Ranger Talks

The National Park Service continues a tradition of presenting information, in a fun way, to visitors of our parks.  At virtually all of the National Parks the Rangers are part guides, part safety officer and part teacher.  Every evening somewhere on the grounds a Park Ranger tells a story.  Tonight, ours was about plate tectonics, which sounds very geeky, but he presented it in a meaningful and practical way for everyone.  At most parks the Ranger talks are held outside around a campfire.  At the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone the Ranger talk took place in the new auditorium, which is part of the new visitor center.  No fire, but we did sing Home on the Range.

What did we learn?   Technically, Buffalo don't roam around Yellowstone.  They are Bison, but everyone calls them Buffalo, so they go along with it.

As many people know Yellowstone is actually a giant caldera and active volcano.  All of the interesting geysers and other geological wonders are the result of a large magma chamber that is close to the surface.  The magma chamber below the surface currently is not nearly as large as the one from the last eruption which took place about 72,000 years ago.  Still, it constitutes a super-volcano.  Typically, these types of volcanoes give fair warning before they erupt in many forms.

The certainty of Yellowstone as a caldera is the result of the space program.  I was once told that the Space Shuttle made the discovery, but that isn't true.  NASA and the defense department were working on spy satellite technology in the late sixties and were looking for places to photograph.  Yellowstone turned out to be one of the places.  That's when the pictures from the satellite showed them the ring of rock around the park that is the ridge of the volcano.

How likely is it to erupt tomorrow?  Not very likely even though anything is possible.  Would we have a very bad day if that did happen.  Only for a second because the way super-volcanoes erupt is to let go with a giant blast.  The park would disappear.  It would also eject enough ash into the sky to cause significant health impact (aka death) in many adjacent states.  If the magma chamber grows, well, then we have a different kind of event.

To remind us that it's all about geology here, there were about 3 temblors today.  They are all very small.  Californians probably don't even consider them legitimate earthquakes.  It feels like someone is running down the hallway in the hotel or that a large truck is driving by.

As the park ranger told us, there isn't anything we can do about it.  Plate tectonics and geological forces like these cannot be shaped by the earths inhabitants.  In the meantime he recommends we appreciate the park for what it is, appreciate our lives for what they are and enjoy the family and friends we so often bring to Yellowstone with us.