~~~~~~~~~~
Unmatched beauty with each day!
Retired, we spend our August vacation time in magnificent Yellowstone. With Bob Smith's book, "Windows into the Earth" in hand, we realize as at no other time before, that Yellowstone is one of the world's LARGEST and most DANGEROUS volcanoes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ranger talks this year reflect new information about the hot spot underlying Yellowstone --- far bigger and massive than previously thought. Recent seismic mapping shows a huge, very deep plume underlying the borders of Yellowstone. Picture a postage stamp on a baseball.... the postage stamp represents Yellowstone's borders, while the baseball represents the size of the hot magma plume pushing up under Yellowstone.
~~~~~~~~~~
Unmatched beauty with each day!
~~~~~~~~~~
Old Faithful! Here one can clearly see the two jets of water shooting out from the cone. Latest finding is that the Old Faithful's interval really has NOT changed. What has changed is the eruptions are generally longer, therefore the time between these eruptions is similarly extended. It only appears that Old Faithful has slowed down.
~~~~~~~~~~
Don't DARE miss the new Visitor's Center at Canyon! This contains the latest findings about Yellowstone ongoing research. A large "hot spot" seemingly creeps across all of Idaho and up to the present location in Yellowstone. While the hot spot appears to move, what actually is happening is that the land is being pushed over this stationary hot spot at an estimated rate of one inch per year. This hot spot creates a "wake." The wake, like that made by a motor boat speeding through water, causes a large parabola of earthquakes extending out from the moving hot spot all the way down in the Salt Lake City area of Utah, and up into Montana.. This hot spot affects land many miles from his center.
~~~~~~~~~~
This map in the new Canyon Visitor's Center shows the results of the hot spot over millions of years as Idaho was pulled over this hot plume of lava (the Hot Spot). It has literally leveled the land as if a blow torch had been taken to Idaho. Yellowstone is a SUPER volcano. When Yellowstone erupts, it doesn't just level a mountain .... it levels a mountain RANGE!.
~~~~~~~~~~
Indeed, we left Yellowstone this year with much greater respect. While past visits were to the "wonderland," our visit this year was an awakening to the fact that Yellowstone is a very active and very dangerous volcano. Every 600,000 to 650,000 years, it blows up with indescribable force. As one ranger, Sam Holbrook, joked to the group, "Yellowstone blows up every 650,000 years... Guess what TOMORROW is?!" While humorous, it sends a chill up one's spine to realize that you are standing upon ground which no one knows much about ... or the exact time frame for the next eruption ... or even if that eruption will ever occur.
FREE download ---- Wayne's music composition, "Deep Woods" (1.7MB - 3:36) --- a composition inspired by the solitude and quiet, deep inside the Yellowstone forest. Note: This is the new MP3-Pro format which will play on any mp3 player, but if played on the MP3-Pro player, will sound "as good as or better than" regular MP3 made at a similar sampling rate. MP3-Pro files also take half the space of a standard MP3 file.
Page Modified April 14, 2007