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Yellowstone National Park is home to relaxing landscapes that will take your breath away. But once in a while, it also gets a few scenes of commotion. On the morning of July 23, a hydrothermal explosion took place at the park’s Biscuit Basin, taking visitors by surprise. Video of the moment shows a violent and tall blast of rock, water, and steam emerging from the ground.
Vlada March, a real estate agent who was on a guided tour with her family, captured the nerve-wracking footage. “We saw more steam coming up and within seconds it became this huge thing,” March told AP. “It just exploded and became like a black cloud that covered the sun.”
While no injuries were reported, the National Park Service shared images on social media that show a boardwalk covered in debris, as well as a bench and portions of a fence that were destroyed by the explosion. They added that both their staff and staff from United States Geological Survey (USGS) will monitor conditions and reopen the area once deemed safe.
“Hydrothermal explosions occur when water suddenly flashes to steam underground, and they are relatively common in Yellowstone,” says the USGS. “For example, Porkchop Geyser, in Norris Geyser Basin, experienced an explosion in 1989, and a small event in Norris Geyser Basin was recorded by monitoring equipment on April 15, 2024. An explosion similar to that of today also occurred in Biscuit Basin on May 17, 2009.”
The USGS explains that explosions such as this are hard to predict, likening them eruptions to a pressure cooker, as “they may not give warning signs at all.” More so, they are more common that people think. “This was the sort of event that occurs 1-2 times per year (often in the backcountry, so it goes unnoticed). It’s an underappreciated hazard that we’ve been emphasizing for years,” the agency says.
Both park authorities and the USGS say that volcanic activity remains “at normal background levels,” and that this event had nothing to do with sudden volcanic activity in the area. “If it did, there would be far more changes occurring (abundant seismicity, deformation, gas emissions, widespread changes in geyser activity, etc.,” they confirm.
To stay up to date with any new developments on this explosion, you can follow Yellowstone National Park on X (formerly Twitter).
A hydrothermal explosion took place at Yellowstone National Park’s Biscuit Basin, taking visitors by surprise.
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While no injuries were reported, Yellowstone National Park shared images on social media that show a boardwalk covered in debris.
(Heads Up!) Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park temporarily closed due to hydrothermal explosion. More info: https://t.co/tcDR8oRNSx pic.twitter.com/YP7CkwNrQR
— Yellowstone National Park (@YellowstoneNPS) July 23, 2024
h/t: [CBS News]
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