[Geysers] RE: YNP spring depths

[Gordon Bower]

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I wish I could remember in more detail and where it was... but in reference=
 to that one very long sounding of Old Faithful... I seem to remember readi=
ng somewhere -- perhaps in the text of Rinehart's book=2C perhaps somewhere=
 older-- that a probe was lowered to the 70-foot level under its own weight=
=2C and then dragged off violently down a side passage some considerable di=
stance. If so=2C it may be that the same incident was reported variously as=
 "70 feet" (depth straight down) and some greater (total distance travelled=
 before losing the probe).

I have the impression that OF has been plumbed rather few times - and from =
the video made in the early 90s in its vent=2C that water is surging around=
 so violently that plumbing below the water surface it pretty much impossib=
le.

It's never really made any sense to me to speak of the depth of a pool or c=
rater as if it were one fixed number anyway. Very few of them have anything=
 like a distinct point we could all agree on as the bottom.

I wonder how long itll be before some enterprising individual gets a grant =
to put a little remote-controlled submersible to explore "beyond the first =
bend" down the pools with calmer water.

As for the total depth of plumbing systems:

> Who estimated the depth as 400 ft?

I can think of 2 lines of evidence. Recall that we have drill cores from se=
veral sites that show "veins=2C" old channels filled in by silica=2C down t=
o at least 200 feet. (Most of the 1960s drilling stopped about that depth.)=
=20

We can also measure the temperature at which the water last sat still for l=
ong enough to equilibrate with the surrounding rock=2C and calculate how mu=
ch pressure it takes to raise the boiling point that high. Briefly the Na/K=
 ratio in the water implies equilibrating at a little over 200C which had t=
o happen more than about 180 meters down=2C and then reaching the surface q=
uickly - a few days in transit at most.

Lots of facts and figures=2C with citations=2C on reservoir depth and chemi=
stry in USGS Bulletin 2099 (1994) which is available to view online. I am n=
ot aware of further work on it since that time=3B if anyone is=2C please le=
t us know on the list.=20

GRB





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