#The bit about metals is technically less important lol. It is part of the system... But I feel like park rangers will not appreciate being

[iamthepulta]

Ah! I love this video so much! Most people know Yellowstone as a volcano, but one of the fantastic things about Yellowstone, is it's one of the largest examples of a high-sulfidation epithermal system! And they're so, so, so, so cool!

So Sulfidation ore deposits all rely on three things: being close to a magmatic source, a zone of weakness for fluid to move through, and groundwater availability/chemistry. "Epithermal" is just the term for forming near the surface. High-sulfidation systems just refer to the sulfur dioxide (SO2) offgassing from the magma; the farther away from the magma, the less influence SO2 has on the system.

So in high-sulfidation systems! The SO2 reacts with water to form H2S, or hydrogen sulfide, and sulfuric acid. Now, this is the really cool part. Whenever we think of deposits, or a concentration of minerals in one area, there's always a source, a carrier, and a trap that pulls the element from solution.

For high-sulfidation systems, we have our source (the magma) and the carrier (H2S), which sometimes attach to metals and other semi-metallic ions and bring them into the fluid rising to the surface.

The catch is, water doesn't boil at high pressures. All this fluid is extremely hot, but it's deep enough not to boil. But when it reaches around 300ft, the fluid boils, the H2S and acid break back down to SO2, and everything with it is deposited at the boiling point region. The water forms Yellowstone's gorgeous pools, and the SO2 is why it smells like rotten egg!

Isn't that awesome?!

Now, to the eruption: The other super fantastic chemical property evident in high-sulfidation deposits is the solubility of carbon dioxide (CO2) in water. CO2 concentration decreases in water when the temperature rises, unlike just about every other compound. Good for carbon dioxide being unique over here~

And because CO2 doesn't like to be in solution at high temperatures, crustiform calcite (CaCO3) forms when fluid heats up. 'Crustiform' is a very specific mineral texture; it's rather irregular and bladed, generally deposited in veins. It's difficult to describe. But this form of calcite only occurs with rapid deposition, making it synonymous with boiling water.

Because of these properties, calcite builds up in areas of low pressure as water boils. And as material is deposited, less and less area is available along the fluid path, raising the pressure in the region that had been the boiling point so the fluid doesn't boil, while the ground in Yellowstone is under constant flux. All it takes is one tip of the scale, faults shift when the surface is too near, it lowers the fluid pressure quickly, and you have a marvelous unexpected catastrophic hydrothermal failure!

Holy shit holy shit holy Schist!!!!!

A hydrothermal explosion happened Yellowstone!! And I’m alive to see it! I wish I was there.

From USGS Facebook:

A small hydrothermal explosion occurred in Yellowstone National Park today (July 23, 2024) around 10:00 AM MST in the Biscuit Basin thermal area, about 2.1 miles (3.5 km) northwest of Old Faithful. Numerous videos of the event were recorded by visitors. The boardwalk was damaged, but there were no reports of injury. The explosion appears to have originated near Black Diamond Pool.

Biscuit Basin, including the parking lot and boardwalks, are temporary closed for visitor safety. The Grand Loop road remains open. Yellowstone National Park geologists are investigating the event.

Hydrothermal explosions occur when water suddenly flashes to steam underground, and they are relatively common in Yellowstone. For example, Porkchop Geyser, in Norris Geyser Basin, experienced an explosion in 1989, and a small event in Norris Geyser Basin was recorded by monitoring equipment on April 15, 2024. An explosion similar to that of today also occurred in Biscuit Basin on May 17, 2009.

More information about hydrothermal explosions is available at https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/hydrothermal-explosions-yellowstone-national-park.

Monitoring data show no changes in the Yellowstone region. Today’s explosion does not reflect activity within volcanic system, which remains at normal background levels of activity. Hydrothermal explosions like that of today are not a sign of impending volcanic eruptions, and they are not caused by magma rising towards the surface.

Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) provides long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake activity in the Yellowstone National Park region. Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world and the first National Park. YVO is one of the five USGS Volcano Observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.

YVO Member agencies: USGS, Yellowstone National Park, University of Utah, University of Wyoming, Montana State University, UNAVCO, Inc., Wyoming State Geological Survey, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Idaho Geological Survey

Image courtesy of Vlada March.

[commonwealthoccurences]

Roll Your Eyes (One More Time) (Part One)

Note: Talk about last minute lol sorry guys, had a really busy day at work to the point where it came home with me. Didn’t want to break my promise of posting daily, though! Part two will be coming up tomorrow.

Word Count: 1,395 Prompt: Enemies to Lovers

Day: 11/27

Something about Sole’s spitfire personality and total disregard for the Brotherhood system had Danse’s blood boiling from the moment they met. Sure, they helped him and the others out of a tight spot, but the way they scoffed in regards to their protocol and the system that Danse had spent most of his life being loyal to had him ready to burst when Maxson asked him to recruit them into the Brotherhood.

Danse wasn't one to question orders too much, though, and he simply gritted his teeth and showed a very smug Sole to their quarters, fighting every step of the way with the urge to stop them and give them a lecture about the respect the Brotherhood deserved. They were the one who needed to earn their place here, not the other way around. Things didn't get much better as time passed, with Elder Maxson sending Sole with Danse on missions considering he had technically sponsored them and therefore they were his responsibility. Sole was eating it up every time, a pleased smile stretched across their face every time Danse shot them a furious glance at the way they acted or carried themself.

