drilling the Yellowstone volcano to stop eruptions or generate power is a bad idea

  Buffalo Bill Exhibit Shows What Lies On Bottom Of Yellowstone Lake

 Why Study Geysers?

  The day that Porkchop Geyser exploded Release Date: June 28, 2021 Small hydrothermal explosions—steam blasts—are common at Yellowstone, occurring every year or two.  Most happen in the backcountry and are not observed by people.  In 1989, however, Porkchop Geyser blew up right in front of several observers on an otherwise sunny September afternoon. Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Michael Poland, geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey and Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Porkchop Geyser erupting in August 1989. (Credit: Jim Peaco, National Park Service. Public domain.) Norris Geyser Basin is one of the most unique parts of Yellowstone National Park.  The basin hosts both acidic and neutral hot springs —a somewhat unusual combination—is the location of some

  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 and other ma

Preserving the legacy of geologic mapping in Yellowstone Release Date: March 15, 2021 Before the age of cheap computers, handheld GPS, and other innovations, geologic mapping was done with a compass, paper, and pencil.  An effort is underway to digitally preserve and publish these valuable geologic maps, some of which depict Yellowstone thermal areas at a very fine scale! Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Dakota Churchill, contractor with the USGS and student at UC Berkeley. In the 1960s and 70s, a group of  USGS Geological survey scientists began to tackle the challenge of mapping Yellowstone.   The team included Bob Christensen, Don White, Robert Fournier, Alfred Truesdell, and L.J. Patrick Muffler, and they spent every summer between 1966 and 1971 doing fieldwork in Yellowstone. This was a huge