Why Do Geysers Exist?

Located in the southwest corner of Yellowstone park lays the Old Faithful Geyser. A cone shaped geyser that erupts "faithfully" every 35 to 120 minutes. "Eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 US gallons (14,000 to 32,000 L) of boiling water to a height of 106 to 185 feet (32 to 56 m) lasting from 1.5 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 145." There is evidence of many other geysers on thw floorof Yellowstone lake, and have been doing so approximately 1300 years ago.

This chamber gave birth to the cataclysmic eruption of 760,000 years ago, and is connected to the magma which erupted from the chain of rhyolite domes that stretch up to the northwest. Eruptions crept sequentially along this line, beginning with the Bishop Tuff eruption and most recently displaying activity in the middle of Mono Lake at the island Negit. This most recent volcanism of the Inyo-Mono crater eruptions occurred as late as 1850 A.D (Bailey, et. al., 1989).

Higher temperatures cause atoms to spread out and decrease in density, so magma at higher temperature is less viscous and will flow more easily

It is minimal realized that lying underneath one of The United States biggest and most beautiful National Parks - Yellowstone Park - is one of the biggest "super volcanoes" on the planet. Every year, a huge number of guests come to respect the hot springs and fountains of Yellowstone, the Nation's first national park. Few are mindful that these miracles are powered by hotness from a vast repository of incompletely liquid rock (magma), simply a couple of miles underneath their feet. As this magma-which drives one of the world's biggest volcanic frameworks climbs, it pushes up the Earth's hull underneath the Yellowstone Plateau.

Lava flows of rhyolite and basalt have flowed through parts of Yellowstone as recently as 70,000 years ago. These lava flows destroyed everything in their paths while moving slowly at a rate of a few hundred feet per day, flowing months, or sometimes even several years. They are thick and cover as much as 130 square miles. They have nearly filled the Yellowstone Caldera, and spilled beyond the caldera’s border. These lava flows are responsible for forming four of the nine named plateaus in

To begin, a volcano is a mountain with an opening in the top or side that sometimes sends out rocks, ash, lava, in a sudden eruption (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). A volcano erupts when pressure builds inside the mountain. Magma, lava while it is inside the volcanoe, pushes through the weakened crust. When this built up pressure is released, Earth’s plates move causing a volcanic eruption. Also, dangerous flows of steaming lava can reach up to 2,000

The 19th century saw a construction and population boom in North America, as a result of the California Gold Rush and the flourishing of the mining industry all over the United States, which drew new settlers from Europe, Latin America and Asia. Once the gold and coal resources dried up, many of these newly-found, remote towns emptied out, as its inhabitants moved to larger areas looking for new opportunities. These are some of the coolest ghost towns that still stand within American territory.

The Geyser Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A. is a geyser that has a relatively isolated source of seismic noise. The seismic behavior of this one geyser is similar to many volcanoes observed.

Yellowstone National Park, established on March 1, 1872, is located on the western side of the United States. It has an area of 2,219,791 acres which meanders through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho (Yellowstone National Park, 2013). Over the years, due to the shift in tectonic plates, the park has moved across a mantle hotspot; this is known at the Yellowstone Caldera, a volcanic system. Some other features of the landscape include, geysers, mountains, lakes, canyons and rivers. Old Faithful is Yellowstone’s most famous geyser and there are 300 other geysers throughout the park. Another feature Yellowstone National Park offers is the waterfalls. It’s most popular waterfall, Lower Falls, is about 308’ (Yellowstone

Yellowstone has the most geothermal features than any other area in the world. It contains nearly 10,000 geysers, hot springs, and mud holes total but this number is very hard to calculate because some of these features erupt so hard that they destroy themselves instantly. One of the most well known features in the park is Old Faithful. One of the main reasons that Old Faithful is well known is how predictable it is. Scientists figure that old faithful erupts every 90 minutes and these eruptions can last any where from one and a half to five minutes. It is even possesses the nickname “Eternity’s Timepiece” because of its predictability. Another well known feature is Mammoth Hot Springs located by the headquarters of the park. The terraces at the hot springs are thousands of years old and were formed from mineral deposits in the water. The brilliant colors of the springs are formed from the algae and bacteria that live on the

Yellowstone National Park forms the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Sitting on 34,375 square miles, it is considered one of the largest nearly intact temperate-zone ecosystems on Earth (Schullery). Greater Yellowstone’s diversity and natural wealth includes the hydrothermal features, wildlife, vegetation, lakes, and geologic wonders like the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River (Hydrothermal vents and how they work). Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872 primarily to protect geothermal areas that contain about half the world’s active geysers (Hydrothermal vents and how they work). During that time, the parks natural state was largely taken for granted. As development throughout the West increased, the park’s over 2 million

The most famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Old Faithful, is so named because of the predictability of its eruptions. While Old Faithful does not erupt on an exact schedule, it does erupt on average every hour and a half, often spewing water over a hundred feet in the air. The nearby visitor center can give you a more accurate idea of the next eruption.

A mudpot is also just a geyser but the rock has melted away. A fumarole is a volcanic vent which issues steam and gas. All of the geological landmarks in Yellowstone get their heat from magma 3 miles and 125 feet under the ground. Some of the most pretty and amazing geysers are: Riverside, for its beauty, Grotto, for the cone shape of the geyser, Clepsydra, because it runs almost nonstop, Cliff Geyser, because it also runs almost nonstop and you can get very close to the geyser, and Old Faithful, for its predictability, colors, and height. Old Faithful’s name comes from its predictability. The average time between an Old Faithful eruption is 74 minutes. The range is from 60- 100 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 100-180 feet. Each eruption can last a low of 1.5 minutes to a high of 5 minutes. Each eruption expels a whopping 3,700-8,400 gallons every time it erupts. The water temperature can be 204 degrees fahrenheit and the steam is above 305 degrees fahrenheit. There is also a supervolcano under Yellowstone. It has erupted 100 and more times in 16.5 years. Fortunately, these have all been small eruptions. There is a large eruption about every 600,000 years. These large eruptions have happened 3 times. Each one made a huge caldera. The were each 2.1 million years ago, 1.3 million years ago, and 640,000 years ago. The lava never travelled much outside of the Yellowstone boundaries. If the supervolcano erupted, it would definitely

Geysers are rare and very fragile on Earth. There are about 1,000 active geysers left on the planet. They can be found in different climates, but geothermal activity must be present for a geyser to exist. That is the heat from inside the earth. It is responsible for heating volcanoes, hot springs, and geysers.

This is only a general overview of the inner workings of volcanoes and their eruptions. For more infomation, visit Volcano World -- The Premier Source of Volcano Info on the Web.