[Geysers] Geyser Report, October 28-30

[Tara Cross]

This is a (somewhat sparse) report for October 28-30, 2007.
 
Plume had intervals of 54 and 51 minutes on the 29th.
 
Beehive took an off day on the 28th, then erupted on the 29th at 1317 (Indicator 1302), then took the 30th off.  Based on what I saw on the off days, Beehive has not been doing much splashing on the days it doesn't erupt--but the bubbler is active.
 
I spent some time observing Scissors on the 29th.  The springs rise and fall with cycles taking about a minute.  After over an hour of observation, it appeared that there were longer cycles of 20-25 minutes in which the strength of the peaks varied from a few inches of boiling to strong surging and splashing to 1-2 feet.  The amount of runoff varied along with these cycles as well.  The western spring cycles, but all I have seen from it is pulsating and a few bubbles.
 
Depression erupted at 1456 on the 29th and 1755ie on the 30th.
 
Aurum's sputs are very active, but I have yet to see Aurum from up close or get a closed interval.
 
It appears that the Sawmill Group is having a lot of deep drains.
 
The timing of Grand has been such that I missed it the past 2 days.
 
Oblong erupted at 1024ie and 1431ie on the 29th and at 0917ie and 1808ie on the 30th.
 
The Grotto eruption that started around 1330 on the 27th ended around 1100 on the 28th, but since it was so early in the window I didn't wait around to see the post marathon event.  Grotto was in marathon again on the 29th and quit sometime in the early morning hours of the 30th.  I guessed the duration at about 20-22 hours.
 
The marathon recovery hot period took place at 1259 on the 30th and lasted 8m31s.  Mastiff had strong, steady boiling to as much as 4 feet for the first 3 1/2 minutes, then went flat and was much weaker after that.  The runoff was enough to melt the snow on India, however.  I checked Giant again in the evening and saw two hot periods:  1749 (d=5m10s) and 1850ie (d>2m).  Grotto Fountain erupted at 1825 and lasted 23 minutes.  Grotto had a few sloshes inside its cone but it did not erupt.  Tomorrow the Giant vigil will start in earnest.
 
Polly Panos caught a few event cycles at Fan & Mortar.  She said the best was the one I came down for on the 29th, which included a 31-minute River pause and a lot of splashing in Main Vent.  When Gold and High came on they were strong and looked promising until 17 minutes after River, when the water levels died.  No eruption had taken place as of 1915 on the 30th.
 
Great Fountain erupted at 1706ie on the 29th and 1445 on the 30th (thanks Steve Eide).
 
No word on Fountain lately.
 
I made a quick trip to Pocket Basin on the 29th and found the mud pots, especially the mud cones, to be in fine form.  I didn't venture into the area of Fortress.
 
I visited Geyser Creek on the 28th.  Avalanche/Oblique had its usual 9-minute intervals, and we saw (or heard, more accurately) one eruption of Subterranean Blue Mud.  This was my only trip to Geyser Creek this year so I don't know if this activity is new, but we saw a mud feature that had created a large wash area up the hill from Bull's Eye Spring.  It was vigorously bursting mud at a sharp angle to a few feet from its vent.
 
The weather was beautiful from the 27th through the 29th, highs in the 50s and sunny blue sky.  On the 30th when I got to Hams at 0830 it was partly cloudy but threatening rain.  By the time I had biked to Riverside, it was pouring and continued to do so until about 1100, when the rain turned to snow.  The snow continued until about 1500, by which time the storm had covered the basin with about 3 inches of wet snow.  Finally around 1600 the sky started to clear and most of the clouds were gone by sunset.  Beware of ice in the morning!
 
I had 2 unusual animal sightings on the 29th.  I saw a red fox at dusk on Firehole Lake Drive.  As I was driving between Old Faithful and West after dark, I came upon some people who had hit a bison about 3 miles west of Madison.  Fortunately they were in a large pickup truck so the bison didn't slide up the hood, but the entire front end was smashed and the bison didn't look too good either.  Fortunately, there were no injuries to the people in the truck.
 
That's all I can think of for now.
 
--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
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