A hot spring in Yellowstone National Park that erupts intermittently was caught on state camera erupting in spectacular muddy plumes over the weekend.
Volcanology experts with the US Geological Survey described the eruption as simply “Kabloi!”
The disturbance occurred at Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone on Saturday morning and provided dramatic footage.
Video shared by the USGS on social media shows mud spraying up and out from the mysterious hot spring just before 9:23 a.m. local time in Biscuit Basin.
It is located about halfway between the famous Old Faithful Geyser This is mutations Water and steam high in the sky at frequent intervals and the vast and contrastingly calm Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest spring in the park, which cascades upward and displays vivid rings of color formed by Heat-loving bacteria.
Other recent explosions at the lesser-known Black Diamond Pool were mostly audible and invisible, because they occurred either at night or when a nearby camera was obscured by ice.
A hydrothermal explosion at Black Diamond in July 2024 sent rocks and mud flying hundreds of feet high and damaged a walkway used by visitors, forcing the closure of the area.
So-called dirty explosions up to 40 feet high have occurred intermittently since then.
Researchers installed a new camera and a seismic and acoustic monitoring station this summer, and say the instruments, combined with temperature sensors maintained by the Yellowstone National Park Geology Program, can better detect and characterize volcanic eruptions. It paid off on Saturday.
“We got a nice clear view of one of these nasty eruptions under a bright blue sky and the surrounding areas covered in snow (ah, winter in Yellowstone!),” the USGS said on social media, noting that it was a great example of the type of activity that has occurred at the site over the past 19 months.
Yellowstone maintains the most extraordinary collection of hot springs, geysers, clay pots, and fumaroles on Earth. More than 10,000 hydrothermal features are found within the park, more than 500 of which are hot springs. Bison, bear, moose, and other wildlife stars inhabit the park.
The Associated Press contributed reporting