Tourists and officials were startled by a hydrothermal explosion at Black Diamond Pool in July 2024. Geoscientists are working out how and why it occurred to better understand these hazardous events.
geysers
Posted inNews
Steamy Bubbles May Control Old Faithful’s Clock
Scientists built a minigeyser to show why the natural wonder’s water surges so violently between eruptions.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Yellowstone Geyser is Diagnosed with Bubble Trap Syndrome
Like humans who eat too many beans, Yellowstone’s Sprouter Geyser has recurrent issues with gas.
Posted inNews
Mission Could Lasso Amino Acids from the Icy Plumes of Enceladus
If geysers from Saturn’s moon Enceladus contain amino acids, new research shows that a spacecraft could collect them with signatures of possible life preserved.
Posted inFeatures
Why Study Geysers?
Aside from captivating our senses, geysers have much to tell us about subsurface fluids, climate change effects, and the occurrence and limits of life on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Megadrought Caused Yellowstone’s Old Faithful to Run Dry
Scientists studying wood samples preserved by Old Faithful have determined that the famous geyser was dormant for several decades during the 13th century due to a megadrought.
Posted inNews
Are Geysers a Signal of Magma Intrusion Under Yellowstone?
Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest, is in the midst of one of its largest periods of activity. Is it linked to new magma intruding under the Yellowstone caldera?
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Where Are the Electrical Currents in the Enceladus Plume?
A plume of water ice that escapes Saturn’s moon Enceladus should be coursing with electrical currents, but data are mixed. Now simulations suggest that a sticky dust cloud may shield signals.
Posted inNews
Can Carbon Dioxide Trigger Geyser Eruptions?
Researchers looking at geyser discharge water in Yellowstone National Park found that dissolved carbon dioxide could be involved in a geyser's eruption.