Lite Geology 8
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Summer 1994 L I T E New Mexico Bureau ... ~, ¯ , ° - of ~. ~ ¯ , Mines and Mineral ’ Resources ’. "i ’. ~"’" :I:’ ""L , , (NMBM&MR) ~:.~i,~.~,~. :.. A quarterly publication £or educatomand the pul)lic- contemporarygeological topics, issues and evenls EarthBriefs Quake Shakes "~’.,#~%}?:!i’-t:’q~-.-..’.~:g;~:s ",.’:".’,:.~<~’,,.-..,.%" :.-.:.,. ~ ’,,’-, :’.; /,Y:.. ,~." : .~. ~.. :~, :%" ~.~. .’i.~; .- ~:%% %;%%~’cRY.. ¯ ,’.., :; .".: :" Y’~/,; .L" :.". : !:.’.’.i’. ":/";’,;: >"i <:.. ~.,vi..:... :...: ......:.....,,p.-,.~.i.L ~;.~, )u.,~..:..".’.."’...,.i~ :. ". ’.":’..... .t ~,’ : ’...::;: :.::."T,:. :i’ .,.-’:..’"I.F::: ;,;%" Thermal Lakes ":~.,.,:;,.’~,.:.:"’. :: :. !: ’ i:. ’q:{-. :.?"-.-:, .~.k : ;’::L{;. :.. :~:.": :.";:.~:..%~.;!,!:! This year in Yellowstone ~. ~ National Park, scientists have had ¯ ":: :;i:i;-![:;~.i/i.:.ii/:;:i.~:..i:i,Lf/;;i :i L! Tf]:i :::/,: : }i::i::,;iii ~i i :/i:idi/,!:!:~i :i!:if" a renewed opportunity to study the relationship between seismic events and tho behavior of geysers. Geysers, or hot springs that erupt y.~ ~ii~,! :) .}!~,: ,..,::i) on an intermittent basis, are SUlaplied with steam or hot water from reservoirs inside the rock. These reservoirs consist of a plumbing system of fractures in the rock that convey hot ground water to geysers and hot springs. Changes in this plumbing, either by opening or closing of fractures, can change the flow of water to the geysers, affecting their eruption ,::.:.::-,..’.~, ~ . ~\~ILI,~ ~.... ii:1~ ~i."~::i;~i~’.:::. h; ’ ",i.i :" ." .i . :.1.:~.. :.:..:’,":![.:,:,,:;.::.I",.., patterns. Earthquakes, such as the i !..’...:...~. .., ~. ¯ :.1... ii....;...’.:.: I March 26, 199.4 quake that rattled the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone, can disturb the plumbing under geysers, resulting . :,::"/4’.!4:: ’ .’~ ,/.’. ¯ k.~:~-~,,... ~ ..,:." I~ !,.";.;::’.’’:.’,"~:;:;~~ : ’ . ".,.’ ~. in changes in water temperatures .... ::: ; .... ,:,I;i:’::: .! :,.:,:t ," -..~ :. ~ ~’...... :. ~:"..-. :..," : and levels, and in the magnitudes and frequencies of geyser ~ ~" ,:.,~~. ,.,., ~... ~..,/:: ’C~:.’:"::7 ! ~ !:.. ,~ ~"’:b’.’:": ". "’i:’l eruptions. ~~ ’".!:.:):."..::::.:".:..L? :. ’"".:.::T"i::......:.:.:: ilv ...i:i(:: After the March earthquake, measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale, several geysers in the park have altered their behavior. Monarch Geyser, which had been sleei~ing "1 told you to take a picture of the for 81 years, woke up grumpy and GEYSERat Yellowstone--not the GEEZER." threw rocks, mud, and water 15 feet into the air about once a day. In the early part of the century, ThisIssue: before its dormancy, Monarch would shoot water up to 200 feet ............. 7 ............................................ ~ .................................................. skyward, higher than most Old Earth BriefsDseismic shake-up Whoreally knows where stones come Faithful eruptions. causes geysers to wake up from?--thebattle of theboulder Following the same quake, Have you ever.wondered..J-Iow Earth- Current topics in Earth Science-- Ledge Geyser erupted after a 15- quakes are measured? highLites year period of dormancy. In contrast, Steamboat Geyser, the Ancient Lakes--A Tool for [inderstand- largest geyser in the world, which ing C!!matic Change sometimes erupts to a height of nearly 400 feet, showed signs of New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Lite Geology, Summer1994 reduced activity, and perhaps is heading for dormancy. Changes in geyser eruption patterns are common following an earthquake, and serve to illustrate that Yellowstone Park’s geyser regions are a dynamic and complex weave of thermal and geologic processes. A few scientists speculate that some geysers change their pattern of eruptions before earthquakes occur. If so, it might be possible to predict earthquakes using geyser behavior. This hypothesis is being tested by detailed monitoring of eruption behavior of a few geysers in Yellowstone. The outcome of the data Seismic Geyser evolved from a fumarole in 1963, spitting collection awaits more earthquakes. stones and killing trees with boiling water. The evidence from previous observations, however, is that the most noticeable changes in geyser behavior begin with earthquake shaking and changes in natural plumbing. The known geothermal areas in New Mexico may be affected by earthquakes as well. Although there are presently no geysers in the Jemez Mountains or the Lightning Dock geothermal areas, changes in amounts and temperatures of water from hot springs and hot wells ! are documented in both areas and the water is hot enough to flash into eruption-causing steam under the right conditions. Earthquakes could change the plumbing systems to the geothermal fields. Hot water