[Geysers] Geyser Report 7/11/09

[Pat Snyder]

For more information, there's a helpful article about Fan & Mortar  
Activity by Tara Cross in Transactions Volume VII (2002) that includes  
an excellent illustration with all of the vents numbered and named  
(page 58). The article also has a detailed description of what each  
vent does during event cycles.
I have found it quite useful in understanding what to look for at Fan  
& Mortar, in addition to Scott's book.
Pat Snyder


On Jul 11, 2009, at 10:10 PM, <Joeerg at aol.com> <Joeerg at aol.com> wrote:

> This time we actually have something interesting to report.
> We went downbasin today to see Riverside and maybe Grand, but Grand  
> was way early in its window so after Riverside, I suggested we check  
> out Fan and Mortar.  Main reason for my doing this, because I  
> thought it was too early since the last one, was to finally sit down  
> with this geyser in front of me along with the book so I could get a  
> grip on what all of this arcane lingo is about.  When we got there,  
> it was deader than...whatever...so I got Joe involved in reading  
> Geysers of Yell with me and piecing together where all of these  
> various vents must be.  This took some time and also argument.   
> Finally we decided upon what was what (I won) and as I watched, I  
> began to notice that it sure was starting to look like a cycle.   
> We'd only seen a little steam, but then we saw that bottom vent and  
> later, lower Mortar were both beginning to splash a bit.  The energy  
> shift between the 2 geysers began to seem very clear as I watched M  
> stop and the activity in F pick up.  Finally, we saw some splashing  
> in Main Vent.
> We continued arguing about the significance of all this, with one of  
> us an optimist and the other one, hungry, while the Mortar  
> activitity started really picking up and turning into an eruption.
> Still, we weren't able to determine whether (from the book  
> description) this was really the start of something or just  
> background noise.  The deciding thing was whether the Fan vents  
> started doing anything, and to this point they had not, other than a  
> little steam.  I started reluctantly picking up stuff to go, while  
> looking over my shoulder with a continuing nagging feeling that this  
> was "something."  Luckily for us, incredibly, along came a guy who  
> knew something, named Dean, who asked us whether we were aware that  
> this was an event cycle.  I told him that I was reasonably sure that  
> was a possibility, he quizzed me about whether we had a radio (we  
> do, but it is a little walkie talkie) and whether I was planning to  
> call it.  I told him the reality; that I would hate to call wolf, I  
> thought it was something and certainly, if Gold and Angle had gotten  
> to the level that they obtained after he arrived, of course I would  
> have called it.  After he arrived, the activity in Gold, Angle and  
> High all picked up and looked really promising for a second.   
> Meanwhile, Dean answered all our questions and confirmed what we had  
> id'ed as the vents (we got 100%).  Along with this, he gave us all  
> kinds of information about what he was looking at in terms of water  
> levels, etc.  The excitement died down, though, and again, he told  
> us why he was calling it.
> So thank you so much, Dean, for all of that.  This was just great!   
> Of course, I'd still like to witness an eruption.  And certainly, if  
> I'd seen activity out of the top vents in Fan, I'd have worked out  
> to make a call.
> More than anything, now I understand a little about what's so  
> compelling about this geyser..
> Deb Stahl
>
>
>
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