Boulder, Colorado, USA – In the June issue of GSA Today, Kieran O'Hara of the University of Kentucky and E.K. Esawi of Elizabethtown Community & Technical College propose a new model for the eruption of Yellowstone Park's Old Faithful geyser.
The model, which replicates the geyser's eruption interval for 2000-2011, is based on three stages of convective boiling in the conduit. The preplay phase, which triggers the main eruption, plays a key role in determining the eruption interval, the duration of which is the sum of the preplay time and the time to uppermost (stage three) boiling. The model reproduces the geyser's bimodal eruption pattern in which long and short eruption durations are followed, respectively, by long and short eruption intervals.
Source: Geological Society of America