The deaths of five bison in Yellowstone National Park were
caused by toxic gases seeping from steam vents, according
to park officials, who noticed the dead animals on March 10
at Norris Geyser Basin, a concentrated area of geysers, hot
springs and steam vents. Is this more evidence that
Yellowstone is about to blow?
Sandra Hughes of CBS News says scientists are still trying to
understand what could happen at Yellowstone, by figuring
out what happened there in the past. Researcher Lisa
Morgan, who is studying the park's biggest lake, says "It is
kind of the last unmapped frontier in Yellowstone National
Park." Using sonar, she's identified a massive bulging dome
under the water that?s the size of seven football fields. The
only other underwater dome in Yellowstone was the site of a
major explosion. She says, "The most extreme event, which
occurred 13,800 years ago, went about as far as five miles
away from [there]."
Almost 14,000 years ago, that lake suddenly shot out boiling
water, steam and rocks. Despite being a national park visited
by 3 million tourists annually, park ranger Hank Heasler
says, "The bottom line is we still don't know all that much
about what's going on at Yellowstone." Yellowstone is on top
of one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The park
contains more than 10,000 vents, along with geysers and hot
springs.
Heasler monitors the situation at Yellowstone constantly. He
closed a trail near the Norris Geyser last summer because the
ground became boiling hot?hot enough to burn right through
the soles of your shoes. This is another ominous sign. He
says, "If the temperatures here gets above boiling, then we
know that there's a potential for the water to just rapidly
flash to steam and cause one of these hydrothermal
explosions."
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