Old Faithful might go silent after 800 years of activity: experts

[Graybeard]

https://www.foxnews.com/science/old-faithful-silent-800-years-activity-experts

By Chris Ciaccia | Fox News



Old Faithful, the famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park, may go silent after erupting continuously for nearly 800 years, experts have discovered.

According to a newly published study, the researchers found more than 40 remnants of mineralized wood near the geyser dated between 1233 and 1362 A.D., a period that is associated with "severe multidecadal regional droughts." The experts believe those severe droughts could happen again by the middle of this century, causing the geyser's eruptions to decrease or stop altogether.

"Climate models project increasingly severe droughts by mid‐21st century, suggesting that geyser eruptions could become less frequent or completely cease," the researchers wrote in the study's abstract.


Tourists photograph Old Faithful in 2011 erupting on schedule late in the afternoon in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

RESEARCHERS DISCOVER YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO'S LARGEST AND MOST CATACLYSMIC EVENT'

According to LiveScience, researchers have discovered that the interval between Old Faithful's eruptions has increased noticeably. In the 1950s, the intervals were between 60 and 65 minutes. Since 2001, the intervals increased to between 90 and 94 minutes.

In an interview with Science, the study's lead author, Shaul Hurwitz said the discovery of the mineralized wood samples led to an "aha" moment as he found they were all from approximately the same time period.

"When I submitted the samples for radiocarbon dating I didn't know whether they would be hundreds or thousands of years old," Hurwitz said in the interview. "It was an 'aha!' moment when they all clustered within a hundred-year period in the 13th and 14th centuries."

At present, the area where the geyser is has no trees due to the hot, alkaline-rich discharge from it.

The research has been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

[Bob Riebe]

Going through Ma's  books, I found an Yellowstone Park souvenir book, from before she married Dad.

It showed in pictures of other less known geysers while giving the times , per day, they went off.
I have been to Yellowstone multiple times including camping within walking distance of Old Faithful, but I know geyser eruptions now are not what they were fifteen years ago last time I was there, much less, in the 1930s when Ma was there for the first time.

I have got to make a serious effort to get back there within five years ; I also found a similar souvenir book on the South Dakota Badlands.
Now Badland pictures in Brown Sepia, color they were , make it look more nasty than it is, but last time I was there was nine  years ago, we took SD 44 through so we saw more than those that take U.S. 90 through but , from memory, it was not as nasty looking as in that book from the 1930s but then the books was from shorty after the dust bowl days.