Officials Want Closer Study of Huge Geyser

A rare eruption of the world’s largest geyser is causing geologists to take a closer look at the mysterious basin where it lies.

Steamboat Geyser’s eruption Sept. 13 was the second this year, but only the fourth in 11 years.

It has given a push to efforts by Yellowstone, U.S. Geological Survey and University of Utah officials to install more research instruments in the geyser’s home, the Norris Basin, which is the hottest and most rapidly changing in Yellowstone. It lies about 30 miles north of Old Faithful, which is part of the Upper Geyser Basin.

Reports of Steamboat’s eruptions date to 1878. The geyser, one of 10,000 geothermal features in Yellowstone, was dormant between 1911 and 1961. It erupted three times in 1989 and once in 1990, 1991 and 2000 before shooting off in April and September this year.