The world’s largest acidic geyser has ‘woken up’, erupting for the first time since 2020.
The Echinus Geyser is a hot spring located in Norris Geyser Basin at Yellowstone National Park, measuring around 660 feet (200 metres) across.
During the 1970s it would erupt for up to 90 minutes at a time, blasting hot acidic water up to 75ft (23m) into the air roughly every hour.
But the eruptions became less consistent over time, with only one recorded in 2018, one in 2019 and two in 2020.
Then, the activity suddenly stopped, with the geyser going quiet for years.
Until now – as eruptions began once again on February 7 and have continued sporadically since. These last for up to three minutes with water heights reaching up to 30ft (9m).
‘For the first time since 2020, Echinus Geyser is erupting!’ the US Geological Survey (USGS) wrote on X.
It follows concerns recently raised by experts that Yellowstone’s supervolcano is more active than previously thought – fuelling fears of an impending eruption.
Echinus is the largest acidic geyser known, measuring around 660 feet (200 metres)in diameter
This monthly temperature graph shows spikes at the Echinus Geyser, representing eruptions taking place across February
‘Echinus Geyser is the largest acidic geyser in the world,’ Mike Poland, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Scientist–in–Charge, said.
‘And it’s been putting on a bit of a show in February.’
Small ‘spikes’ in the geyser’s temperature at the beginning of last month were followed by the first proper eruption since December 2020, he explained.
‘This was followed by a few more eruptions… and then by the middle of the month, we started seeing very frequent eruptions that lasted until about February 24.
‘Since that time there have been a couple of additional surges but no additional eruptions, so we’ll have to see whether Echinus continues to put on a show as we go into March.’
In terms of Yellowstone’s supervolcano, Mr Poland said there is ‘nothing really brewing right now…the magma chamber is nearly solid’.
However a study published in July indicates something unusual is going on, as researchers discovered more than 86,000 ‘hidden earthquakes’ between 2008 and 2022.
Worryingly, more than half of those earthquakes came in swarms – small groups of interconnected tremors – which have been known to precede volcanic activity.
The Echinus Geyser erupting on October 24, 2017. Recent activity has seen water heights reaching up to 30ft (9m)
The researchers say these ‘chaotic’ swarms were found moving along rough, young fault lines running deep below the Yellowstone Caldera.
These clusters of seismic activity are likely caused by hot, mineral–rich water forcing itself through cracks in the rock.
These same geothermal processes are the reason that Yellowstone produces its famous geysers – like Echinus.
Meanwhile, in March last year scientists announced the discovery of a newly opened volcanic vent spewing steam into the air.
The vent, which was unearthed in the Norris Geyser Basin, is at the foot of a rhyolite lava flow.
At the time, USGS reassured that there is still about 100,000 years to go before the supervolcano is likely to erupt.
But the discovery highlighted just how active the seemingly dormant volcano is.
The volcano contains a vast reservoir of magma with the potential to unleash a category eight eruption over 100 times more powerful than Krakatoa.
Scientists previously spotted an ominous sign that the supervolcano below Yellowstone (pictured) could be building up to an eruption
Entire states could become uninhabitable as toxic air sweeps across two–thirds of the US, grounding thousands of flights and forcing millions to leave their homes.
‘In terms of large explosions, Yellowstone has experienced three at 2.08, 1.3, and 0.631 million years ago,’ the USGC previously explained.
‘This comes out to an average of about 725,000 years between eruptions.
‘That being the case, there is still about 100,000 years to go, but this is based on the average of just two time intervals between the eruptions, which is meaningless.’
COULD AN ERUPTION AT THE YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO BE PREVENTED?
Recent research found a small magma chamber, known as the upper-crustal magma reservoir, beneath the surface
Nasa believes drilling up to six miles (10km) down into the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone National Park to pump in water at high pressure could cool it.
Despite the fact that the mission would cost $3.46 billion (£2.63 billion), Nasa considers it ‘the most viable solution.’
Using the heat as a resource also poses an opportunity to pay for plan – it could be used to create a geothermal plant, which generates electric power at extremely competitive prices of around $0.10 (£0.08) per kWh.
But this method of subduing a supervolcano has the potential to backfire and trigger the supervolcanic eruption Nasa is trying to prevent.
‘Drilling into the top of the magma chamber ‘would be very risky;’ however, carefully drilling from the lower sides could work.
This USGS graphic shows how a ‘super eruption’ of the molten lava under Yellowstone National Park would spread ash across the United States
Even besides the potential devastating risks, the plan to cool Yellowstone with drilling is not simple.
Doing so would be an excruciatingly slow process that one happen at the rate of one metre a year, meaning it would take tens of thousands of years to cool it completely.
And still, there wouldn’t be a guarantee it would be successful for at least hundreds or possibly thousands of years.
