Yellowstone National Park, WY
After hundreds of years of sharing ground with the Anemone Geyser, park visitors and rangers alike, were shocked to learn that Old Faithful is now mingling with a much younger, much hotter geyser.
We asked Park Ranger Cynthia Ramos for an explanation.
Cynthia explained that the Yellowstone National Park experiences over 300 earthquakes a year which are known to cause shifts in the earth’s tectonic plates. These shifts can reroute the flow of underground chambers which are super-heated by volcanic activity.
“This can sometimes result in the formation of new geysers or cause temperature shifts and variation in the size of current geysers. Sometimes these newer geysers can even be 40-50 degrees hotter than the other geysers,” explained Cynthia.
The divisive formation of this new geyser so close to Old Faithful has Park rangers choosing sides.
“I have been working in this park for 10 years now and Old Faithful and the Anemone Geyser were always the closest, now the Earth’s crust shifts and all of the sudden this new Geyser is here, right next to Old Faithful? I barely even know this geyser! And everybody is asking me about it and telling me how it looks really hot. Old Faithful is also like hundreds of years older than this new geyser, frankly it’s disgusting,” complained Park Ranger Christopher Stout.
“Change can be a good thing, and honestly it’s inevitable,” remarked Park Ranger Adam Gross. “We’ve actually seen a lot of changes in Old Faithful, for one, it’s way more active than it ever used to be and the park visitors love it.”
The park is allowing visitors to vote on a name for the new geyser, currently the two most popular names are Charlotte and Susan.
We asked Geologist Amy Brown what would happen to the Anemone Geyser. “Oh, the Anemone Geyser will be fine, it’s been active with the Beehive Geyser, the Plume Geyser, and the Giantess Geyser for at least 50 years now,” Disclosed Brown.
Hot.
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