Huge Hole Rips Open in Yellowstone - Is It Starting? - video Dailymotion

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A massive hole suddenly opened in Yellowstone overnight, and people can’t stop wondering if this is the first sign of something much bigger happening beneath the park. Yellowstone already sits on top of one of the most powerful supervolcanoes on Earth, so any new crack, collapse, or ground deformation instantly grabs scientists’ attention. Geologists say shifting magma, hydrothermal explosions, or underground steam pressure could all create surprise openings like this, and each possibility raises new questions about what’s brewing below. Park officials rushed to investigate, but until they confirm the cause, the mystery is fueling fears, theories, and a whole lot of curiosity. And in this video, you’ll explore what triggered the giant hole and whether it hints at the beginning of something Yellowstone has been holding back for thousands of years.  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00It was April 2025 when geologists went back to Yellowstone's Norris Geyser Basin for the first time this year.

00:08And while doing their usual check, they realized that something was different this time.

00:13Where there used to be just a boring patch of ground, now there was a giant hole, about 13 feet wide, filled with weird, milky, light blue water.

00:24Everyone was terrified.

00:26Was it the sign that the Yellowstone supervolcano was ready to erupt?

00:31If so, it would be a worldwide disaster, the kind that destroys cities.

00:37According to the U.S. Geological Survey, if such an eruption occurred, the after-effects would be felt all over the world.

00:45To start, the areas immediately surrounding Yellowstone would experience pyroclastic flows.

00:51That's the lava that erupts out of a volcano, including a high-density mix of volcanic gas, ash, pumice, and hot lava blocks.

01:01Those flows would destroy everything they touch, and an eruption of Yellowstone would send them into Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.

01:11Areas further away from Yellowstone would escape the flows, but they would experience falling ash.

01:17It would come down heavily in the states closest to the epicenter.

01:21The ash would be especially dangerous for anyone breathing it in.

01:25The weight of the ash would also pose a serious threat.

01:29It would smother crops and collapse buildings as it piles up.

01:33Tragic consequences would be countless, but we'll talk about them later.

01:38Because soon after the discovery, the weird pit surprised even experts.

01:42Geologists found rocks scattered everywhere.

01:46Some were about a foot across, and all of them were dusted with gray mud.

01:52This mud matched the walls of the new spring.

01:55It was like the place had simply exploded, but nobody had actually seen it happen.

02:00The team checked old satellite images to figure out when it appeared.

02:04In December 2024, the ground was totally normal.

02:09By January 6, 2025, a little dip had formed.

02:14And by February 13, that water-filled hole was finally there.

02:19But the weird thing was that the sensors that usually pick up major hydrothermal explosions didn't detect anything.

02:27There was no giant blast or warning signs.

02:30Later, it turned out that this puzzling opening in the ground hadn't just popped up in one huge explosion.

02:37Instead, it formed from a bunch of smaller bursts over time.

02:42Little explosions first threw out rocks, then mud, and eventually created the pit.

02:48With time, it filled with silica-rich water.

02:51That was a huge relief for everyone.

02:54Yellowstone sits on a supervolcano, and its big explosions are a nightmare scenario.

03:00Luckily, this time, it was just a slow-building, small-scale explosion.

03:06It was dramatic, sure, but totally manageable.

03:09You see, Yellowstone National Park is full of geysers, hot springs, and all kinds of natural landscapes.

03:16But under the surface, things get incredibly intense.

03:20All because of the supervolcano.

03:24Now, supervolcanoes are often extremely large.

03:27They often have no cone at all, since they're typically the remains of gigantic magma chambers.

03:34Once, those chambers flared up, leaving behind a caldera.

03:39They're usually located over hot spots.

03:41It's no surprise that supervolcanoes can produce supereruptions.

03:46And when they do it, they blow more than 240 cubic miles of ash, molten rock, and hot gases up into the air.

03:54In other words, four supereruptions could fill the Grand Canyon to the brim.

04:01Supervolcanoes form when huge volumes of scorching hot magma escape from deep underground.

04:07This magma rises close to the surface but can't break through Earth's crust.

04:12So, a pressurized pool of bubbling magma gathers at a depth of only several miles.

