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Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone at risk of Hydrothermal explosion, not Volcanic

One of the USA’s greatest tourist destinations, Yellowstone National Park is more than just the home of Old Faithful. Yellowstone lies atop one of the world’s few dozen hotspots, just like Hawaii, and is home to the Yellowstone Caldera (a volcanic feature formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption) which measures in at 55 kilometers by 72 kilometers. 

So it is not surprising that fears of a supermassive volcanic eruption occurring are not far from locals’ minds.

But many are now starting to believe that the fears should not be directed towards the volcanic, but more towards the hydrothermal activity that the region is known for.

Lisa Morgan, of the U.S. Geological Survey, recently stepped before a gathering of scientists at the Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone, and presented her findings that Tsunami-like waves may have been the catalyst for the world’s largest known hydrothermal explosion, the explosion that created the Mary Bay crater.

Hydrothermal explosions take place when superheated water below the grounds surface, are allowed the room to expand. Once the pressure is removed from the superheated water, it will flash to steam and expand. Given the right amounts of water and the right conditions, such a “flash” could create a substantial explosion.

Morgan explained that over the last 14,000 years there have been 20 hydrothermal explosions within what is now Yellowstone. Many of the craters left behind are larger than football fields, including the Mary Bay crater that stretches more than one mile across the northern edge of Yellowstone Lake. Other remarked locations are Turbid Lake and Indian Pond.

While smaller explosions, mostly harmless to visitors, happen every few years or so, the larger ones occur only about every 700 years. It is these larger ones that have left behind the world’s largest craters as a result of hydrothermal explosions that scientists are trying to understand.

At Mary Bay, Morgan believes that there were at least 2 massive waves of water that caused the explosion. Evidence of these waves has been found more than 3 miles north of the lake’s edge, she said. The subsequent explosion would have reached more than a mile in to the air, and spread debris over an 18-square-mile area.

“You would not want to be here when this occurred,” Morgan said.