Lone Star Geyser (Yellowstone Monthly Update - April 2026)

What do Yellowstone National Park and your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate have in common?  LONE STAR!!!!!

Lone Star is not just an iconic movie hero of the 1980s (and also next year!). It’s an iconic Yellowstone geyser as well!

Lone Star Geyser is a classic cone-type geyser. The cone is made of silica sinter. Silica is dissolved in the hot water that moves beneath the surface, and as the water rises and erupts the sinter is deposited to form a cone. Lone Star erupts about every three hours on average—a pattern that has been consistent since at least the 1880s.  That’s more consistent than Old Faithful! 

Lone Star Geyser eruptions start with minor activity before sending a plume of water and steam up nearly 50 feet for as long as tens of minutes.  A steam phase follows—that’s what you're seeing in this video.

So if you have a chance to visit Yellowstone National Park, consider checking out one of the most consistent geysers in the area—Lone Star!  And may the Schwartz be with you!  What a world!

During the month of March 2026, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, which monitors and operates the Yellowstone seismic network, located 61 earthquakes. The largest was a Magnitude 1.9. Deformation measurements indicate a pause in uplift along the north caldera rim. Steamboat Geyser did not erupt last month but nearby Echinus Geyser, which began erupting again in February after several years of quiet, had a water eruption on March 12. Acoustic, seismic, and temperature measurements detected an eruption at Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin on March 9.

For questions, email yvowebteam@usgs.gov

Read Caldera Chronicles https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/caldera-chronicles

Visit Yellowstone Volcano Observatory website https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone