Yellowstone

What better way to celebrate the upcoming 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park than with an updated geologic map? Scientists and students from Montana State University are spending this summer doing just that!

Old Faithful is the most famous geyser in the world, but who named the iconic feature?  And how does the current frequency of its eruptions compare to when it was first described?

Scientists of all disciplines talk about models—models of how a virus works, or the universe formed, or the structure of an atom.  Models can also help volcanologists understand what is happening beneath the ground!

It’s a common misconception that all geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone are acidic.  Some are, but the water that comes out of many of Yellowstone’s most iconic features, like Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring, is actually basic.  But why

Volcanologists have a variety of ways of measuring present-day gas emissions from volcanoes.  But what about gas emissions that happened in years past, before measurements were possible?  For these periods, it turns out that you can actually read the signature of gas emissions in tree rings!

Hayden Valley is a gorgeous expanse of grassland and meadows located right in the center of Yellowstone National Park.  It is a haven for wildlife and a popular spot for viewing some of Yellowstone’s most iconic animals.  But why does this meadow exist in the midst of what is otherwise a high-altitude forest of lodgepole pine trees?  The area’s geology holds the key

Yellowstone’s thermal features, like geysers and mud pots, are delicate and dangerous. So how can scientists get a close-up view of these structures to monitor their changes through time? It turns out that photography holds the key. In fact, with a series of well-aimed and calibrated photos, it is possible to construct three-dimensional models of Yellowstone’s most famous geyser cones!

It seems like a simple question: how old is a geyser?  We know that all of Yellowstone’s current geysers formed after the last glaciers scoured the land surface about 15,000 years ago.  But what happened since that time?

Have you ever wondered just what went in to going from ground shaking detected by a seismometer to a located earthquake available for viewing online?  In this week’s Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles, we trace the path from the ground in Yellowstone to your web browser!

Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin is one of the truly unique places on Earth. It contains the world's highest concentration of geysers, including Old Faithful, and several remarkable hot springs. One the most famous is Morning Glory Pool, which is accessible at the end of an easy 1.5-mile trail from the Old Faithful Visitor Center. But years ago, you could drive a car right up to its edge.

Explosive super eruptions are among the most extreme events to affect the Earth’s surface. Thankfully, humans have not experienced such an event in recorded history (the last massive volcanic explosion was 26,500 years ago). The only clues to help us better understand super eruptions and their impacts are hiding within the geological record—including along the track of the Yellowstone hotspot...