04:19The pressure keeps growing because more and more magma is trying to get to the surface.

04:24And then, bang, a supereruption occurs.

04:28Now, back in 2015, researchers at the University of Utah mapped out the main magma chamber of the Yellowstone supervolcano and were shocked by its size.

04:38And then, they found another one below it.

04:42Together, these underground magma pools could hold enough molten rock to fill the Grand Canyon 11 times.

04:50All that magma pushes up on the ground above, which is why Yellowstone rises about an inch or two every year.

04:58That slow lift might not sound like much.

05:01But combine it with the fact that Yellowstone is still an active volcano and has a volcanic explosivity index of 8,

05:09and it's enough to make you wonder what could happen if things went south.

05:14And yes, Yellowstone has indeed been a bit jumpy in recent years.

05:20In March 2023, there were 354 earthquakes in the area.

05:25Most were tiny, but the biggest hit a magnitude 3.7, part of a swarm of 106 quakes.

05:33Now, before you freak out, experts from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory say there's no need to panic.

05:40No eruption is coming anytime soon.

05:43Volcanoes don't stick to a schedule.

05:45Just because Yellowstone hasn't erupted in a long time doesn't mean it's about to blow.

05:51The park is stable, for now.

05:53But scientists are keeping a close eye on everything underground.

05:58The quakes, the rising ground, and even temperature changes, just to be safe.

06:04The superhot plume of magma, a hotspot under Yellowstone, has been churning for 17 million years.

06:12The Earth's crust slowly moved over it, making the hotspot leave a trail of volcanoes stretching more than 450 miles along the Snake River plain.

06:22Most of those ancient ones are now buried under layers of lava and sediment.

06:28In just the past 2.1 million years, Yellowstone has unleashed three cataclysmic eruptions.

06:35So massive, they managed to reshape the land.

06:38Each explosion sent pyroclastic flows, rivers of searing hot rock, ash, and pumice, racing outward for miles.

06:47The debris piled up in layers hundreds of feet thick, some forming solid lava-like rock.

06:53When those eruptions emptied the underground magma chambers, the roof collapsed, forming the massive calderas we see today.

07:01Even after those mega-eruptions, Yellowstone didn't stop.

07:06Between 180,000 and 70,000 years ago, enormous rhyolite lava flows, sometimes over 144 cubic miles, poured out.

07:18Some flows followed north-south vent lines.

07:21The West Yellowstone flow erupted around 110,000 years ago.

07:26The Nez Perez Creek flow followed 160,000 years ago.

07:30If you stand at Madison Junction, on the caldera's northwest rim, you can see it.

07:36A cliff that formed when the Lava Creek Tough eruption collapsed the land 640,000 years ago.

07:44And inside the caldera, you'll see the hardened lava flows snaking across the floor.

07:50Figuring out when a supervolcano might blow is like being able to read nature's warning signals.

07:56Thousands of years before a massive eruption, the heat underground starts building, and the magma chambers become like ticking pressure cookers.

08:06Little signs start showing up.

08:08Gas bubbles escape as the pressure shifts, and earthquakes shake the ground.

08:13The land above slowly rises.

08:16Cracks appear.

08:17Hot springs and geysers start acting up, heating even more than usual.

08:22Now, what would happen if Yellowstone erupted?

08:26Remember those pyroclastic flows we talked about before?

08:29They can contain two parts.

08:32The lower flow of the hot lava that moves at ground level, and a cloud of ash that follows above the lava level.

08:39So, the two of them would devastate huge areas.

08:43The ash would even reach Europe within three to four days of the eruption.

08:47But it wouldn't be so bad there.

08:49After that, it would only take around two to three weeks before cooler temperatures set in around the globe,

08:56all thanks to the sulfur gas that would get to the upper atmosphere after the eruption.

09:02Scientists predict that global temperatures would drop by up to 10 to 12 degrees.

09:08These consequences could last for 6 to 10 years, putting an end to monsoons, which could cause widespread famine in Asia.

09:17Scared?

09:18Well, don't be.

09:19The good news is that scientists don't believe that the sleeping giant under Yellowstone National Park will wake up in our lifetime.

