Lion Geyser

Lion Geyser is a geyser in Yellowstone National Park.

Lion is a fairly large geyser. It can reach 90 feet high and an eruption last over seven minutes. Lion erupts in a series of 1 to 7 or more eruptions. The initial eruption of the series is the tallest and lasts the longest. Unlike the other eruptions of the series, the initial eruption ends with a steam phase. Eruptions other than the initial, fall into two categories: majors and minors. Major eruptions last about 4 minutes and minors last about one minute. Both categories can reach about 50 feet in height.

Series to series intervals depend greatly upon the length of the previous series. Recently, they have been as little as 6 hour and as long as a day. In a series, the interval from the initial eruption to the second in the series, assuming that there is a second, is often between 1 and 1.5 hours. the interval between other eruptions in the series is often about one hour but can rarely be as short as 15 minutes or as long as three hours.

Between eruptions in a series, Lion is quiet until just before the next eruption. Prior to the eruption, there is often a sudden, sometimes noisy, release of steam often followed by light splashing. The people that named Lion geyser felt that the release of steam sounded like a lion's roar. Thus, the name of the geyser. Usually, eruptions in the series are preceded by one roar but sometimes can be preceded by a number of roars. The volume of the roar can vary from almost nonexistent to quite loud. Usually as the series progresses, the roars get louder. Sometimes, the series ends with a number of roars spaced a few minutes apart. These roars do not necessarily mean that the series is over but if the roars continue for a long period and steadily get weaker, the series has probably ended.

Lion sits on a platform with four other geysers. This is the main part of the Lion Geyser Complex. Lion sits to the northern end of the platform ,far right of the platform as you look at it from the boardwalk nearest the geyser. It has the largest cone of the geysers on the platform. The two smaller cones to its left belong to the dormant Big Cub and Lioness Geysers respectively. The last geyser, at the far left of the platform and by far the most active of the Lion Group, is Little Cub Geyser. The frequent splashing eruptions of Little Cub give the geyserite of its cone a pearly looking texture and color. cite news | title = Lion| publisher = COSA| date = September 10 2008| url = http://www.geyserstudy.org/geyser.aspx?pGeyserNo=LION]

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