The Earth Story

Drone overflight view of Strokkur geyser, Iceland

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Boiling mudpot, Lassen Volcanic National Park

Burst from Iceland’s Strokkur Geyser

Boiling Mud Volcano, Yellowstone

Hot springs/mudpots, Los Azufres, Michoacan De Ocampo, Mexico

Excerpts of 8 hours of staring at and filming the lava lake in Nyiragongo volcano, Virunga Volcanoes National Park, Congo

Some impressive boiling mud pots, San Jacinto, Leon, Nicaragua

Boiling hot spring, Yellowstone

Freshly filmed burst from Strokkur Geyser, Iceland

Beehive Geyser

This magnificent spot is found in Yellowstone National Park, a short trek on the boardwalks from the Old Faithful Inn and geyser. Beehive tends to erupt about twice a day, although not as predictably as its nearby neighbor. Beehive eruptions can be particularly spectacular as the narrow vent causes water to erupt about 50 meters high.

Most geysers have similar underground structures. A column of water is heated at the bottom; the pressure of the colder water at the top holds the hotter water at the bottom in place until it becomes so hot that it boils despite the pressure. When the water starts to boil, it ejects the water above it, causing a rapid pressure drop that allows the rest of the column to boil. The erupting hot water often precipitates dissolved minerals, such as silica, at the surface where the water begins cooling, creating the tight nozzles that focus the eruption into vertical columns.

-JBB

Image credit: http://bit.ly/2cCVcvQ

Reference: http://bit.ly/2chXBO4

Fishing Cone Geyser

Yellowstone National Park is home to one of the largest geyser fields in the world and many of these geysers tell an interesting historical story. This one, Fishing Cone Geyser, is one of a few unique geysers around the world used for culinary endeavors.

Fishing Cone Geyser is now seasonally submerged beneath Yellowstone Lake, but when it was first discovered the water level of the lake was lower and the cone protruded above the surface. Early visitors to the park would perch on the geyser’s cone, throw their fishing lines in the lake, and then throw their catch into the geyser. Bon appetit—instantly boiled fish.

We hope your mouth isn’t watering for geyser-boiled fish, though; the practice was prohibited in 1912.

-CM

Photo Credit: manufrakass http://bit.ly/1H92cNc

This is so neat - I talk about the triple point of water in my classes, the one pressure and temperature where solid, liquid, and vapor can coexist simultaneously. Here in a sample of cyclohexane being pumped down in pressure they hit the triple point - all 3 phases form simultaneously, so it boils and freezes at the same time.