Yellowstone geysers are partially fueled by carbon dioxide

Science News : Every one to two hours, the geysers in Yellowstone National Park spew thousands of liters of water tens of meters into the air. Although the geysers are fueled by magma pools lying 20 km underground, it was discovered that the magma can’t actually heat the water enough to make it boil. To find out what pushes the geysers beyond the tipping point, Bethany Ladd and Cathryn Ryan of the University of Calgary in Canada collected water samples every 10 to 20 minutes during the intervals between eruptions. They found that as carbon dioxide gas accumulates in the water, it lowers both the boiling point of the water and the pressure inside the geyser conduit. That carbonation builds until the groundwater flashes to steam and erupts. Such eruptions can occur elsewhere in the world, as happened in 2014 at Japan’s Mount Ontake volcano, when more than 50 people were killed and many more injured. Better understanding of the role gas plays in groundwater eruptions could help provide early warning of such potential disasters, particularly when there have been no earthquakes or other visible evidence to indicate an imminent eruption.