Michigan Technological University Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open Reports 2015 ORIGIN AND QUANTIFICATION OF DIFFUSE CO2 AND H2S EMISSION AT CRATER HILLS, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK Peipei Lin Michigan Technological University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds Part of the Geochemistry Commons, and the Geology Commons Copyright 2015 Peipei Lin Recommended Citation Lin, Peipei, "ORIGIN AND QUANTIFICATION OF DIFFUSE CO2 AND H2S EMISSION AT CRATER HILLS, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK", Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2015. https://doi.org/10.37099/mtu.dc.etds/1022 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds Part of the Geochemistry Commons, and the Geology Commons ORIGIN AND QUANTIFICATION OF DIFFUSE CO2 AND H2S EMISSION AT CRATER HILLS, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK By Peipei Lin A THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE In Geology MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2015 © 2015 Peipei Lin This thesis has been approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Geology. Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences Thesis Advisor: Dr. Chad D. Deering Committee Member: Dr. Cynthia Werner Committee Member: Dr. Simon A. Carn Department Chair: Dr. John S. Gierke Table of Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. v List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. vii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 2 2. Geologic Setting ....................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Eruption History ................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Magmatic System ............................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Hydrothermal system ......................................................................................................... 4 2.4 Soil ..................................................................................................................................... 6 3. Field Description .................................................................................................................... 11 4. Method ................................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Soil Gas Measurements .................................................................................................... 16 4.2 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 23 5. Results .................................................................................................................................... 25 5.1 Field Observation at Crater Hills ...................................................................................... 25 5.2 Diffuse soil gas flux ......................................................................................................... 29 5.3 Gas geochemistry ............................................................................................................. 37 6. Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 38 6.1 CO2 emission .................................................................................................................... 38 6.2 Spatial Variation of CO2 flux ............................................................................................ 41 6.3 CO2 Source ....................................................................................................................... 47 6.4 Reservoir temperature ...................................................................................................... 50 6.5 Heat Flux .......................................................................................................................... 51 6.6 Comparison between Crater Hills and Yellowstone ......................................................... 52 6.7 Sulfur budget .................................................................................................................... 52 iii 7. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 52 8. Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 53 9. References .............................................................................................................................. 54 Appendix I: Sample Data ........................................................................................................... 60 Appendix II: Detailed data processes of sequential Gaussian simulation ................................ 109 II.1 Cell Declustering ........................................................................................................... 109 II.2 Normal Score ................................................................................................................. 111 II.3 Variogram Modeling ...................................................................................................... 112 II.4 Post-processing .............................................................................................................. 120 II.5 Data trimming ................................................................................................................ 120 Appendix III: CO2 and H2S correlation analysis ...................................................................... 123 Appendix IV: Documentation for copyright materials ............................................................. 125 IV.1 Satellite image from Google Earth ............................................................................... 125 IV.2 Image of Isotech® gas bag ........................................................................................... 127 IV.3 Image of Statios® WinGSLIB ...................................................................................... 128 iv List of Figures Figure 1 The calderas of three eruptions over the past 2.1 Ma. ....................................................... 7 Figure 2 Map of regional faults for Sour Creek resurgent dome region .......................................... 8 Figure 3 Cross-section of the Yellowstone magmatic system ......................................................... 9 Figure 4 Map of Yellowstone National Park ................................................................................. 10 Figure 5 The overview of Crater Hills from satellite image. ......................................................... 11 Figure 6 The location map of highly active areas .......................................................................... 14 Figure 7 The contour map for Crater Hills area. ........................................................................... 15 Figure 8 The location map of the 2007 reconnaissance data and the 2007 fumarole data ............ 16 Figure 9 The location map of the sample sites .............................................................................. 19 Figure 10 The photo of the accumulation chamber and gas analyzer ............................................ 20 Figure 11 The photo of the instruments used in the field (GPS and thermometer) . ..................... 20 Figure 12 The photo of the instruments used for gas sampling -Isotech® gas bags ..................... 22 Figure 13 The photo of the instruments used for gas sampling -Syringe and vessel. .................... 22 Figure 14 The location map of highly active areas ........................................................................ 26 Figure 15 The photo of fumaroles on the slope releasing steam. .................................................. 27 Figure 16 The photo of fumaroles on the flank releasing steam. .................................................. 27 Figure 17 The photo of a discharging hot spring – Sulfur Spring.. ............................................... 28 Figure 18 The photo of mud pot holes and muddy ground at south part of Crater Hills. .............. 29 Figure 19 Scatter plot of the CO2 vs. soil temperature .................................................................. 31 Figure 20 The CO2 flux map. ........................................................................................................ 32 Figure 21 Probability map for the CO2 flux .................................................................................. 33 Figure 22 The soil temperature map .............................................................................................. 34 Figure 23 Log-normal probability plot for CO2 flux at Crater Hills ............................................