Just a harmless small steam explosion in Yellowstone park like other geysers (nobody hurt) - and Yellowstone is not in the right state for a supervolcano eruption
The steam eruption in Yellowstone Park is just a steam geyser. None of our supervolcanoes is in the right state for a supervolcano with likely centuries of warning.
Text on graphic: Geysers are just heated steam and water above hot ground.
Not connected with the magma
Yellowstone can only do minor eruptions and is not in the right state for a supervolcano eruption
This is just as you’d expect and is the normal situation. After all most millennia have no supervolcano eruptions so it shouldn’t be any surprise to find ourselves in such a century or millennium.
Text in yellow: Too small for a supereruption [arrow points to upper chamber]
Large enough for a supereruption but too deep [arrow points to lower chamber]
Normal eruptions on average every 80 centuries.
Likely over 1,000 years beofre Yellowstone is ready to supererupt - or it may be over that stage and never do it again in this locationiThe lower basalt melt here is only 2% melted. The mantle plume is a hot spot that connects down to the Earth’s core. Most of the ground beneath a volcano is solid rock, and not melted. The Earth is solid right down to its liquid core way down below this diagram.
This is a schematic diagram, from this paper: The Yellowstone magmatic system from the mantle plume to the upper crust
See:
This is just as you’d expect and is the normal situation. After all most millennia have no supervolcano eruptions so it shouldn’t be any surprise to find ourselves in such a century or millennium.
This is the new eruption:
There are many steam explosions in the park. The geyser called Old Faithful erupts every 94 minutes and has been erupting for decades.
USGS update about the new eruption:
USGS update about it:
QUOTE STARTS A small hydrothermal explosion occurred in Yellowstone National Park today (July 23, 2024) around 10:00 AM MST in the Biscuit Basin thermal area, about 2.1 miles (3.5 km) northwest of Old Faithful. Numerous videos of the event were recorded by visitors. The boardwalk was damaged, but there were no reports of injury. The explosion appears to have originated near Black Diamond Pool.
...
Biscuit Basin, including the parking lot and boardwalks, are temporary closed for visitor safety. The Grand Loop road remains open. Yellowstone National Park geologists are investigating the event.
Hydrothermal explosions occur when water suddenly flashes to steam underground, and they are relatively common in Yellowstone. 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.
...
Monitoring data show no changes in the Yellowstone region. Today’s explosion does not reflect activity within volcanic system, which remains at normal background levels of activity. Hydrothermal explosions like that of today are not a sign of impending volcanic eruptions, and they are not caused by magma rising towards the surface.
HOW GEYSERS WORK - JUST SURFACE ROCKS AND SUPERHEATED STEAM AND LOCAL PLUMBING - NOTHING TO DO WITH THE UNDERLYING MAGMA
Geysers just show that the surface rocks are hot. They don't tell you anything about the magma. This animation about how a geyser works may help:
It is heated by superheated steam coming up through cracks from very deep below. That video shows how the superheated steam heats up the water as it fills the chamber until it turns into steam, the geyser empties and the cycle restarts.
The geysers only tell you what is happening in the top 100 meters or so.
The upper chamber for Yellowstone is 10 km deep and is not in the right state for a supereruption. It is easily hot enough to power the geysers but it is not hot enough for a supereruption.
The lower chamber is big enough but too deep at over 30 km. At that depth, the weight of rock above it is so great that it can't move upwards so it can't do a supereruption.
This situation won't change in less than centuries. It is also possible that the upper chamber will empty itself and solidify at some point and the cycle end altogether - that would flood Yellowstone park with large amounts of basalt lava but have little other effects and then a few million years later a new volcano would start further to the East.
This is a cycle that has happened many times before. America is moving West to East over the hot spot that creates the volcano as the Atlantic slowly expands - and we can see earlier extinct volcanoes like the Yellowstone one in the geology to the West of the current volcano.
At some point the current Yellowstone volcano will go extinct and then millions of years later be replaced by a new one to its East. So it is possible the most recent supereruption is also its last one. Either that or it will erupt again but at least centuries in the future. Our science is not yet at the point where we can distinguish those two possibilities.
My blog post here goes into more details about why the geysers are not connected in any way with the magma way below the surface
CONTACT ME VIA PM OR ON FACEBOOK OR EMAIL
If you need to talk to me about something it is often far better to do so via private / direct messaging because Quora often fails to notify me of comment replies.
You can Direct Message my profile (then More >> messages). Or better, email me at support@robertinventor.com
Or best of all Direct Message me on Facebook if you are okay joining Facebook. My Facebook profile is here:. Robert Walker I usually get Facebook messages much faster than on the other platforms as I spend most of my day there.
FOR MORE HELP
To find a debunk see: List of articles in my Debunking Doomsday blog to date See also my Short debunks
Scared and want a story debunked? Post to our Facebook group. Please look over the group rules before posting or commenting as they help the group to run smoothly
Facebook group Doomsday Debunked
Also do join our facebook group if you can help with fact checking or to help scared people who are panicking.