News Earth

CO2 shakes up theory of how geysers spout

Rising levels of gases lower water’s boiling point, prompting eruptions

Geyser

RAGING WATERS  Carbon dioxide is a crucial ingredient for eruptions of Spouter Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, new research suggests. The gas lowers the boiling point of the geyser water.

Jim Peaco/Yellowstone National Park/Flickr

By Thomas Sumner

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Earth

  1. Seagrass beds off Virginia’s Eastern Shore
    Environment

    How planting 70 million eelgrass seeds led to an ecosystem’s rapid recovery

    By Joseph Polidoro
  2. earthquake damage in Magna, Utah
    Earth

    50 years ago, scientists were looking for ways to predict earthquakes

    By Maria Temming
  3. picture of a ship in front of the Blackstone glacier
    Oceans

    Large-scale changes in Earth’s climate may originate in the Pacific

    By Gloria Dickie
  4. Greenland ice sheet
    Climate

    By 2100, Greenland will be losing ice at its fastest rate in 12,000 years

    By Carolyn Gramling
  5. a handful of invasive Asian jumping worms
    Environment

    Invasive jumping worms damage U.S. soil and threaten forests

    By Megan Sever
  6. Getz Ice Shelf
    Climate

    Global warming may lead to practically irreversible Antarctic melting

    By Carolyn Gramling
  7. San Francisco Bay bridge smoky skyline
    Environment

    What we know and don’t know about wildfire smoke’s health risks

    By Aimee Cunningham
  8. ocean waves
    Oceans

    Underwater earthquakes’ sound waves reveal changes in ocean warming

    By Carolyn Gramling

From the Nature Index

Paid Content