Castle Geyser in Yellowstone National Park
by Catherine Sherman
Title
Castle Geyser in Yellowstone National Park
Artist
Catherine Sherman
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Castle Geyser on the left steams in the cool early morning air of the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000, and 200 to 250 geysers erupt in Yellowstone each year, making it the place with the highest concentration of active geysers in the world, thanks to its location in an ancient active caldera.
Rainwater and snowmelt percolates into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then the steam erupts at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Because of Yellowstone's high elevation the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 F (93 C). Some of the built-up pressure in eruptions of hot water and steam that can reach up to 390 feet (120 m) into the air (see Steamboat Geyser, the world's tallest geyser). Water erupting from Yellowstone's geysers is superheated above that boiling point to an average of 204 F (95.5 C) as it leaves the vent. The water cools significantly while airborne and is no longer scalding hot by the time it strikes the ground, nearby boardwalks, or even spectators.
Uploaded
September 5th, 2013
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