The Eruption- Volume 1

The Eruption- Chapter 4

                                                                                  Chapter 4

"Alright, our firsts top is 2 miles ahead of us. Let's take a look at what we are seeing now. You will notice a large boiling pool of water to your left. That is a hot spring. They are so hot that they continuously pump steam and pressure into the ground. The pressure can only be relieved by a nearby geyser erupting. Yellowstone contains the world's largest concentration of geysers and other geothermal features." Mr. Cabela announced to the class. We arrived at our first stop of the day. "Everyone, look straight up from where you area." Mr. Cabela said. I tilted my head back and was staring at what seemed like an endless rock formation. "This right here is the rim of the giant volcanic caldera. The tallest point on this rim is over 1500 feet above us. Can anyone tell me why the ground here is so high but we are in a valley?" No one in the class answered Mr. Cabela. A student finally chimed in. "Gravity reversed itself and shoved the ground up instead of down." A student said. Everyone turned and looked at the kid who just answered. Mr. Cabela began to laugh. "Well aren't you full of humor! That's funny!" "Oh, I was actually completely serious." The kid said. Mr. Cabela stopped laughing and then frowned. "Oh, well I'm sorry that's not correct. Would anyone else care to answer?" Allison raised her hand. "Well, about 640,000 years ago, a huge magma chamber under the ground here erupted in a tremendous explosion of extremely hot, dense ash that spread itself over the United States. The eruption was so powerful that the magma chamber was emptied out, causing the ground to collapse. That explains this big mountain here while we are in a valley\." She said with confidence. My mouth completely fell open. Mr. Cabela's eyes lit up with joy. "That's exactly correct! You couldn't have explained it better!" he exclaimed. "Alright everyone, lets load up these tour vans and take a trip over to Old Faithful, the most famous geyser in the park." Mr. Cabela said. "Make sure you sit with the same person you sat with on the bus." Mrs. Snow said to us. Our class walked over to the vans and loaded them up. Once again, Allison sat next to me. "That was amazing back there!" I had no idea you knew so much about volcanoes!" I grinned. "Geology, especially relating to volcanoes, is like my whole life! I've been so fascinated with it since my elementary years." Allison said. I stared at her. "Jake?" I continued to sit there, silent, and frozen on her. "Is something wrong?" she frowned at me. "Not at all. I never thought I'd meet someone with the same passionate interest as me." I said. She gave me a puzzled look. "Wait, what?" she said. "Believe it or not, I love the exact same thing, ever since about the 3rd grade." Allison's eyes grew wide as she stared at me. "You okay, Allison?" "Okay? I'm beyond okay! I'm excellent! Completely amazed!" she exclaimed happily. "Well that's good!" I replied. "You know, most people just blow me off when I start talking about stuff like that. Not you though. I finally found someone who will not only listen to what I'm saying, but also loves it too!" Allison grinned again. I kicked back in the seat of the van and started thinking about her. My mind just could not put the picture that the beautiful girl I just met this morning loves the same thing I do. This is literally the best day ever!

"Hey sleepyhead! We're here!' Allison giggled. "Where are we?" "Old Faithful! Silly goose!" "How long was I sleeping?" "Oh, you slept for most of the 50 minutes it took to ride here. And... I think you like to talk in your sleep!" Allison giggled again. "Huh? What? What did I say?" Allison just laughed and signaled me to follow her out of the van. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people were gathered around, waiting for Old Faithful to erupt. "It should be another 3 minutes or so before the geyser goes off." Mr. Cabela said. I looked over at the geyser. It was already hissing out steam from the ground, but as the few minutes ticked on by, the hissing noises grew louder. A massive cloud of steam soon arose from the ground. I knew the steam was hot, but it felt like a cool mist hitting my face. The hundreds of people watching the eruption cheered loudly as the column of water and stream grew higher and higher. A typical eruption of Old Faithful spits a tall jet of water a couple hundred feet high for just over 5 minutes, but this one soon turned unusual. The water column continued to climb higher and higher. It got so high that viewers were getting showered with water. Allison gave me a nudge. "We must be lucky. This never happens with Old Faithful!" Even Mr. Cabela was surprised at the spectacle. "Wow! I've never seen anything like this before!" he shouted. Behind us, USGS scientists and park rangers were standing there in awe as the geyser put on an unforgettable display. About 11 minutes into the eruption, the column height reached 700 feet, a new record for Old Faithful. Viewers were screaming and shouting with joy as they continued to be drenched with water. Finally, after a record shattering 27 minute eruption, the geyser settled back down, and the eruption was over. Our class cheered as we walked back to the passenger vans. "I think you guys have been the luckiest group I've ever toured. Now wasn't that just amazing! Stay close to the news stations tonight. I'm sure they will be saying something about it." Mr. Cabela exclaimed.

