Geysers and Hot Springs

A map showing Yellowstone's geyser basins including the Upper Geyser Basin with Old Faithful and Morning Glory Pool, and nearby Grand Prismatic.

Watch Old Faithful erupt on video and and explore exciting FAQs about Yellowstone's most famous geyser.

Brewers use Yellowstone organisms for quality testing beer.

Most people are aware of danger from wild animals such as grizzly bears. But for unwary visitors to Yellowstone National Park, the extraordinary natural features that keep Yellowstone such an alluring place can also make it perilous. Deaths and injuries are not uncommon around geysers and other geothermal attractions.

At the Norris Back Geyser Basin, you'll see a land of extremes... the tallest, but infrequent geyser, geysers that erupt continuously, springs that have been damaged by man, new geysers, old geysers, and exploding geysers.

With a jet engine roar and a mighty burst of steam and water, a large geyser that hadn't erupted since 1998 surprised two hikers near the edge of Norris Geyser Basin in early June, 2008.

There is no cure, but treatment can consist of regular visits to geysers, or becoming a member of the Geyser Observation and Study Association (GOSA), a citizen-science group of 300 members.

At Yellowstone's Artists' Paintpots, you see pastel-colored mud and springs, bubbling and gurgling under a blanket of steam.

This spring is remarkable for two reasons. Its size: the world’s third-largest, and its colors: bands of orange, yellow, and green ring the deep blue waters

Visitors have in the past slipped and fallen into hot springs, or were severely injured with burns from erupting geysers, but it is extremely rare.

Every year, Yellowstone draws in nearly three million visitors—most of them eager to see Old Faithful. The busy days of June through September.

About 50 hot springs and colorful limestone terraces lie within the area of Yellowstone known as Mammoth Hot Springs. Drive to this geyser basin year-round.

Norris holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Yellowstone. It has the tallest geyser in the world, and the colors too impress with milky blues, greens, and yellows.

Porcelain Basin is named due to the milky color of the mineral deposited here. That whitish-colored mineral is siliceous sinter, also known as geyserite.

20 times-per-day, Old Faithful eruptions are predicted within a 10 minute variation based on the duration and height of the previous eruption.

The Thermal Biology Institute at Montana State University studies life forms and microbes found in the hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park.

Tourists are most likely to get burned in Yellowstone's thermal areas when they stray off marked trails and boardwalks. But Yellowstone's geologists and other scientists also try to stay acutely alert to the dangers that lurk in the geysers, hot springs, and steam vents.

See Old Faithful, Castle Geyser, Riverside Geyser and geothermal features of Yellowstone country's steaming vents, erupting geysers and gurgling hot springs.

Old Faithful’s predictability is the exception; most geysers give little warning when they’re about to blow. The result, of course, is a surprise steam-and-water show. And in the case of Steamboat Geyser, there’s no other show like it Earth.

Saturday, May 5, 2018, marked the fifth time in seven weeks that the unpredictable Steamboat Geyser has erupted.

From laundry to couches, soap to horseshoes, Old Faithful and neighboring Yellowstone geysers and hot springs have been a receptacle for more than just water since the park's inception. The latest has been a drone that dived into the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring

An infrequent, but violent Yellowstone geyser recently erupted after its longest period of known dormancy.

New study reports that as a result of coins, trash, and rocks thrown into the pool over time, the pool's temperature is cooler altering the color

Yellowstone is the largest active geyser field in the world.

Watch a video showing a test tube "geyser" with clear looping chambers underneath. It slowly bubbles until the pressure is reached, creating a blast.

Steamboat Geyser in Norris Geyser Basin. No one can predict when it's going to erupt, as it works on an odd schdeule, ranging from four days to fifty years.