ABR: Field, Laboratory, and Numerical Studies of Geyser Eruptions

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Geysers are springs that intermittently erupt mixtures of steam and liquid water. They are popular tourist attractions, with a few million people watching geysers erupt in Yellowstone National Park each year. Geysers are the surface expression of geothermal systems and provide insight into heat and fluid flow in volcanically active areas. Geysers also provide a natural laboratory to study eruption processes and the geophysical and hydrological signals that can be measured before, during, and after an eruption. Because they are smaller than volcanic eruptions, and erupt more frequently, they provide an opportunity to collect abundant data and develop approaches for integrating and interpreting measurements. Geysers and their deposits have been studied to understand life in extreme environments. Geyser-like behavior of water and hydrocarbons has also been observed on the ocean floor and at mud volcanoes. Thus improved understanding of geyser behavior may yield understanding into other self-organized, intermittent processes in nature that result from localized input of energy and mass. Despite two centuries of scientific study, explanations for geysering phenomena are limited or lacking. This project will integrate field measurements, laboratory studies, and numerical simulations of multiphase flow in geyser systems to address the following basic questions about the geysering process: Why are geysers so rare? How does conduit plumbing affect eruption initiation and the interval between eruptions? Why and how do geysers interact with each other? Which external processes (e.g., tides, variations in barometric pressure, temperature variations, wind speed, earthquakes) and internal dynamics (e.g., duration of preceding eruption, plumbing geometry) influence the interval between and duration of eruptions? Answers to these questions may offer new insight into triggered seismicity, hydrothermal explosions, and volcanic eruptions.