Our class gathered at a park pavilion for lunch time. The morning was already over. I couldn't believe how quickly this day was going by. Our next stop after lunch was the Norris Geyser Basin. Out of all the geologic features of Yellowstone, this one has interested me the most, and I've studied this one the closest. It's fascinating due to its geyser fields, hot springs, and mud pots. It took an hour to get from the pavilion to Norris. "Well, here we are." Mr. Cabela said, peacefully. "This here is Norris Geyser Basin. You will notice right away that this is a very geologically active place. There are over well over a hundred different geysers in this area. There is so much pressure change here that the geysers are almost in a constant state of eruption. And if you take a look to your northwest, you will notice a very large geyser and hot spring." Mr. Cabela pointed in that direction and continued on. "That geyser is called Steamboat. When that thing goes off, it truly is spectacular. It will shake the ground with its power." Mr. Cabela said. "Come on over here so we can take a closer look!" We followed him to the geyser. "Here it is. Unlike Old Faithful, Steamboat's eruptions are irregular and very unpredictable. As you can see here, Steamboat spits out a little steady stream of steam, which is normal." I swear, I thought that he was a magician. Right then and there, something huge began to unfold before my eyes. The first thing I noticed was the water level of the hot spring began to drop. "Hey look! The water is falling!" a student shouted. Suddenly, I heard a rumbling sound beneath my feet. It started off quietly, but got quite noisy. Steamboat then began to hiss loudly, with an enormous billow of steam. "Everyone back up!" Mr. Cabela shouted. We scrambled away from the geyser. Then, it happened. A force that seemed to shake the whole Earth shot a massive jet of water over a thousand feet into the air. The noise was deafening. I couldn't believe my eyes that I was witnessing a rare eruption of Steamboat. Mrs. Snow's class stood in awe as a huge column of water and steam towered above the landscape. Just as soon as it began, it was over, leaving the terrain around it drenched. The hot spring was completely drained after the eruption. "Well, this concludes this tour. You guys were awesome! You couldn't have picked a better day to visit Yellowstone. Now, go enjoy the rest of your day!" Mr. Cabela gave the class a wave goodbye as the tour vans were loaded up once again. It would be about an hour and a half drive back to the entrance gates. Throughout the van, everyone was talking about how amazing it was. "So, what did you think of that?" Allison asked me. "It was great!" I replied. "It truly was a coincidence that all that happened when we were there! It's almost like Yellowstone knew we were coming!" The two of us laughed, then Allison took a look outside the window of the van. "Oh my! Look at his!" Out the window was a perfect view of Yellowstone Lake. We were near the top of Mount Sheridan, one of the highest point of the caldera. Allison smiled and then looked at me. "What a great way to end a perfect day. Don't you think so, Jake?" "Absolutely." I said.

We arrived back at the school around 5 PM. I could see my dad waiting to pick me up. I got off the bus with Allison following me. "Well, it was nice spending the day with you." I said. "Would you like a ride?" I asked her. "Oh, that's ok. I drive to school." She walked the other way, waving at me as she turned around. I walked towards my day's car and got in. "Hey dad." "Hi. How did it go today?" "It was the greatest day ever!" "Oh really? I can definitely see that." Dad smirked at me. "What?" "I saw you! You were walking with that pretty girl off the bus!" "Dad..." "Three days in Wyoming and you already have a girlfriend!" "Dad!!" "D'awww! How cute!" he laughed. "Dad! We aren't dating!" "Oh suuurree... whatever you say!" dad gave me a sarcastic wink. I sighed and then looked away from him.

We pulled into the driveway, and I ran inside. Mom was there, waiting for me. "Hi Mom!" "Hey, take a look at the TV!" On TV, a press release from the USGS was on. "Today at Yellowstone, an extremely rare event occurred. The two most famous geysers of the park, Old Faithful and Steamboat, aligned for a virtually simultaneous eruption. Old Faithful shot water and steam to heights to record levels, and lasting nearly half an hour, while Steamboat depressurized a few hours later and generated a large hydrothermal blast. Thousands of people witnessed the spectacle, including a tour guide and his group." My eyes grew wide at the TV. It was Mr. Cabela! "This is John Cabela, tour guide. He will explain what he saw." Mr. Cabela spoke on TV "I was giving a tour to a fantastic group of students from Cody High School today. I brought them to Old Faithful as it was due to erupt. We were treated with a huge 27 minute eruption. Everyone was cheering! What really blew me away... well, not literally blowing me away... was when I brought them to Norris, and Steamboat literally exploded on queue!" Mr. Cabela reported. "Thank you, John. USGS is currently analyzing data from today on the Yellowstone region to find possible triggers to this rare event. Stay tuned."