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A geyser hiding under yellowstone national park recently woke up. But don’t worry: that doesn’t mean the supervolcano beneath the park will erupt soon, according to a new study.
In March 2018, after a nap of 3.5 years, Steamboat geyser suddenly erupted, spewing steam, mud, sand and rocks into the air. The previously dormant geyser erupted 32 times in 2018, a record 48 times in 2019 and another 48 times in 2020 (its previous record of 29 eruptions was set in 1964), the US Geological Survey reported on Monday (January 4).
Some scientists feared the dramatic geyser explosions were a harbinger of volcanic activity in Yellowstone. But it turns out that Steamboat’s frequent eruptions do not bode well for a volcanic explosion, according to the new study, published online Jan.4 in the newspaper. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Related: Rainbow Basin: Photos of Yellowstone’s Large Colorful Prismatic Hot Spring
The Yellowstone supervolcano has not had a major eruption in 70,000 years, but scientists are constantly looking for clues as to when the next “big” may be. So-called hydrothermal explosions, or geyser explosions, which can be fatal, are also difficult to predict; in December 2019, 22 people died in a Hydrothermal explosion on White Island, New Zealand.
“Hydrothermal blasts – essentially hot water that explodes because it comes in contact with hot rocks – is one of the greatest dangers in Yellowstone,” studied lead author Michael Manga, professor of science in Earth and planets at the University of California at Berkeley, said in a press release. “The reason they are problematic is that they are very difficult to predict; it is not clear if there are any precursors that would allow you to give a warning.”
As Steamboat Geyser awoke, its sudden activity was not accompanied by the movement of underground magma often seen before a volcanic eruption.
That’s not to say that the geology around Steamboat Geyser hasn’t changed. Before Steamboat awoke, the ground around the geyser rose, seismic activity in the region has increased somewhat and the area has started releasing a little more heat into the atmosphere than before, Manga and his colleagues found. But other dormant geysers in the immediate vicinity, known as the Norris Geyser Basin, have not restarted, and the groundwater temperature leading to the Steamboat eruptions has not increased.
Additionally, with the exception of the first eruption in 2018, none of Steamboat’s explosions occurred after periods of high seismic activity, the researchers found.
“We find no evidence that there is a large [volcanic] Manga said. They were also unable to determine why Steamboat woke up, calling the reason for its reactivation “ambiguous” in the study.
High and frequent rashes
During their investigation, the team also found out why Steamboat’s squirts are so high, making it the most powerful active geyser in the world. By comparing the columns of 11 geysers in Chile, Iceland, the United States and Russia with the estimated depth of the water reservoir supplying each geyser, the team learned that deeper reservoirs lead to eruption jets. higher. In the case of Steamboat, a reservoir located about 82 feet (25 meters) underground has the tallest column of 277 feet (115 m).
Meanwhile, two geysers in Chile, with reservoirs 6.5 feet and 16 feet (2 and 5 m) below the ground, led to eruptions just 3 feet (1 m) high.
“Steamboat is larger because the water is stored there deeper than in other geysers, and as a result, more energy is available to fuel eruptions,” the researchers wrote in the study.
The team also determined that changes in precipitation and snowmelt are largely responsible for the variability of Steamboat eruptions. In the spring and early summer, slush and rain entered the underground reservoir, causing groundwater pressure to increase, the researchers said. Likewise, during winter, less water enters the underground reservoir, resulting in decreased water pressure and longer periods between eruptions.
The water in the reservoir comes from deep underground, so the water that erupts in a geyser eruption is decades, if not centuries old, Manga said.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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