moving to the surface along a number of faults in Castle Geyser cone in foreground, Giantess erupting Jemez Canyon has shifted through beyond Firehole river, Upper Geyser ~asin. geologic time to.its present location at Soda Dam. Remnants of previous travertine spring deposits along the canyon walls show where plumbing systems used to be active. Sources Elston, W. E., Deal E. G., and Logsdon, M.J., Valles caidera hydrothermal system: Marler, D. M., and White, D. E., 1975,~ismic 1983, Geologyand geothermalwaters of Geological Society of Am,erica, Bulletin, v. 99, Geyserand its bearing on the origin and Lightning Dockregion, AnimasValley, and pp. 292-302. evolution of gey~rsand hot springs of Pyramid Mountains, Hidalgo county, New YellowstoneNational Park: Geological Haines, J., "GeyserShakeup": Bozeman Mexico: NewMexicoBureau o[ Mines and Societyof America,Bulletin, v. 86, MineralResources, Circular 177, 44 pp. Chronicle,issue h)r May24, 1994, Bozeman,Montana. pp. 740-759. Golf, E, and Shevenell,L., 1987,Travertine Milstein, M., "LargeGeyser goes to deposits of Soda Dam,New Mexico, and their Hutchinson,R., August3, 1994, personal communication,YellowstoneNational Park, Sleep":Billings Gazette,issue for implications for the age and evolution of the May3, 1994, Billings, Montana. Yellowstone, Wyoming. --story by D. Loveand S. Welch Summer1994, Life Geolo~,,y New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Castle Geyserin steam phase Lone Star Geyser phok~s by David Love, Senior Envinmnu’ntal Ca’ol~gi~t, NMBM&MR .New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Life Geolo~*y, Summer 1994 Have you ever wondered... ...How Earthquakes arc destruction). The intensity scale used As an example of attenuation, note Measured? most often in North America, the that the 1886 earthquake in Charleston, Modified Mercalli intensity scale, was South Carolina (estimated magnitude Richard Aster developed by H.O. Woodand E 7.2) was felt over an area of Assistant Professorof Geophysics Neumannin the early 20t" century to fit approximately 8 million square New Mexico Tech construction conditions in California kilometers, while the ~imilarly-sized Virtually everyone has seen press (California buildings have appreciably 1989 LomaPrieta earthquake was felt releases describing earthquakes around different features than Eur(~peanones!). over only about ! million square the world where the size of the The intensity scalej despite its kilometers of California as a result of earthquake has been quoted as a simplicity, is still a useful seismological the more attenuating rocks of the west magnitude. What exactly does this, tool today, particularly as a standard coast. The clearest examples of refer to, and howdo scientists assess for assessing the size of historic resonance and amp!ification effects are and quantify the size of earthquakes? earthquakes. seen in cities: This is because many As we saw in a previous article in Isoseismal contours also maybe measurements of intensity can be made Lite Geology, almost all earthquakes are used to estimatethe location, depth, in a small region and because certain caused by sudden fault slip in the and size of an earthquake when no types of .soft soil that amplifyseismic brittle upper few hundred other data are available, as deeper disturbances, such as "reclaimed" kilometers of the Earth. As most wetlands, are common. earthquake faults do not break Recent examples of extreme the surface, most of what is local amplification include highly known about earthquakes is localized and very strong ground inferred from observations of motions observed in Mexico City seismic waves that propagate during the 1985 Mexico away from the earthquake source earthquake (in areas built on an region at depth and thus can be ancient lake bed), during’the 1989 recorded ~t or near the Earth’s LomaPrieta earthquake (in the surface. Marina District of San Francisco), The earliest semiquantitative and the 1994 Northridge method of assessing the size of earthquake (in parts of Santa earthquakes is the intensity scale, Monica,California). first developedby the British The most commonly quoted engineer Robert Mallet to assess measure of earthquake size is the the damage from a disastrous magnitude. The original 1857 earthquake io southern Italy. earthquake magnitude scale was The simple idea is to measure the developed by Charles Richter in intensity of shaking, as indicated Figure 1--Diagram showing isoseismal con- 1935 for California. If you want to impress your friends, here is a by different types of structural tours, surface ruptt/re, fault surface, focus, and damage. One can then plot on a epicenter. strict definition of the Richter mapthe intensity of shaking at Magnitude: different locations and contour The base 10 logarithmof the the data to obtain a set of curves events will