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A new thermal area has emerged in the last 20 years in Yellowstone National Park. It lies just west of West Tern Lake and south of Tern Lake's existing spa area, the white area at the top left.
(USGS)
- The new spa area has been formed over the past two decades.
- It was first spotted on infrared images of the existing spa area of Lake Tern.
- Scientists say that this is only a normal part of the dynamic hydrothermal activity of Yellowstone.
Yellowstone National Park includes a new spa area that scientists say has been growing for 20 years.
The new area is deep in the Yellowstone hinterland between Lake Tern West and the previously mapped Lake Tern thermal area, the US Geological Survey announced earlier this month.
"That's exactly the kind of behavior we're waiting for "In his blog, R. Greg Vaughan, researcher at the USGS, describes the dynamics of dynamic hydrothermal activity in Yellowstone," and points out that changes are still occurring, sometimes in remote areas and usually inaccessible from the park. "
A thermal zone is the visible result of the underground activity of magma on the surface of the Earth. They can include geysers, like Old Faithful of Yellowstone; hot Springs; and fumaroles, which are vents that allow volcanic gases to escape. According to the USGS, they are surrounded by hydrothermal mineral deposits, geothermal gas emissions, heated soil and lack of vegetation.
This map shows the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park. The orange box indicates the location of the thermal area of Lake Tern.
(USGS)
Yellowstone has approximately 10,000 thermal zones concentrated in approximately 120 distinct zones.
The new spa area, located about 800 meters from the nearest trail and 11 km from the start of the nearest trail, was first noticed on an infrared satellite image acquired in April 2017. This area appeared as a point bright between the spa area of Tern Lake. and the western edge of Lake Tern West.
High-resolution aerial imagery then confirmed a large area of dead trees and shiny ground, USGS said, the type of scene expected on a thermal zone.
Historical images show that the region began to form in the late 1990s or early 2000s. These images also showed that the Tern Lake thermal region had developed on the north side.
Aerial images of the Lake Tern area from 1994, 2006 and 2017 show the emergence of the new thermal area.
(USGS)
"The thermal zones of Yellowstone are the superficial expression of the deeper magmatic system, and they are constantly changing," wrote Vaughn. "They heat, they cool and they can move."
A recent example is the eruption of the Ear Spring thermal spring for the first time in 60 years. The eruption last September caused water and steam at an altitude of 20 to 30 feet. Several other thermal characteristics were formed at the same time.
All of the geological changes in Yellowstone tend to make headlines, as the park is located at the top of a 44-mile underground supervolcan, which erupted for the last time more than 630,000 years ago. However, scientists at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory to say that there is nothing to fear.
(WATCH: Why is the Yellowstone Supervolcan so powerful and scary?)
"We have heard many statements that Yellowstone was long overdue – it has a major eruption every 600,000 years on average, and since the last eruption 631,000 years ago … well … you can see where is it going, "Michael Poland, scientific leader of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, recently wrote in a blog post." Is it true? In a word, no. In two words, no question. In three words, not even close. Yellowstone does not work like this. "
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