[Geysers] Cones

[Bruce Jensen]

A great topic, Jeff - 

You mention Mortar but not Fan, so perhaps this is considered as one large cone?  Riverside's vent is a cone, right?  Lion's companions appear to have semi-cones.  Would we say that Bijou has a cone?

Is Cliff's built-up pool a kind of cone?  Probably not.

Is it true that Vixen at Norris once had a cone, but it was removed as a "museum" exhibit?  What does Ledge have, if not a cone?  Veteran?

It strikes me that Steamboat's mass of built-up irregular sinter over broken blocks resembles a cone except for the destruction caused by major eruptions.

Lots of geysers have some degree of build-up, but one would not call them cones, even if the deposition process is the same.

All of this suggests that in order to have an actual cone, a geyser should have an extended period of time in which *lots* of cooling silicon-dioxide-laden water gently is allowed to sprinkle over the area immediately adjacent to the vent, but does not routinely "overflow" per se (too hot), nor blast away at its cone with hot high-pressure water (too violent).  Given these apparent requirements, does this perhaps explain why so few geysers exhibit cones?

Bruce Jensen

**************
"Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened"
-Anatole France


--- On Wed, 1/14/09, Jeff Cross <Jeff.Cross at wallawalla.edu> wrote:

> From: Jeff Cross <Jeff.Cross at wallawalla.edu>
> Subject: [Geysers] Cones
> To: "geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu" <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
> Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 8:27 PM
> How many substantial free-standing geyserite cones exist in
> Yellowstone?
> 
> Upper Geyser Basin:
> 
> Old Faithful
> Beehive
> Lion
> Castle
> Giant
> Grotto
> Rocket
> Mortar
> 
> Lower Geyser Basin:
> 
> White Dome
> Pink Cone
> Jet
> Clepsydra
> 
> Lone Star Geyser Basin:
> 
> Lone Star Geyser
> 
> Shoshone Geyser Basin:
> 
> Union Geyser
> Minute Man Geyser
> 
> Heart Lake Geyser Basin:
> 
> Puffing Spring
> 
> Are there really none at Midway, Norris, Gibbon or West
> Thumb?
> 
> It is interesting to note that of the cones I have listed
> (16), 8 of them (50%) are in the Upper Geyser Basin.
> 
> One might also ask how to define a "cone."  I am
> listing only those cones that have an arresting appearance.
> 
> Low, mound-shaped masses of sinter, like those around
> Bulger Geyser, seem very different, almost as if they formed
> through a different process.  Therefore I did not include
> them in the list.  It would appear that cones are fairly
> rare.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Jeff Cross
> jeff.cross at wallawalla.edu_______________________________________________
> Geysers mailing list
> Geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
>