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Eruption closes part of Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park

Vlada March was visiting Yellowstone National Park with her family Tuesday morning when an explosion sent hot water and rocks into the air, scattering debris and destroying a nearby boardwalk.

“It was very scary,” said March, a real estate agent from Palm Desert, California. “Within seconds, rocks were flying and a black cloud formed in the air. We couldn’t see the sun for a few seconds.”

Biscuit Basin, about 2 miles northwest of Old Faithful, is temporarily closed after the hydrothermal explosion occurred near Sapphire Pool around 10:20 a.m. Tuesday, according to a park news release. No one was injured, and the park is investigating the damage. A photo with the news release shows employees looking at destroyed railing and blackened debris on a boardwalk.

In a video shared with The Washington Post, March yells to her family: “Run, run, run!” Others flee from the cloud rising above the boardwalk.

March and her husband, Steve, were worried that one of their children might fall and become trapped as they fled the blast.

Her sons, Maxwell, 9, and Ethan, 6, had never been to a national park. They were worried about their grandmother, March said. March’s mother, Natalia, was closest to the blast and covered herself with a jacket that now has a layer of dirt on it.

About 30 people were in the area at the time of the explosion, March said.

A tour guide told March the blast shot at least 200 feet into the air.

Parking and boardwalks around the area will remain closed “for safety reasons,” according to the news release. Park staff and U.S. Geological Survey personnel will reopen the area when it is safe.

Hydrothermal explosions occur when hot water creates steam bubbles, creating underground pressure that eventually erupts at the surface. Ken Sims, a geology professor at the University of Wyoming and a member of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, said it’s not unlike steam building up inside a sealed pressure cooker.

“Eventually, it will gain so much strength that it will explode,” Sims said.

The explosion did not reflect any changes in the volcanic system and “no other monitoring data shows any changes in the Yellowstone region,” the park said in a statement.

Sims said the volcanic and hydrothermal systems are separate.

“These explosions are common, that’s what makes Yellowstone so special,” Sims said. “If magma was involved, there would have been a lot more ground deformation, gas emissions and general changes, whereas this is an isolated pocket of steam that caused the ground to explode.”