[Geysers] Disturbances

[s at weststartv.com]

Excellent questions Jeff... and not so quick answers for 
them.  I'll try and give some insight though.

1)  "Disturbance" can effect the entire area or very small 
areas of the Basin.  It may only effect Porcelain or Back 
Basin.  It may only effect a small area of Back Basin.  I 
have seen "disturbance" activity in the southwest corner 
of Back Basin that didn't effect other parts of the Basin 
at all.
There have been "Basin Wide Disturbances" that have 
effected almost all of the thermal features in the Norris 
Geyser Basin all at once.  As far as starting in a single 
area EVERY time, I have never seen that.

2)  Again, "disturbance" activity may effect a few 
features in a localized area or be "basin wide".  I have 
also seen "disturbance" like activity that seemed to 
effect a few features in a specific area. ( e.g. in 
November of 1993, there was "disturbance" activity that 
effected features from Medusa Geyser north to "Bastille 
Geyser" but did NOT seem to effect Yellow Funnel.  But the 
features in the "Muddy Sneaker Area" across the trail from 
Yellow Funnel had definite changes. )

3)  The characteristics of the different features can 
change dramatically.  I have seen features with pH that 
was very acidic ( 2 - 4 ) change to very alkaline ( 7-8 ) 
and the other way around.  What feature is going to make 
which change is nothing that I would try and predict!

4)  There have been "basin wide" disturbances that had no 
effect on Echinus.  Steamboat usually gets "zapped" if the 
"disturbance" activity is in the western, northwestern 
parts of the Basin.  As far as other "large" features 
around Norris, each "disturbance" has a different amount 
of effect on the features.  The "disturbance" activity 
that was seen throughout 1993 through 1998 had so many 
different effects on the features, it would be hard to 
classify them.

    There was some truly amazing effects on most of the 
thermal features during one onset of "disturbance" 
activity in August, 1995.  The area from Porkchop Geyser 
all the way to Collapsed Cave became VERY active and hot. 
 Ground temperatures in the area went to 105C at a depth 
of 5cm.  Surface temps reach 100C at numerous locations. 
 "Bastille Geyser" turned into a very high pressure steam 
vent that could be heard from the museum.  Double Bulger 
set a record for elevated Chloride content ( Fournier, 
Weltman, et.al. 1995 )
So, to make it short... "Disturbance" is a rather strange 
occurrence that isn't predictable or that can be tracked 
easily.  I know that Mike Keller, Rocco Paperiello and 
others have also seen some really bizarre happenings at 
Norris during "disturbance" activity.
I hope this helped and didn't confuse more!

    Take Care,

        Smokey
On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:14:56 -0800
  Jeff Cross <Jeff.Cross at wallawalla.edu> wrote:
> I have a few questions about the Norris disturbances. 
> Since I have not been able to witness their progress, I 
>am wondering:
> 
> 
> 1)      Does the disturbance start in a single 
>geographical area and then progress outward?
> 
> 2)      If so, are some thermal vents skipped initially, 
>only to respond substantially after all of the 
>neighboring vents have been affected?
> 
> 3)      Do acid springs change to alkaline?  Or do 
>alkaline springs change to acid?  Or some of both?
> 
> 4)      Are the big geysers (Steamboat, Echinus, Ledge, 
>etc) always the first ones affected?  Are they always 
>affected negatively?   Steamboat gets zapped, and I 
>remember a 3-day sit at Ledge in 1994 ending when we saw 
>signs of a disturbance, which apparently rendered Ledge 
>inactive for a while.  What do the other big geysers do?
> 
> Jeff Cross
> Jeff.cross at wallawalla.edu