[Geysers] Fan & Mortar details July 19

[Eric Hatfield]

More proof that the conventional "wisdom" at F&M no longer means anything.  It can go whenever it wants, however long into whatever garbage cycle it likes.  Except, of course, if I am there, in which case it will not erupt.


________________________________
From: Polly Panos <pollypanos at earthlink.net>
To: new - geyser reports <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 1:00 PM
Subject: [Geysers] Fan & Mortar details July 19





Hello All!

Here are the details of the "event" cycle before the July 19 eruption of Fan & Mortar.  The eruption cycle was similar to some that were seen a couple of years ago, with NO pause and almost no splashing in Main Vent!

1255 River, High, Gold, & Angle off
1256 Angle on briefly, then off
1257 Bottom Vent begins spritzing lightly
1303 Bottom Vent spritz becomes stronger
1306 Bottom Vent begins to alternate with Lower Mortar
1307 Main Vent roar (not very strong)
             Bottom Vent splashing to the top of the rock
         (I guess that it is possible that there may have been a very small splash or two in Main Vent during this time.  I was watching, but not as intently as I could have been.  There was occasional steam in Main Vent.)
1310 River & High on - Bottom Vent continues
         I was expecting a pause, so I watched Main Vent very carefully after River came on.
1315 One very small splash in Main Vent (just a dozen or so drops of water)
1316 Main Vent roar
1318 Gold
1320 Gold and High had very good water levels, so I made my first radio call telling what was going on.
1322 Angle
1324 Gold went to steam
Then Fan's vents became variable, and the water levels eventually did not look very good. (One Gazer commented as he arrived that there was no water there.)  
After this I didn't take detailed notes, because I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on!
About 25-30 minutes into River, High started to build (with absolutely NO Gold).  High was about 4 feet, and still no Gold.  Then Gold started pooling and began rising very slowly and steadily.  There was still some variation in the vents at this time, but they finally built to a lock.
1345 Lock was called (and probably could have been called a minute earlier).  We saw some East Vent steam.
         The vents dropped somewhat, and I was afraid that they were going out of lock.  They recovered, though, and East Vent was still steaming. 
1348 East Vent started the eruption  (This was 38 minutes after River had come on!)
1350 Upper Mortar
1407 First pause
We left 30 minutes into the eruption and did not get the duration because of an approaching thunderstorm.

Regarding the previous eruption on July 16 at 0046, I had seen cycles similar to the one above about every 3 or 4 hours before that eruption (during the day July 15).  The big difference was that they were not as strong, i.e. not as much Bottom Vent, little or no roaring, and Fan's minor vents were not as strong when they came on.  During the last one that Kitt and I saw that evening, we were packing up to go when Kitt heard a fuzz ball with water dropping back into Main Vent.  

Go Fan & Mortar!
Polly Panos
 
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