[Geysers] Steam Phases

[James Graber]

A very interesting topic.  I will share my recollections, but the main thing that surprised me about your list was the low ranking you gave to Lone Star.  
It was described somewhere, I think in the Haines guides of that era, as souding "like a civil war battlefield", and at least three times in my life, back in the forties, fifties and sixties, I have heard it do that.  It really did sound like repeated cannon shots, and I was almost afraid the ground would erupt like a land mine.  I definitely wondered how it could keep doing that without rupturing its plumbing.  That said, I did hear it once last summer, and the noise was nothing like that.  So maybe it did eventually rupture its plumbing.  (In fact, I was going to ask if anyone had heard it do those cannon shots recently.  As I recall, my father took us out there the first time, back when you could still drive on the road, specifically to hear the cannon shots.)

I definitely agree with your top ranking for Steamboat.  I have only seen it once, also back in the sixties,  One of my most vivid memories of this eruption, which had a fairly low (for Steamboat) water phase was early in the eruption, near the start of the main eruption.  George Marler was yelling in my ear "This is it! This is it!" from about two feet away or less.  I ccould barely hear him above the roar, and this was back when I was much less deaf than I am now.

I saw Ledge at  least five or six times in the middle to late sixties and a few more times since then.  I remember the water, but not the steam phase, so it did not make much of an impresssion on me.  

I also know I saw Dark Cavern (and Bear Den) once or twice back then, but I can barely remember them and do not remember any really impressive noises, although one of them did sort of growl.  I thought it was Bear Den.  On the other hand, I do remember when Black Growler was at least moderately loud.

I'm very intersted to hear what other folks think about Lone Star, both recently and long ago.  

Best, 
Jim Graber

>>> jacross <jacross at lamar.colostate.edu> 5/31/2007 2:10 PM >>>
If one were to arrange the geysers of Yellowstone in order, starting with the 
loudest steam phases, what would the list look like?

I feel that there are three levels of steam phase: 1) the rumble (Castle); 2) 
the roar (Mortar); 3) the blast (Steamboat, and sometimes Beehive).  The blast 
is characterized by crackling and popping sounds in addition to the other 
racket.  To qualify as a blast, the observer should feel that the geyser is 
going to rupture its plumbing.

There are a couple of steam phases that I have not had the chance to hear.  
Union, by all accounts, was louder than Beehive, Castle or Lone Star.  Ledge 
and Dark Cavern both had loud steam phases, but I am not sure where they 
should go on the list.  Likewise, Splendid occasionally has steam phase 
eruptions, but I have never seen one myself.

Here is my list, loudest geysers first:

Steamboat
Union?
Giantess
Beehive
Ledge?
Dark Cavern?
Lone Star
Porkchop (pre-explosion)
Mortar
Castle
Vent
Avalanche
Lion (Shoshone, 2003)
Atomizer

Jeff Cross
jacross at lamar.colostate.edu 


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