Yogi be warned: Explosion may rock Yellowstone

Scientists fear a giant explosion could rock Yellowstone National Park, one of the USA’s top tourist destinations which inspired the setting for the Yogi Bear cartoons.

A 2,100-foot bulge in the lake at the centre of Wyoming beauty spot looks likely to boil over, spewing poisoned gasses and rocks around the area and causing massive waves of hot water.

“We’re thinking this structure could be a precursor to an hydrothermal explosive event,” Dr Lisa Morgan from the US Geological Survey told Cody Enterprise, a newspaper in the state.

Sonar readings indicate the bulge is not a volcano but is caused by carbon dioxide gas or steam.

Dr Morgan and her team of researchers are preparing a danger assessment study to indicate how likely the plain is to explode.

If it does blow, it could leave a crater thousands of feet in diameter, send pieces of the lake floor flying into the air and discharge “chemicals containing toxic materials”, she said.

But Dr Morgan said there was still a possibility that the dome shaped bulge could “freeze in time” and become dormant.

Yellowstone Park is the flagship of America’s National Park Service, and visited by millions of people each year.

Yogi, the easy going grizzly bear who spent his time stealing picnic baskets and outwitting Ranger Smith, was set in Jellystone National Park, loosely based on Yellowstone.