09:28Experts say the next Yellowstone eruption won't likely happen for hundreds of thousands of years.

09:34And even then, it may not be that bad, because scientists have discovered that the magma lurking within Yellowstone

09:41is actually split up amongst four different chambers.

09:45Not only that, but some of the reservoirs of magma are likely to cool down and solidify,

09:52lessening the chances of an eruption.

09:55So, while an eruption does sound like it would change the landscape of the world,

10:00it's very unlikely to happen anytime soon.

10:03We all know that space missions come with a hefty price tag.

10:07To break it down, a ticket to space for an astronaut starts at around $20 million and can soar up to $50 million.

10:15NASA may be a well-funded organization, but you can bet they're always on the lookout to cut costs and save millions wherever they can.

10:23Plus, NASA has long realized they do not need to go to Saturn's moon to study if there's life there.

10:30We already have the suitable conditions for extraterrestrial life in Wyoming.

10:35If that resonates with you, then you already understand why NASA is so interested in Yellowstone.

10:42To explore life beyond Earth, we need to study environments that mimic extraterrestrial conditions.

10:48That's where all those hot springs come into play.

10:50Now, it's not the entire park that piques NASA's interest.

10:54Let's leave the bears, moose, and other earthlings to our local biologists.

10:59The real hot spot is the geysers, where microbial life flourishes.

11:03Oh, by the way, Yellowstone has more geysers and hot springs than the rest of the world combined.

11:10In some of them, water can reach temperatures as high as 192 degrees Fahrenheit.

11:15You might think, hey, that's only good for steeping teeth.

11:18But here's the thing.

11:20Life in the form of microbes not only survives, but thrives in these extreme conditions, having adapted specifically to them.

11:28So, could these microbes help us find life on other planets?

11:32Absolutely.

11:34Now, let's shine the spotlight on the real superstar, the Grand Prismatic Spring.

11:39It's packed with silica, which gives it that stunning color.

11:44Silica reflects sunlight, especially the blue wavelengths, which is why it looks so vibrant.

11:50The coolest part, though, is not the color, but the fact that this spring can teach us a lot about how life evolved.

11:56Way back around 4.5 billion years ago, I wasn't around then, living things didn't know how to harness energy from sunlight yet.

12:06So, they were using chemical processes instead, just like they do now at the Grand Prismatic Spring.

12:12But, why are we talking about other planets?

12:16Well, if life on Earth kicked off in a comparable way to what we see in Yellowstone, there's a good chance we could find something similar elsewhere in the universe.

12:25And, if we could nail down exactly how life started here, we could really fine-tune our search for life on other planets.

12:32Geysers, very similar to those in Yellowstone, can be found on moons like Insetilus, which orbits Saturn, and Triton, which is a moon of Neptune.

12:42But, how do they compare to the geysers we see in Yellowstone?

12:47Well, back in 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery when it spotted geysers on Triton.

12:56This was the first time anyone had seen a geyser outside of Earth, not counting the volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's moon,

13:02Io, that were found by Voyager 1 in 1979.

13:06Since then, more geysers have been found on other moons in our solar system.

13:11In Yellowstone, geysers are heated by hot water from deep within the Earth.

13:16However, geysers on some of the outer moons get their heat from tidal forces, the gravitational pull from the big planets they orbit.

13:24You know how ocean tides on Earth are affected by the moon and the sun?

13:28Well, these moons experience something similar, but on a much larger scale.

13:33Beneath the icy surfaces of these moons are warm, salty oceans that stay liquid because the thick ice above keeps them insulated.

13:41As the moons move closer and further from their parent planets, the constant tugging creates heat,

13:48causing the warm water below to shoot out into space whenever there's a crack in the ice.

13:52This icy crust and the warm water underneath are a bit like a frozen pond on Earth.

13:59But could there be life swimming around in these hidden oceans, just like there are critters thriving beneath the ice of a pond?

14:07That's something scientists want to find out.

14:10NASA hopes to send advanced spacecraft to explore these distant moons and look for signs of life.

14:16But those warm oceans are buried miles beneath the frozen surface.

14:20So, how do we reach them?