On the other hand, Sole was simply trying to survive. They had walked into a barren wasteland with nothing but the shirt- well, vault suit, on their back and were thrown back and forth between organizations and individuals who saw them as nothing more than a potential asset for carrying out their mission. Sole was tired. They were tired of following everybody's rules, tired of taking everything so seriously all the time, and they just happened to channel that frustration into Danse.  

He felt it was more personal than that. The longer they were forced to work closely together, the more irritable and harsh Danse became, and the less joking Sole's jabs and snide remarks became. Slowly, the humor left the situation, and Elder Maxson gave up, waving off the feud and separating them until further notice. Sole suspected he was tired of the headaches they were probably causing, and Danse was just happy to have his dignity and peace back.

It was almost radio silence between them after the night that Elder Maxson summoned them to his quarters and lectured them, words so loud and harsh that even Danse flinched at one point, and informed them to stay away from each other for the sake of the team since they couldn't maintain any semblance of professionalism. That stung both of their pride. While Sole wasn't impressed with the Brotherhood’s rigorous schedules and borderline cult-like mannerisms, they'd worked hard to get to where they were at and it was pressing proof that they didn't lack professionalism, nor skill. Danse had spent his whole life trying to please higher ups that barely noticed him when he was killing himself to do better than anyone else; of course he was furious.

So they separated and refused to sit anywhere near each other, letting the gap grow as time went on. There was less anger and more of a void as they continued to avoid each other, skirting around each other's space at meetings much to Maxson's obvious displeasure, rolling their eyes when the other spoke, and in Danse's case, chewing his way through a ridiculous amount of bubblegum from the Brotherhood's supply just trying to suppress the urge to lecture them on anything he saw them doing wrong.  

They remained competitive, despite it all. Eyeing each other during shooting evaluations, trying to bring back more scrap than the other person, always trying to be the most intelligent in the room. Well, maybe not in the room, as long as the other wasn't showing them up. Maybe the gap wasn't as big as they thought, considering they watched each other so closely, not wanting the other to get ahead of them in any circumstances.

And then the Brotherhood needed a large group of soldiers to get one of their missions done and there was no avoiding putting two of their best in the same group. Sole could see the veins standing out in Maxson’s neck when he made the announcement, practically daring either of them to say something with the energy he was bringing into the room. Sole sat back in their chair with a quiet breath and scanned the room to find Danse. When he met their eyes, they chose not to glare. Instead, they winked, knowing it would probably cause steam to start coming out of his ears. When he ground his teeth together and quickly turned his head away, they knew they’d been successful.

Theoretically, the mission would be a piece of cake considering the amount of quality fighters they had on their side. The orders were simple; get in, clear the area of synths, get one of the data files they were trying to use against the Brotherhood, and get out without any casualties. They had done similar things countless times before, just on a smaller scale. And of course, much to Sole’s annoyance, Danse decided to take this opportunity to give everyone a lecture on the importance of their work with the Brotherhood and blah blah blah.

The eyeroll they sent his direction was almost unthinkably easy; it came to them by instinct, meant just to piss Danse off. It worked. They could see the temptation rise in him steadily to call them out in front of everyone, to try and embarrass them just for that sense of satisfaction he would’ve been ashamed to acknowledge just a year prior. Sole wasn’t one to accept embarrassment and back down, though, and he’d learned that a long time ago, so he bit his tongue and ignored them, praying they wouldn’t pipe up just to drag the game out a little longer.

For some reason Sole was barely feeling it that day. Consciously, at least. The eye roll was just reflex to seeing Danse all high and mighty about his mission from the Brotherhood. They shifted their shoulders in discomfort, trying to find relief from the pressure that had been created from them carrying their pack all day. Nothing seemed to be sitting right and it had been a gruelling walk, though that wasn’t exactly unusual for the Brotherhood.

They rolled their head from side to side, begging their neck to pop internally as Danse finished his speech before picking up their firearm and returning to their usual position amongst the others, preparing to infiltrate the location. Danse turned to them and stared for a moment, judging whether or not they were ready. It wasn’t concern they read in his eyes, no, definitely not, it was him checking to make sure the people he was leading weren’t liabilities. That’s what it was. Sole clenched their fists and unclenched them a few times, getting their blood pumping and waking themself up before shit went down.

It was supposed to be a simple in and out mission, something they’d run millions of times. Until apparently the synths had been informed they were coming and managed to catch Danse just as he was walking through a supposedly cleared room with a grenade. And now Sole was leaning over him, shaking his shoulders through the ridiculous metal armor, trying to keep his eyes from closing. “Hey, don’t you fucking go anywhere, Danse. Keep your eyes open!” Their jostling was a bit harsh, but they figured the circumstances permitted it.

Danse’s eyelids were fluttering with the effort of keeping them open; they weren’t sure if he’d hit his head or not, or if it were simply getting knocked through a wall that had taken the breath out of him and was fighting to keep him drowsy. “Danse I’m gonna kick your ass if you don’t keep those eyes open!” They were struggling to find wherever the hell the emergency release was on his stupid scrapmetal armor, but all of their training had flown out of their brain when they saw him thrown ragdoll through the air.

He looked up at them, eyes confused and so void of his hardass personality. He almost seemed innocent, like the shock had washed him clean of everything the Brotherhood had drilled into him. For a second, his arm shifted and he reached up, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his arm fell like a lead weight.