Mud Volcano Opens At Park Associated Press

The hottest steam vent in Yellowstone has transformed into a complex of seething mud cauldrons, bubbling springs and scalding quicksand.

And more changes may be on the way, says Rick Hutchinson, a park research geologist.”The whole area is really, really unstable,” Hutchinson said in a telephone interview with The Billings, Mont., Gazette. “There’s a good chance that in the next few weeks there may be even more changes.”

The area is along Astringent Creek, where Hutchinson found that a new mud volcano had opened, swallowing tons of earth and spitting watermelon-size mud bombs as the crater widened to 45 feet.

Steam spewing nearby was tested at 203 degrees Fahrenheit, 4 degrees above boiling point at the park.