14:22The answer may lie in geysers.

14:26In February 2019, a group of planetary scientists decided to visit Yellowstone in the winter

14:32to study the similarities between Earth's geysers and those in space.

14:36They know that Yellowstone's geysers are home to some tough little microbes called extremophiles,

14:42which thrive in extreme conditions like hot or acidic water.

14:47The researchers wanted to learn as much as they could about these microbes and the environments they live in.

14:53They brought along a bunch of scientific tools to measure things like temperature, pH levels, and oxygen in the water.

14:59They also used special instruments to analyze the chemicals in the ice and rocks and sniff the air for gases.

15:07Plus, they collected samples of rock, ice, and water from the geysers,

15:11catching tiny droplets on sheets of foil coated in geyser spray.

15:16Their main target was the Great Fountain Geyser in Yellowstone's Midway Geyser Basin,

15:22which puts on a spectacular show two to three times a day.

15:25However, visiting in winter posed some challenges.

15:28Some scientists were delayed by snowy weather, arriving late at night right before they were supposed to enter the park.

15:35Then their SUV got stuck in a snowdrift and had to be rescued by a snowplow.

15:41The next day, riding in a snow coach, the team had to trudge through deep snow for nearly a mile to reach the geyser,

15:49keeping an eye out for elk, bison, and even bears.

15:52As they made their way to the Great Fountain Geyser, they took breaks to gather samples and measurements from other interesting pools along the way,

16:00like Lemon Pool and Surprise Pool.

16:03Even though Yellowstone feels remote, it's not nearly as far away as places like Insetilus and Triton.

16:10It's a unique natural laboratory that can teach us a lot about life on Earth and potentially beyond.

16:16Oh, as for labs, the Great Prismatic Spring may count as one.

16:22Look at these guys.

16:23Under the microscope, they look like matches.

16:26Their official Latin name is Thermus aquaticus.

16:29They live in this hot spring, and these bacteria have saved millions of people's lives.

16:34Now, if you're skeptical about what I just said,

16:36then you need to know that these bacteria helped to create the basis of PCR tests widely used in today's medicine to give fast and precise diagnosis.

16:46Back in the 60s, a microbiologist named Thomas Brock was exploring the park's superheated thermal pools and stumbled upon something amazing.

16:56Brock was super interested in bacteria that could thrive in extreme conditions.

17:00During his 10-year journey studying geysers and thermal springs,

17:04he found a microbe in a spring called Mushroom Pool that could survive in nearly boiling water.

17:11This little guy, Thermus aquaticus, turned out to be a game-changer for science.

17:16Why?

17:18Well, it's crucial for a technique called PCR, also known as polymerase chain reaction,

17:23which is used to quickly make copies of DNA samples.

17:27Before Brock's discovery, this process was tricky.

17:30Because the heat could damage the enzymes that hold DNA together.

17:34But thanks to Thermus aquaticus, scientists could now heat and cool DNA samples without breaking them down,

17:41making everything faster and easier.

17:43It all happened because researchers had purified an enzyme called Tag polymerase out of this organism.

17:50Those Yellowstone microbes could also be your new go-to for a delicious and sustainable breakfast.

17:56A unique microbe was discovered there during some NASA-funded research.

18:01And it's now being transformed into tasty vegan breakfast patties and cream cheese.

18:07Originally found in a hot spring, this little wonder is called Fusarium strange flavolapsus.

18:13And it caught the attention of space enthusiasts as a powerful protein source for long space missions.

18:18Plus, it requires way less water and land than beef, making it a smart choice for the planet.

18:26Researchers initially looked at this microbe for biofuel,

18:29but soon realized it could be cultivated into a complete protein with a texture reminiscent of chicken.

18:35Marked as FY, it can be turned into a variety of food products,

18:40all thanks to a fermentation process that keeps it free from contaminants.

18:44Oh, almost forgot.

18:46NASA is even working on a bioreactor to grow FY in space.

18:50Ooh, stay tuned!

18:52That's it for today.

18:57So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

19:02Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!

19:06I'll see you next time!

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Huge Hole Rips Open in Yellowstone - Is It Starting?

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