Travel Video

https://youtu.be/9q7oah2slTY?si=hnZnj_g1zJZmMCJa

Introduction

Yellowstone National Park has approximately half of the world’s geysers—and most of them are located at the Upper Geyser Basin. One square mile contains at least 150 of these hydrothermal wonders in just one square mile, making this area the most densely concentrated geyser region in the world. Five major active geysers—Old Faithful, Grand, Castle, Daisy, and Riverside are located here.

Grand Geyser

Grand Geyser is the tallest predictable geyser in the world. Located in Yellowstone’s Upper Geyser Basin (just a short walk from Old Faithful), it erupts every 7 to 15 hours, sending massive bursts of water up to 200 feet in the air for 9 to 12 minutes

Grand is a “fountain geyser” that erupts in 1 to 4 powerful, wide bursts. The first burst is usually followed by a brief pause, then a massive blast of water

Grand Geyser is connected to other hydrothermal features. Right before Grand erupts, you’ll usually see nearby Turban Geyser begin to erupt. Turban erupts every 20 minutes on a smaller scale, but when it syncs with Grand, you know the big show is starting.

Castle Geyser 

It is a cone geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. It is noted for the particularly large geyserite sinter deposits, which form its cone. These deposits have been likened in appearance to a castle.

When the geyser was given this name in 1870, the top edges of the structure resembled the typical profile associated with the modern concept of a castle, having the appearance of a large keep, multiple turrets, and especially because of the crenellation along the top edges of what resembled its towers. Over time the cone’s shape changes because of the layers of mineral deposited in successive eruptions.

Castle currently erupts, on average, every 14 hours. The water eruption frequently reaches 75 feet (24 m) and lasts about 20 minutes, followed by a noisy steam phase of 30-40 minutes.

If Castle has a minor eruption (a few minutes of water but no steam), its next major eruption cannot be predicted.

The western side of Castle Geyser appears smoother than the sinter steps on the east side. As the story goes, thermophile mats used to live on the cone but were peeled off by visitors, permanently damaging the cone structure. Now the water flows down the east side and no thermophiles are visible.

Next week, we will watch the eruption of Daisy and Riverside Geysers.

God Bless