Science:

Geysers Have Loops in their Plumbing: Periodic Eruptions Tied to Underground Bends and Side-Chambers (Phys.org)

Threading temperature and pressure sensors down a geyser hole
in the El Tatio region of Chile's Atacama desert.
Credit: Michael Manga, UC Berkeley

Geysers like Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park erupt periodically because of loops or side-chambers in their underground plumbing, according to recent studies by volcanologists at the University of California, Berkeley.

The key to geysers, said Michael Manga, a UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science, is an underground bend or loop that traps steam and then bubbles it out slowly to heat the water column above until it is just short of boiling. Eventually, the steam bubbles trigger sudden boiling from the top of the column, releasing pressure on the water below and allowing it to boil as well. The column essentially boils from the top downward, spewing water and steam hundreds of feet into the air.

Manga and his colleagues, including first author Carolina Munoz-Saez, a UC Berkeley graduate student from Chile, report their findings on the Chilean geysers in the February 2015 issue of the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research.

The GRC is hosting a Workshop/Fieldtrip to Yellowstone National Park, June 22-26. The workshop will include a tour of the major geologic features of the Park, the site of the greatest concentration of geothermal features in the world, and discussions of its volcanic history, geochemistry, and hydrology.

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