Part of Yellowstone National Park Closed Due to Melted Road
The thermal geology of Yellowstone National Park created a hot spot that melted an asphalt road and closed access to popular geysers and other attractions.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – Firehole Lake Drive in Yellowstone National Park has been temporarily closed due to a damaged road surface, the National Park Service announced on Thursday.
The closure was caused by extreme heat from surrounding thermal areas has caused thick oil to bubble to the surface, damaging the blacktop and creating unsafe driving conditions on the popular and scenic road off the Grand Loop Road halfway between Old Faithful and Madison Junction in the park’s Lower Geyser Basin.
The 3.3-mile loop drive takes visitors past Great Fountain Geyser, White Dome Geyser and Firehole Lake.
The road will remain closed for the next several days while maintenance crews make repairs. The date for reopening the road will be determined by national park officials.
Updated Yellowstone National Park road information is available 24 hours a day by calling 307-344-2117, or visit: http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm
This is all a natural occurance. When a volcanic area is ready, it’s ready. I fail to understand why anyone would downplay the potential dangers here! I would be ready at a moments notice, as they recommend! Why act stupidly, risking yourselves and others?
Isn’t that snow beside the road? A road does not melt from heat and the snow beside the road not melt with it. This is looking alarming and unfortunately before a eruption may occur there may also be a massive venting of sulfuric acid into the lakes which will release deadly plumes of vapor. While death from volcanic gases only accounts for roughly 3% of total deaths from an eruption, it is still a major hazard to be aware of as well. The moments notice is in my opinion at hand. If I lived in the area, I would be asking serious questions about what kind of monitoring they are doing for a potential gas release and what methods of public notification are in place and the time frames involved should one occur. This looks like an acid burn off and not a heat melt event in my opinion. It is possible the vapor was concentrated enough to react with winter salt left on the road. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt there are going to be proper notifications in place in time by humans; however this massive steam venting is nature’s notice to leave the area now in my opinion. The plume from Lake Nyos, Africa in 1986 shot up 328 feet into the air and spread out rapidly over 15 miles. It killed over 1,700 people many of whom had vehicles and the means to escape in a moments notice had the moment been long enough. Has there been any analysis of this steam? It may contain more than water vapor and already be slowly changing the content of the local atmosphere to higher levels of CO2 than normal. Just because one lake erupted suddenly does not mean another may not vent off slowly. In my opinion this road appears to have suffered an acid burn off and not a tar boil from over heating. Naturally, morning mists may appear in photos as steam venting and pranksters can spill acid too. So, I would be skeptical if it were not for the tremor data. Mount St. Helens damage impact was 185 miles wide and even with a months notice of the coming event, 56 lost their lives. Mount St. Helens however was a fortunate event in that besides nature’s pre-warning of the steam venting and tremors leading up to the eruption for a month before, the mountain face had the red flag of growing a bulge which grew at a rate of five feet a day. Yellowstone’s underground activity may never create a bulge to warn by or if one has or is occurring now may go unnoticed due to it being underwater. So, while I do not want to alarm anyone. I just want to make certain everyone realizes that if this blows a moments notice may not be enough to escape a major eruption at Yellowstone. Hugs and Prayers for all in the area. Having to evacuate would not be fun and a pain to say the least; especially given the extended times frames and possibility of it not happening at all too; which is why those whose job it is to order evacuations will be very careful to not order one until they know for certain it is unavoidable and NOT because as this video suggests that they are hoping you sleep through your own death. Unfortunately, their calculated risks may or may not provide enough time to escape. So, everyone should make their own judgment call on this one, in my opinion. Personally, I would be evacuating if I lived within one hundred miles of Yellowstone and preparing for a further evacuation at a moments notice beyond the one hundred mile mark if things go from bad to extreme. Mount St. Helen’s showed major activity decades before it erupted and then quieted down to what appeared to be a peaceful and safe mountain. So, there is no guarantee Yellowstone will not quiet back down as well. Such are the personal risks of choosing to live near volcanic activity, the beach and on planet earth really and yet the beauty such dangers a live planet produces in nature are far better than a dead planet to be sure and well worth the risk.