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- Title
Imaging the Subsurface Plumbing Complex of Steamboat Geyser and Cistern Spring With Hydrothermal Tremor Migration Using Seismic Interferometry.
- Authors
Wu, Sin‐Mei; Lin, Fan‐Chi; Farrell, Jamie; Keller, William E.; White, Erin B.; Hungerford, Jefferson D. G.
- Abstract
Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is the tallest active geyser on Earth and is believed to have hydrologic connection to Cistern Spring, a hydrothermal pool ∼100 m southwest from the geyser vent. Despite broad scientific interest, rare episodic Steamboat eruptions have made it difficult to study its eruption dynamics and underground plumbing architecture. In response to the recent reactivation of Steamboat, which has produced more than 130 eruptions since March 2018, we deployed a dense seismic nodal array surrounding the enigmatic geyser in the summer of 2019. The array recorded abundant 1–5 Hz hydrothermal tremor originating from phase‐transition events within both Steamboat Geyser and Cistern Spring. To constrain the spatiotemporal distribution of the tremor sources, an interferometric‐based polarization analysis was developed. The observed tremor locations indicate that the conduit beneath Steamboat is vertical and extends down to ∼120 m depth and the plumbing of Cistern includes a shallow vertical conduit connecting with a deep, large, and laterally offset reservoir ∼60 m southeast of the surface pool. No direct connection between Steamboat and Cistern plumbing structures is found. The temporal variation of tremor combined with in situ temperature and water depth measurements of Cistern reveals interaction between Steamboat and Cistern throughout the eruption/recharge cycles. The observed delayed responses of Cistern Spring in reaction to Steamboat eruptions and recharge suggest that the two plumbing structures may be connected through a fractured/porous medium instead of a direct open channel, consistent with our inferred plumbing structure. Key Points: We develop an interferometric‐based polarization analysis to investigate high‐resolution spatiotemporal pattern of hydrothermal tremorWe construct the first image of the plumbing architecture for the Steamboat–Cistern system to a depth of 140 mWe illuminate the recharge evolution of Steamboat Geyser and Cistern Spring and the dynamic subsurface interaction between the two features
- Subjects
YELLOWSTONE National Park; GEYSERS; UNDERGROUND areas; HYDROLOGICAL surveys
- Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth, 2021, Vol 126, Issue 4, p1
- ISSN
2169-9313
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2020JB021128