Video: Hydrothermal eruption sends tourists running in Yellowstone
Vlada March was visiting Yellowstone National Park with her family Tuesday morning when an explosion sent hot water and rocks into the air, spreading debris and destroying a nearby boardwalk.
“It was extremely scary,” said March, a real estate agent from Palm Desert, Calif. “Within seconds, rocks went flying and black cloud formed in the air. We couldn’t see the sun for a few seconds.”
Biscuit Basin, about 2 miles northwest of Old Faithful, is temporarily closed after the hydrothermal explosion occurred near Sapphire Pool about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday, according to a news release from the park. No one was injured, and the park is investigating the damage. A photo with the news release shows staffers looking over destroyed railing and blackened debris atop a boardwalk.
In a video she shared with The Washington Post, March yells to her family, telling them to “Run, run, run!” Others flee the rising cloud over the boardwalk.
March and her husband, Steve, were worried that one of their children would fall and get stuck as they fled the explosion.
Their children, Maxwell, 9, and Ethan, 6, had never been to a national park before. They were mostly concerned for their grandmother, March said. March’s mother, Natalia, was closest to the explosion and covered herself with a jacket that now has a layer of dirt.
About 30 people were in the area at the time of the explosion, March said.
A tour guide told March that the explosion soared at least 200 feet into the air.
The parking lot and boardwalks around the area will remain closed “for safety reasons,” according to the news release. The park’s staff and U.S. Geological Survey staff will reopen the area when it’s safe.
Hydrothermal explosions occur when hot water creates bubbles of steam, leading to underground pressure that eventually bursts through the surface. Ken Sims, a University of Wyoming geology professor and member of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, said it’s not unlike the steam that builds up inside a sealed pressure cooker.
“Eventually it’s going to get so much steam that it’s going to pop,” Sims said.
The explosion does not reflect any change in the volcanic system and “no other monitoring data show changes in the Yellowstone region,” the park’s statement said.
Sims said the volcanic and hydrothermal systems are separate.
“These explosions are common — that’s what makes Yellowstone so special,” Sims said. “If magma were involved there’d be far more ground deformation, gas emissions and all around changes, whereas this is an isolated pocket of steam that caused the ground to explode.”
