[Geysers] Activity of Daisy, Splendid, Chinaman Spring, and North Goggles in 1972 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

Questions were recently raised on the webcam chat room about soaping geysers in 1972.  Daisy and Splendid were not active in 1972, except when eruptions were artificially induced.  It appears that all the incidents of soaping in 1972 were unauthorized, probably night-time, and not by NPS personnel.  (Marler's manipulations of geyser activity by a variety of means such as sandbagging, digging ditches, soaping, etc. had ended before then.)  Here's some information from Sam Martinez's 1972 reports that shed light on some of the 1972 entries in the electronic version of the OFVC logbook: June 1972 Activity--Daisy and Splendid did not erupt. July 1972 Activity--

Daisy
Geyser

            No eruptions of any of the springs
in the Daisy Group are known to have occurred except for those of the Pyramid
and Bank Geysers.  Daisy and Splendid
seemed very close to erupting at times but the constant overflow of Bonita Pool
seemed to take just enough of the energy.

            Splendid would sometimes burst 5 to
6 feet high but these bursts seemed to be the greatest power it was able to
display.  Pyramid Geyser erupted every
110 to 125 minutes giving displays up to 15 feet high three or four times per
eruption with small steam phases after each one. August 1972 Activity--

Daisy
and Splendid Geysers:  These have also been the victims of
soaping.  The first series of eruptions
occurred on the 11th. 
Splendid and Daisy erupted simultaneously twice (three hours
apart).  Daisy erupted almost hourly
until early the next morning when Bonita Pool again refilled and
overflowed.  Evidence of soap was no
found until the 13th when bubbles appeared in the small vents near
Splendid.  The activity was again
witnessed on the 19th.  This
time bars of soap were found around the craters of several of the springs.

            As to natural occurrences, Daisy and
Splendid changed bery [sic] little.  They
had periods of increased activity but these were also shared by Bonita
Pool.  Bonita showed evidence that it has
had more powerful eruptions this month. 
Fragmental sinter has been washed across the trail below Bank Geyser and
the channel supplying this water leads directly to Bonita Pool.  Normally this channel is completely dry.

According to Rick Hutchinson's 1973 Annual Report, Daisy rejuvenated in February 1973. Chinese (Chinaman) Spring was soaped several times in August 1972.

"Chinaman
Spring:  This spring was induced to eruption no less
than three times this month.  Soap was
definitely the cause and the disturbance destroyed the algae and the clarity of
the spring.  Rocks, sticks, coins, and
other debris were strewn across the boardwalk after the initial eruption.  Eruptions are known to have taken place on
the 16th, 18th, and the 26th.  After each eruption water in the crater
remained very low for several hours before slowly refilling." During the winter, I try to write several Sput articles and forward them to Genean for future publication.  One of the articles I've placed in the queue is an article about Chinese Spring. Questions were also asked about an entry for North Goggles.  North Goggles was active in 1972.  Here is Sam's information June 1972--

Lion
Geyser

            Lion had four active phases from
June 10 to the 30th.  These
occurred on the 11th and 12th, the 14th and 15th,
the 20th, and the 25th and 26th.  I witnessed nine eruptions and in every case
the eruption was immediately preceeded [sic] by three roars, the last one
leading into a spray of water.  The
majority of the eruptions lasted four minutes but one of five minutes and
another of 1 minute were seen.  The one
minute eruption was preceeded [sic] by an eruption of North Goggle Geyser which
was finishing just as Lion began.  Lion
and Little Cub were seen playing simultaneously twice this month, the only
noticable [sic] effect being the diminished height of this type on the 10th.  The duration was five minutes.  Two eruptions of the North Goggle were seen
by me in June.  The first of these was 5
to 7 feet high and the second was 30 to 40 feet high. Sam indicated he saw North Goggles in eruption in July and in August, but didn't provide additional details about the activity. Lynn Stephens  

 



 



 

      		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20120515/73bb38d0/attachment-0001.html>