Excelsior Geyser Crater, formerly known as Excelsior Geyser, is a dormant fountain-type geyser in the

Midway Geyser Basin The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10, ...

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Excelsior was named by the

Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 The Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that later became Yellowstone National Park in 1872. It was led by geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. The 1871 survey was not Hayden's first, but it was the first ...

Description

The Excelsior Geyser pool discharges 4,000 to 4,500 gallons (15,100–17,000 L) of water per minute directly into the

Firehole River The Firehole River is located in northwestern Wyoming, and is one of the two major tributaries of the Madison River. It flows north approximately from its source in Madison Lake on the Continental Divide to join the Gibbon River at Madison Junc ...

. In the late 19th century (and possibly 1901), it was an active

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in ...

that erupted frequently. Most eruptions were about 100 feet high, although some exceeded in both height and width. It is believed that the powerful eruptions damaged its internal plumbing system, and it now boils as a productive

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

most of the time.

Activity

In 1985, Excelsior returned to activity for a 46-hour period from September 14 to 16. These eruptions were relatively small at but a few were as much as tall and 100 feet wide. All of these eruptions lasted about 2 minutes at intervals of 5 to 66 minutes. Between 2004 and 2006, Excelsior did have violent boiling strong enough to be considered as eruptions. This boiling reached between and had a duration of seconds.

References

{{Wyoming Geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park Geysers of Wyoming Geothermal features of Teton County, Wyoming Geysers of Teton County, Wyoming