A group of scientists have been examining the “heart” of Old Faithful — Yellowstone National Park’s most famous geyser. These researchers are focused on figuring out exactly what causes this rare geological formation to beat faithfully and forcefully, beginning long before the geyser was discovered in 1870.
University of Utah researchers have finally produced substantial images of the geological anatomy of the geyser, complete with its natural underground ductwork that causes it to flush regularly.
Wu, S.-M., Ward, K. M., Farrell, J., Lin, F.-C., Karplus, M. & Smith, R. B. (2017). Anatomy of Old Faithful from subsurface seismic imaging of the Yellowstone Upper Geyser Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 44. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075255
Wu, S.-M., Ward, K. M., Farrell, J., Lin, F.-C., Karplus, M. & Smith, R. B. (2017). Anatomy of Old Faithful from subsurface seismic imaging of the Yellowstone Upper Geyser Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 44. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075255
