[Geysers] Fw: (USGS/NPS News Release) What Makes an Old GeyserFaithful?

[Paul Behunin]

I agree, this is a very interesting question. Page 3 of T. Scott Bryan's 3rd ed of "The Geysers of Yellowstone" talks about studying the tritium content of the erupted geyser water to determine its age. Since tritium is radioactive it decays over time; according to Wikipedia it has a half-life of 4500±8 days (approximately 12.32 years), meaning that after that amount of time the total amount of tritium will have decreased to half the original amount. Tritium decays into helium-3 (now we all have something to talk about at parties). "The Geysers of Yellowstone" says that tritium is nearly absent in most of Yellowstone's waters, so it must be "old" water. The book also says that "it is commonly believed that the water erupting from Old Faithful today fell as precipitation roughly 500 years ago." I assume this belief came about by a comparison of the tritium level of erupted Old Faithful water with that of a fresh rain sample from around Old Faithful & using the half-life formula for tritium? Since tritium is nearly absent (not totally absent) from the erupted water, there must be a measurable trace of it left, so we can get a reasonably accurate guess as to the age of the water. I don't know if the new paper that explores "Climate-Induced Variations of Geyser Periodicity in Yellowstone National Park, USA" takes all of this into account or not. As I said, an interesting question!

Have a great day, all!

Paul

> From: thedulcimerlady at juno.com
> To: geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
> Subject: RE: [Geysers] Fw: (USGS/NPS News Release) What Makes an Old	GeyserFaithful?
> Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 21:04:41 -0600
> 
> I find this very interesting because I remember the ranger saying on a
> geyser walk in 2000 that OF's water supply is about 500 years old.  Not so?
> Now I wonder how that info came about.
> 
> Lucille Reilly
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu
> [mailto:geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu] On Behalf Of
> Lee_Whittlesey at nps.gov
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 10:22 AM
> To: geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
> Subject: [Geysers] Fw: (USGS/NPS News Release) What Makes an Old
> GeyserFaithful?
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Forwarded by Lee Whittlesey/YELL/NPS on 05/30/2008 10:21 AM -----
>  
> 
>                       YELL Public
> 
>                       Affairs                  To:
> 
>                       Sent by: Al Nash         cc:       (bcc: Lee
> Whittlesey/YELL/NPS)                                        
>                                                Subject:  (USGS/NPS News
> Release) What Makes an Old Geyser Faithful?            
>  
> 
>                       05/30/2008 09:26
> 
>                       AM MDT
> 
>  
> 
> For Immediate Release - May 30, 2008
> 
> WHAT MAKES AN OLD GEYSER FAITHFUL?
> 
> New research suggests that how often Old Faithful and other Yellowstone
> geysers erupt may depend on annual rainfall patterns.
> 
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