An explosion in the hydrothermal field affects the area which is Yellowstone National Park * Washington State Standard

The blast crushed an unfinished boardwalk, and hurled debris several stories high over all of the Biscuit Basin region northwestern Old Faithful.

By Blair Miller

A hydrothermal explosion that occurred in Yellowstone National Park caused damage to a boardwalk, sending debris several stories up into the air on Tuesday early at the Biscuit Basin region northwest from Old Faithful, according to the head of the scientific team of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

The explosion of the blast, which the scientist responsible for it Michael Poland said was a “small” one, happened approximately 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, approximately 2.1 miles north-west of Old Faithful, likely in the Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin, Poland said.

Poland has made an announcement made in the early in the afternoon of Tuesday that it was discovered that there no injuries reported as a result of this incident.

YouTube video clips uploaded to the web by those who witnessed the blast show pedestrians walking on the boardwalk close to the location at which the explosion occurred as well as footage of the scene show debris scattered across the area and an injured walkway.

Biscuit Basin’s parking space and boardwalks have been locked to protect visitors. Yellowstone National Park geologists are looking into the explosion, however they claim that the evidence doesn’t show any unusual eruptions with volcanic origin.

“Monitoring data show no significant changes for any of the Yellowstone region. The explosion of today does not indicate any activity in the volcanic system that is still at a normal level of background activities,” Poland stated in a statement. “Hydrothermal explosions such as those present day are not an indication of imminent eruptions of volcanic ash, and don’t originate due to magma rising toward the surface. “

The author stated that such explosions are caused by steam being rapidly transformed into underground water and are “relatively common” in Yellowstone National Park.

It was an explosion in the same manner as the one that took place at Biscuit Bay in May 2009 and a less destructive explosion in Norris Geyser Basin on April 15. Porkchop Geyser located in the Norris Geyser Basin exploded in 1989.

Hydrothermal explosions usually release hot steam, boiling liquid, and mud into the air. They can reach heights that exceed 1.2 miles, according to estimates of the U.S. Geological Survey. In an article published in 2018 that huge hydrothermal explosions occur in 700 years. At least 25 craters were discovered in the park, and they measure at minimum 328 feet in size in the report.

“Although large hydrothermal explosions are rare events on a human time scale, the potential for additional future events of the sort in Yellowstone National Park is not insignificant,” the report asserts. “Based on the frequency of hydrothermal explosions in the past 1000 years, an event that is large enough to leave a hundred-meter (328-ftwide) large crater may be expected every couple of hundred years,” it states.

A reference to the National Park Service, Black Diamond Pool was dark, black waters following the earthquake of July 2006, which was followed by “several explosive eruptions” in the days following, though there were events that have been “infrequent” since then. The temperature average has been reported as 148.5 degF.

The public affairs office in Yellowstone National Park pointed the Daily Montanan to the news release released by Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. Yellowstone Volcano Observatory and said that no other information was available until Tuesday afternoon.

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory said it will make available more information once it is available.

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