There has been little geothermal monitoring within Yellowstone’s famous hydrothermal basins. The lack of such data prevents scientists from tracking activity that may lead to hydrothermal explosions essentially steam bursts which are an underappreciated hazard in Yellowstone National Park.
New data for rhyolite lava flows in Yellowstone caldera suggest the eruptions occurred in tight clusters. These results change the way geologists think about lava flow and volcanic hazards.
Happy 2024! The start of the year means that it is time once again for our annual look back at geological activity and research that occurred in Yellowstone in 2023.
John Wesley Powell, the second Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 1881 to 1894 and explorer of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon, recognized that water availability was a significant challenge in the western United States. During Powell’s USGS tenure, systematic inventorying of streams and their flows in the USA began in earnest.