[Geysers] RE: YNP spring depths

[Davis, Brian L.]

Paul Strasser wrote:

> These are the depths that can be plumbed.  It is not the depth
> of the plumbing system but rather the depth that a probe can
> go before twists and turns deny getting an instrument to any
> greater depth.

and Scott Bryan wrote:

> Do remember, of course, that these figures are only the "plumb-able"  
> depths. 

Yes, which is a very good point; I didn't mean to overstate that, and thank you both for pointing it out. But it would seem likely that at those depths, there may be a significant change in the plumbing systems: either significant constrictions, or horizontal offsets.

> The plumbing systems per se are estimated... to extend to a
> depth of around 400 feet. 

Absolutely. I'm not familiar with the research establishing this, so I'd love to hear more. But are there any estimates as to how deep the eruption actually goes in various conduits? What is the "root depth" of an eruption, for instance? 

> Which is rather longer, and more voluminous, and better
> insulated than your 12 feet.

Certainly. One of the issues I'm trying to work out is what the appropriate scaling issues are in models of this type. Reynolds # & Raleigh # are certainly issues, as is the formation of Taylor bubbles in the conduit... and, sadly, all these things scale differently, so one model can not match the observations of geysers (the same problem crops up in ship building and modeling, for instance). So trying to determine where models *do* agree with the physics "below grade", and where they don't, is what I'm trying to puzzle out.

Having a model reproduce an observations isn't enough. It needs to reproduce it for the right physical reasons, which is what I'm trying to get a handle on.

Paul Strasser also wrote:

> I just wanted people to know that Grand's plumbing system
> certainly goes deeper than 20-25 feet.

Agreed. But what are the likely depths of interconnections between Grand, Turban, and Vent, and more "distant" (in terms of effects) like Rift?

-- 
Brian Davis