While you might think catching a geyser erupting would be a wonderful experience for those who caught this one, it was anything but. This world is becoming so polluted even moments like this are basically ruined.
Ear Spring erupted at Yellowstone back on September 15th and what it brought up from beneath was not something many would have expected. According to park employees, a strange assortment of items were found strewn across the geyser’s vent. You see, as a result of the eruption all of the trash tourists had been throwing was brought back up. Some of these things could even be from as far back as the 1930s.
Yellowstone Park wrote as follows in regards to what they found on their Facebook page:
“After Ear Spring erupted on September 15, employees found a strange assortment of items strewn across the landscape around its vent! Some are clearly historic: they’ll be inventoried by curators and may end up in Yellowstone’s archives.
Foreign objects can damage hot springs and geysers. The next time Ear Spring erupts we hope it’s nothing but natural rocks and water. You can help by never throwing anything into Yellowstone’s thermal features!”
This eruption is said to have been the geysers biggest in over 60 years and is a treat many rarely ever get to see. Usually, this geyser is just a placid hot pool. While many worried that the eruption and hydro thermal changes going on in the basin could be red flags for something volcanic the USGS does not think there is any threat currently and says there are “no signs of impending volcanic activity.”
The USGS told Miami Herald as follows:
“Geyser and hot spring eruptions are common occurrences and do not reflect changes in activity of the Yellowstone volcano. Shifts in hydro thermal systems occur only the upper few hundred feet of the Earth’s crust and are not directly related to movement of magma several kilometers deep.”
While it wasn’t a lot of trash, it was a decent amount that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. You would think people would be happy to do their part in keeping places like this clean but I guess not. What do you think about this? I for one find it quite disappointing that something so magical was ruined by those who wanted to be litterbugs in the past.
