[Geysers] more on Giantess 1/30

[Ralph Taylor]

Vault was indeed active in 1998, from early summer to at least the end of
September (the last electronically recorded series ended on 30 September,
but I probably removed the logger for the winter at that time).
 
Since then, Vault has had a stable water level an inch or so below overflow.
The formation used to have a constant flow of water from Vault toward the
boardwalk, and had some very nice terraces on the east slope.  After the
water level dropped, the formation deteriorated.  I recall an eruption
sometime a year or two after overflow ceased.  The broken sinter cascading
down the ruined terraces sounded like bits of glass as they tinkled in the
flow.
 
Ralph Taylor

  _____  

From: geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu
[mailto:geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu] On Behalf Of David Schwarz
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2010 9:04 PM
To: Geyser Observation Reports
Subject: Re: [Geysers] more on Giantess 1/30



   A few more comments on Vault and Giantess:

   The one year in the last couple of decades when Vault was active
independently of Giantess (1998?), Giantess was dormant.  Vault would have
series every few days, the first starting from a full pool, and the
followups from an empty pool, just as during an eruption of Giantess.

   Vault's stable water level used to be at or near overflow until sometime
in the late 90s or early 2000s.  Since then, every time I've looked at it,
it's been a few inches below overflow.  I haven't been around a whole lot
for the last eight or nine years, so I have no idea whether it's still the
case, or how often it was the case, only that every time I saw it, it was
low compared to the 90s.

   Finally, although Vault doesn't provide any indication of an impending
eruption of Giantess, Giantess itself sometimes does.  In July of 1993 (I
think), someone on Geyser Hill called a bunch of us up to Giantess because
it had been having frequent, large boils on the rim closest to the
boardwalk.  This kind of behavior had been observed in prior years to
precede eruptions, and indeed, an hour and a half later, we got to feel
thumps.  The pre-eruptive boils _dumped_ cascades of water over the edge of
the crater, and occurred every few minutes (although they had subsided to
the point that a number of us were considering leaving by the time the
eruptive boil happened).

David Schwarz

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20100205/fe538ba1/attachment.html>