Why does old faithful erupt

To the surprise of the researchers, all wood samples had similar ages and implied that lodgepole pine trees grew on the geyser mound in the 13 th and 14 th centuries CE.

This range of dates is the same within uncertainty to the single date that George Marler determined more than six decades ago. Because lodgepole pine trees do not grow on active geyser mounds, the study suggests that when these trees grew on the Old Faithful Geyser mound approximately to years ago, the geyser was not erupting. In the Yellowstone region, past climate reconstructions based on tree ring records reveal that a severe and sustained drought occurred in the mid th century, which coincides with the onset of tree growth on the Old Faithful Geyser mound.

It would seem, then, that the pause in Old Faithful eruptions during the 13 th and 14 th centuries was related to diminished precipitation and groundwater supply to the geyser for several decades. The severe 13 th century drought had significant effects well beyond Old Faithful Geyser. In fact, severe and persistent droughts impacted large parts of the USA and had a tremendous impact on indigenous peoples, including the Anasazi , Fremont , and Lovelock cultures.

The full length of this sample covers the time period CE. Since climate influences tree growth and the width of annual rings, the relation between ring widths and recent instrumental climate records air temperature, precipitation and river discharge is used to interpret climate variability in the distant past. Wood from the lodgepole pines was preserved for over years on the geyser mound because it was near-continuously wetted by the alkaline, silica-rich thermal waters erupted from geysers.

These waters deposit the mineral opal on tree stems and wood tissues which prevents the disintegration of cellulose by fungi, bacteria, and insects—it causes silicification , or mineralization, of the wood! This silicification process can be rapid and take only days or weeks. Because climate models forecast increasingly severe regional droughts by the mid st century , results from the new study suggest that geyser eruptions could become less frequent in the future.

Nearly years later, about 4 million people visit the park annually to see its most famous geyser: Old Faithful. It is a sight to behold, shooting tens of thousands of litres of boiling water hundreds of feet into the air about 17 times a day.

While the geyser is highly predictable — it has erupted every 44 to minutes since — a new climate assessment and a recent study have revealed that rising temperatures, reduced snowfall and increased rain threaten to shut Old Faithful off completely by the end of the century. While that could threaten the natural beauty of the park, it also means an ecosystem three times the size of Rhode Island, stretching 22m acres across Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, face a threat that no national park can protect against: rising temperatures.

If temperatures at Yellowstone rise 10F 5. Old Faithful will almost surely shut off completely, and the snowpack that feeds rivers throughout the west may disappear. But it is not the first time this has happened. About years ago, extreme heat and drought made Old Faithful come to a complete standstill for decades, a shift which changed everything from what plant species grew in the area to what the land looked like. Looking at what happened then could be a mirror to the present — a way of looking back to look forward.

Old Faithful can vary in height from feet with an average near feet. This has been the historical range of its recorded height. Eruptions normally last between 1.

These eruptions are predicted with a 90 percent confidence rate, within a 10 minute variation, based on the duration and height of the previous eruption. During visitor center hours, geyser statistics and predictions are maintained by the naturalist staff. This is done by good old-fashioned observation, timing with a stopwatch, and writing in a log book.

After every eruption, water levels rise in the chamber and send steam bubbles into the conduit—which creates a "bubble trap" that leads to the eventual steam explosion. The finding helps discredit an old idea that large geysers are fed by long, narrow tubes Our Amazing Planet describes Old Faithful's "plumbing [as] more like a bagpipe than a flute".