Yellowstone's Explosive Secret

CBSNEWS.com ^ | Tuesday, March 23, 2004 | Sandra Hughes

[Momaw Nadon]

(CBS) For years, CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports, scientists have tried to understand the dynamic nature of Yellowstone National Park.

"It's beautiful up here, everybody should see this at one time or another," says one appreciative observer.

Scientist Lisa Morgan may have unlocked one piece in the puzzle, deep below the park's biggest lake.

"It is kind of the last unmapped frontier in Yellowstone National Park," says Morgan.

What she found looks more like the surface of the moon. Using sonar she's identified a massive bulging dome the size of seven football fields. The only other underwater dome in Yellowstone was the site of a major explosion.

"The most extreme event, which occurred 13,800 years ago, went about as far as five miles away from source," says Morgan.

It spewed boiling water, steam and rocks, and the fear of it happening again started another explosion of sorts: this one on the Internet. Online doomsday scenarios are swirling all over chat rooms telling visitors to stay away. Yellowstone, they warn, could blow.

Yellowstone National Park sits on top of one of the most active volcanoes in the world with more than 10,000 vents, geysers and bubbling hot springs. That's part of the reason more than 3 million people come here each year.

So for Morgan it is important to clarify. She doesn't think the big dome is ready to explode, but park ranger Hank Heasler says Yellowstone is unpredictable.

"The bottom line is we still don't know all that much about what's going on at Yellowstone," says Heasler.

So he takes the job of keeping visitors safe seriously, constantly monitoring temperatures.

And that's not always easy. A trail near the Norris Geyser was closed last summer and is still boiling hot enough to burn through shoes.

"If the temperatures here gets above boiling, then we know that there's a potential for the water to just rapidly flash to steam and cause one of these hydrothermal explosions," says Heasler.

Which is exactly what Old Faithful and her companion geysers do almost daily and that's why scientists from around the world are watching this latest discovery and wondering what nature has planned next.

[Siegfried]

Hey the real news right now is the sudden burst of small earthquake activity around North Sister mountain in central Oregon. About 50 small quakes less than 2.0 on Tuesday and lots more today.

To recap, in 1997, scientists using satellite photo mapping and interference imaging with earlier satellite photos detected a bulge on the north face of North Sister (near Bend, OR) Over the following years the bulge has been growing.

So far, scientists have cautioned that they can't see any reason to expect anything unusual, just a bulge, that's all.

I'm waiting to hear if the scientists are beginning to change their minds given that the place is becoming seismically active.

[Fiddlstix]

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
OOPS!
Wrong thread.....
Sorry....

[Psycho_Bunny]

Is EVERYONE at CBS a twit?

How did this article get written without the word 'caldera' appearing once?

[Judith Anne]

Placeholding bump to myself.

[CommandoFrank]

Roughly 35 years ago come college kids smuggled a 3 or 4 foot piece of 12" pipe with a round wheel valve attached to one end. When Old Faithful started to erupt, they stood the pipe on the end, uncovered it and started spinning the wheel. It looked like they were turning on the water to the geyser. The Park Ranger's did not see the humor... The rest of the country laughed their butt's off...

[CommandoFrank]

come = some

[Oorang]

I've been trying to follow the "Sisters bulge" story for a while. Do you know of any sources that are following this that I can periodically check? Thanks.

[KOZ.]

a moose bit my sister once.

[Pagey]

Great, this could be this years October surprise,right? I can hear Hillary blaming George W. Bush already.

[oyez]

Maybe that is just what we need to cut California loose.

[BobS]

Well, don't just sit there, do something!

[nightdriver]

Does anyone know how deep the water is at the highest point of the dome on Yellowstone Lake's bottom? Just wondering.

[NorseWood]

Bump

[UCANSEE2]

Well, after getting past your personal attacks, I was able to continue reading your response, and now can respond.

YES, the article was about the dome in the lake, and the possibility the dome could rupture, thereby releasing the pressure, but doing so by releasing this energy through the water, creating steam. This would likely only affect a small area centered around the lake.

I UNDERSTOOD THE ARTICLE. What I was trying to point out was that the lake dome is only the tip of the iceberg. There is much more to the story.

Nothing of what I said is untrue. The LINKS provided by another poster give relevant information on the Yellowstone caldera and the potential damage it could cause.

You seem to imply that the Lake Dome will undergo a pressure release, and all will be OK.

WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK THE PRESSURE CAME FROM? WHAT DOES THE BUILDUP OF PRESSURE IN A VOLCANO USUALLY INDICATE TO THOSE WHO MONITOR IT?

Here is your statement:

If the bulge in the lake explodes it's no danger to anyone that isn't in the park near the lake. And it won't trigger the caldera exploding or really be any sort of sign the caldera might explode.

Will you guarantee the above statement? Can you factually prove the last sentence? Are you aware most scientists don't agree with you?

I seem to remember a bunch of semi-informed, half-educated human beings who repeatedly informed the press and anyone else that would listen that Mount St. Helen's wouldn't erupt either.

I wonder what they think now? Oh wait, I can't ask them, they are buried under tons of lava.

I am not a fearmonger, nor a placater. I am merely trying to help people be as informed as possible. To be prepared and have it not happen is best.

[satchmodog9]

Clarke warned Bush about this.

[Doe Eyes]

It's Bush's fault.
Women and minorities hit hardest.

Hard not to miss the Liberal Press in action. This was never mentioned while Clintoon was President.

[jimtorr]

Try the home page for the Cascades Volcano Observatory, a USGS website dedicated to the volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains range.

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/

This home page has links to a large amount of information on volcanoes and the entire USGS internet prescence. I find it quite valuable.

[T Minus Four]

Fine. I live in Northern Utah and may never sleep again. Terrorism, West Nile virus, super-volcanoes in my backyard, Hitlery as Veep, baby bunny murderers, carbohydrates ...

Where does it end?[assumes anguished expression, shakes fists heavenward in despairing gesture]

[Oorang]

Thanks very much.

[Cold Heart]

I love this stuff. FR has some of the best updates on natural science.

I remember going up the Columbia River and seeing the bulge on St Helens before she blew. After she blew Govt. told people not to go out in the falling ash. TV crews interviewed some teens driving by on I-5 asking what they were doing driving out there. There response was that this was a once in a lifetime experience and they were going to enjoy it. From some safe place, this grandpa wants to enjoy as much of that stuff as I can too.