[Geysers] Geysers that Erupt in Series

[David Schwarz]

On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 8:08 PM, Paul Strasser <upperbasin at comcast.net>wrote:

>
> Jeff may dispute this, but nobody - repeat: nobody - considers Flounder's
> 2nd burst a separate eruption.  IF it was, what was the pause?  How much
> overflow did it have?  You can say the same thing about Grand's 2nd burst -
> was it a T or G?  And F&M after the initial 15 minutes - did the second
> eruption "start" after a river vent pause?


 I don't think I buy the argument that because the followup bursts /
eruptions don't have the same characteristics as the initial, they're just
bursts rather than eruptions.  How big is the big boil on the second
Giantess in a series?  How long are the steam phases on the second-day of a
mixed-phase Giantess?  How long does Lion splash before its in-series
eruptions?  How much does Spiteful's overflow increase right before an
in-series eruption starts?

By the way, if we're listing geysers that erupt in series and weaken the
well-known/large requirement, Spiteful definitely belongs on the list.
Also, arguably, East Sentinel, although it's more F&M-style (long eruption,
pause, weak eruption, pause, until it finally quits).  Jewel goes in the
category of cases people will argue about, along with Plume, Grand, et al.
Link has certainly been known to erupt in series, and is large, if not as
well-known as some.

Ultimately, since we're looking at surface manifestations rather than what's
actually going on underground, I think we're going to end up arguing
semantics.  If subsequent eruptions happen quickly enough after a pause,
most people at least informally seem to lump them into a single eruption,
whereas if the pause is long, they're considered separate eruptions, even if
the followups are very different from the initial.  Does that mean there's a
fundamental difference between the bursts of Grand and eruptions of Lion?  I
dunno.  Maybe?

David Schwarz
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