#volcanism

When you think of geysers, you probably think of Old Faithful. That's for incredibly valid reasons - Old Faithful lives up to the name it was given back in 1870. Not only is it exceptionally, reliably predictable, but it's also extremely accessible. It erupts frequently and can reach heights of over 150 feet - an extremely tall and impressive geyser - and it's steps away from one of the biggest visitor's centers in Yellowstone National Park.

But today I am going to tell you about Old Faithful's neighbor that's just a short walk down basin, because it just woke up from a very long nap and I am VERY EXCITED about it.

On most days, Giant Geyser looks like this:

Giant Geyser's broken cone sits just off the boardwalk in Upper Geyser Basin, on a thermal platform teeming with other geysers and vents that bear names such as Catfish, Posthole Vent, Posthole Satellite, and Slit Vent.

Yeah. That's real.

Giant can also only erupt after a hot period, so do what you will with that factoid.

Giant has always been fickle and irregular, with a complex series of events needed to trigger an eruption and a history of extremely active phases followed by long dormancies. Even at its most active, Giant erupted only 54 times in a single year, compared to Old Faithful, which can erupt 17 times a day. In the past 7 years, Giant has erupted only twice, with one of those eruptions being at 2am.

BUT. That changed last week! At around 5 am on June 26, Giant got some posthole action and WOKE UP, as seen from the Old Faithful webcam.

It's a fan favorite among geyser gazers, a white whale for some, and if you want to know why getting to see it erupt is such a big fucking deal, this is why (I beg you to watch it with the sound up, one, to hear a bunch of wonderful nerds cheering on a geyser, and two, to hear when those victorious yells become sheer awe):

LOOK AT HOW FUCKING COOL THAT IS.

Giant eruptions can hit somewhere between 250-300 feet, putting it among the tallest active geysers on Earth.

This geyser has been observed and studied extensively both by geologists and citizen scientists, who have gathered and analyzed data and patterns with the surrounding features on the platform and shared "plumbing" connections with other nearby complexes.

If you want to join a bunch of nerds and get excited about this geyser, here's a crash course overview:

I told you Giant Hot Periods were a thing.

It's too early to tell whether this recent eruption signals renewed activity in the Giant complex, or whether it will be just another one-off to keep us on our toes. But either way, it's really fucking cool.

Clepsydra Geyser

"Researchers from the University of Oxford have uncovered evidence that Mars once hosted enormous, Earth-like magmatic systems deep beneath its surface—despite the planet lacking the plate tectonics long thought necessary for this kind of geological complexity.

The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, reveal new possibilities for how rocky planets become habitable.

Mars is often described as a "stagnant lid" planet: Unlike Earth, its surface is not broken into moving tectonic plates. Because plate tectonics drives volcanism, recycling and continent-building on Earth, many scientists assumed Mars lacked the conditions needed to produce similarly complex crust. However, this new study challenges that view, suggesting that Mars could have produced highly evolved crust through intense internal recycling.

The study was based on data recorded by NASA's InSight mission to investigate seismic waves from meteoroid impacts and marsquakes—the Martian equivalent of earthquakes."

"The researchers believe that this buried layer likely formed where molten rock pooled deep underground and gradually separated into different materials. This would leave behind a thick residue of dense crystals at the base of the crust, while lighter, more evolved melts rose upward. On Earth, similar processes occur beneath volcanic arcs and are linked to the formation of continents.

(...) "We've traditionally assumed that volcanism on Mars was relatively simple compared to that on Earth. But this discovery suggests Mars could sustain large, long-lived systems where molten rock evolved and reprocessed itself throughout the entire crust. It raises exciting possibilities for how common such systems might be on rocky planets beyond our solar system."

The study suggests this layer may extend sideways for hundreds or even thousands of kilometers around Mars' northern hemisphere, indicating that the red planet once hosted enormous, interconnected magmatic systems rather than simple, isolated volcanoes. This phenomenon—known as "transcrustal magmatism"—was previously thought to be unique to Earth.

These geological processes are closely linked to how planets develop atmospheres, oceans and potentially habitable environments. For instance, on Earth, geological recycling helps regulate climate and supports long-term cycling of water and other volatile elements."

Volcano, above and below. Science Today and Tomorrow: Discovering with Science. 1954.