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The height in metres that steaming water sprayed into the air when one of the least active geysers in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, US, erupted recently.

Onlookers gawked as Ear Spring geyser suddenly erupted last month — it has blasted off only four times in the past 60 years. The last time was in 2004.

Park employees, however, were shocked to find later that the geyser had not only spewed out steam and rocks but also an assortment of trash they found strewn across the landscape around the vent.

Items included old coins, cigarette butts, cans, plastic cups — and a baby’s dummy dating from the 1930s.