Caldera Chronicles: The Complex Plumbing Systems of Steamboat Geyser and Cistern Spring | Montana untamed
This raises questions about the underground aqueduct. How are steamboat and cistern connected? And does the sanitary geometry influence the eruption dynamics and regularity of the Steamboat Geyser?
To seek answers to these questions, the University of Utah, in partnership with Yellowstone National Park, installed seismic arrays around Steamboat Geysers and Cistern Spring Seismic Arrays in the summer of 2018 and 2019, providing a non-disruptive way to determine the seismic source passing through Bubble formation and collapse occurs when the system is charged. This can enable four-dimensional views of the subterranean hydrothermal plumbing system.
The work recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research found that the installation structures of steamboat and cisterns extend to a depth of at least 140 meters, which is much more than what was previously found at Old Faithful (about 260 feet or more) 80 meters). The pipe of the steamship is approximately vertically up to 120 meters deep.
Surprisingly, the pipeline of cistern contains a shallow vertical conduit that connects to a deep, large, and laterally offset reservoir about 60 meters southeast of the source. Even more interesting is that there is no direct connection between the steamboat and the cistern that can be mapped in the top 120 meters. This indicates that the two systems are likely connected by a network of cracks rather than “open pipes”.