HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Latest on new thermal activity in Yellowstone National Park (all times local):
1:35 p.m.
A Yellowstone National Park official says a thermal spring near Old Faithful is erupting for the first time in 14 years.
Park spokesman Neal Herbert said Thursday that Ear Spring erupted recently for only the fourth time in more than 60 years. It last erupted in 2004.
Ear Spring spewed water between 20 and 30 feet (6 and 9 meters) high on Saturday, a level that Herbert says hasn’t been recorded there since 1957.
Herbert says Ear Spring is still erupting at a near-constant height of 2 feet (2/3 meter).
The thermal activity also includes new erupting vents and surface fractures, leading park officials to close a boardwalk on Geyser Hill, which is across the Firehole River from Old Faithful.
The park says there are no signs of impending volcanic activity in Yellowstone.
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(This story has been updated to correct that Ear Spring is a thermal spring, not a geyser)
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10:50 a.m.
Officials at Yellowstone National Park say new thermal activity occurred at the park over the past several days.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports a release from the park Wednesday says the new activity is in the Geyser Hill area of Upper Geyser Basin, across the Firehole River from Old Faithful. The hill features dozens of hot springs and geysers, but the vents that have erupted water onto the boardwalks over the past several days are brand new.
There was also a rare eruption of Ear Spring, one of the features along the Geyser Hill boardwalks. The eruption happened Saturday.
The park says neither occurrence is a sign of impending volcanic activity in Yellowstone.
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