Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — The world's largest active geyser has erupted four times in the last seven weeks, a spate of activity that has geophysicists excited about the Yellowstone National Park water feature.
The Steamboat Geyser, which can shoot water up to 300 feet (91 meters) high, erupted last Friday and continued to spew water into Monday.
Steamboat has gone dormant for as long as nine years and its first eruption since 2014 occurred in mid-March, followed by two other eruptions in April.
This time-lapse footage was captured during the 4/27 eruption of Steamboat Geyser. Steamboat typically erupts erratically with inactivity periods that can last months or years. This spring there were 3 eruptions in 6 weeks. When will it erupt next? pic.twitter.com/wCOa5B8prR
— YellowstoneNPS (@YellowstoneNPS) May 4, 2018
Geophysicist Bob Smith tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide that there is no consensus for what's behind the geyser's unusual activity.
Steamboat Geyser pic.twitter.com/9jeTvZBFud
— Jill McKnight 🖖 (@maerlyn99) May 7, 2018
Scientists last Saturday deployed 28 seismographs around the geyser to gather data in hopes of catching it erupting again to learn more about Steamboat.
___
Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, http://www.jhnewsandguide.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
