EVOLUTION OF SEISMIC GEYSER,

Yellowstone National Park

by George D. Marler,
Thornton, Idaho,
and
Donald E. White,
U.S. Geological Survey,
Menlo Park, Calif.

The most significant event that has affected

the geyser basins of Yellowstone National
Park since its discovery was the Hebgen Lake
earthquake, which occurred at 11:37 PM on
August 17, 1959, with a Richter magnitude of
7.1. The epicenter of this earthquake was just
west of the park, about 48 km northwest of the
Upper Geyser Basin. No earthquake of com-
parable intensity had jarred the geyser basins
in historic times. More hydrothermal changes
occurred in response to this disturbance than
during the previous 90 years of the park's his-
tory.
During the first few days after the earth-
quake, a reconnaissance was made of most of
the thermal features in the Firehole River
geyser basins (fig. 1). Early results showed that
at least 289 springs had erupted as geysers,
and, of these, 160 were springs with no pre-
vious record of eruption (Marler, 1964). Some
previously obscure springs had erupted very
powerfully, and large pieces of sinter were
strewn about their craters.

;;ArditV1
 quiescent or dormant spring that was reacti-
vated; rather it is one that had its genesis as a
45°00' ./3
h Hot
.1f,,,,, III",
direct result of the earthquake on August 17,
Approximate
Springs 1959.
epicenter
* Hebgen Lake Evolution of Seismic Geyser
earthquake of
NORRIS
August 1 7 19n"' GEYSER
BASIN Within several days after the earthquake,
• Iff

Mud two new fractures were observed in an

Lower volcano embankment of old sinter that borders the
Geyser area
Basin
Firehole River in Upper Geyser Basin about
Seismic
-44'00'
Geyse, 550 m south of the Biscuit Basin parking area,
Upper ) cr.4 and steam was issuing from each break. The
Geyser'
Basin fact that steam was escaping under pressure
indicates a temperature above 92.9°C, the
0 1OMILES boiling temperature at this elevation. The
0 `50,A upper break traversed an area of densely
111'00 110'3,
A growing lodgepole pines that were about 50
years old. One of the first wagon roads into the
Figure 1.—Map of Yellowstone National Park Upper Basin crossed directly over the site of
showing main geyser basins. the upper break.
During the remainder of 1959, the discharge
During the night of the earthquake, all of steam pressure continued unabated from
major geysers erupted that had been recently both fumaroles (fig. 2). In addition to the heat
active, and some that had been dormant for that was visibly discharging from the fuma-
many years were rejuvenated. In 1960, temper- roles, dying trees over an area of at least 150
ature data of all important springs along the m2 were evidence that new hot ground had de-
Firehole River showed an average increase of veloped with near-surface temperatures too
about 3°C above their preearthquake temper- high to be tolerated by the vegetative cover.
atures. By 1964, the average temperature had By the fall of 1960, the evolution of steam
declined slightly below the 1960 level. from both fumaroles had increased in inten-
One of the important changes in the Fire- sity. The shorter break farthest from the river
hole River geyser basins that resulted from the showed the most pronounced change. By
earthquake was the development of new hot October, its temperature had risen to 96.1°C,
ground. Most of the less conspicuous hot and the ground near this fumarole had sub-
spots did not become evident until the spring sided somewhat, suggesting some change in
of 1960 when they were revealed as linear dis- underground conditions. The possibilities
tributions of dead or dying lodgepole pines seemed excellent for a new spring or geyser to
generally trending northwest toward Flebgen develop.
Lake. Many springs and geysers in the geyser When the site of the fumaroles was first
basins are alined on such north-striking visited in the early spring of 1963, a major
trends, reflecting regional tectonic stress pat- change had taken place. Sometime during the
terns. previous winter, explosive activity had
Some fumaroles related to these new frac- occurred at the site of the upper fumarole.
tures later became the sites of hot springs and Where steam previously had been hissing
geysers. The evolution of one of these frac- through a narrow rift, there was now a large
tures into a fumarole and then into a large crater. Numerous large blocks of sinter from
geyser (Seismic Geyser) has far-reaching sig- 0.3 to I m in diameter were strewn about ran-
nificance in understanding the formation of domly, bearing evidence that the crater had
other geysers, geyser tubes, and hot-spring formed explosively (fig. 3). The dead trees that
vents. had formerly been in place over the site of the
Among the thousands of thermal springs in crater were now broken and scattered.
Yellowstone Park, Seismic Geyser is one of During 1963, water jets about 1 m high
the few that is totally recent in origin. It is not a played every few seconds into the crater from
99
 its west end. The fumarole had thus evolved the west end of the crater. Sudden release of
into a small geyser. energy had not only greatly enlarged the
The winter of 1964-65 resulted in new earlier hole but had also torn out obstructions.
marked changes in the geyser. Sometime prior The water, now discharged in much greater
to April 1965, a new explosion occurred near volume, erupted vertically instead of at an

Figure 2.—Earliest photograph of the fumarole Figure 3.—Seismic Geyser after initial erup-
area that later developed into Seismic Geyser tions in spring of 1963. Note large blocks of sin-
(spring, 1960). ter near the vent, with fine debris absent in
splashed area.

Figure 4.—Explosive burst just breaking the surface pool of Seismic Geyser with water level below
level of discharge (May 30, 1966).
angle. Yellowstone evidently now had a new By the spring of 1972, further changes were
geyser of no mean proportions, and it became evident. During the previous winter, Satellite's
known as Seismic Geyser. vent had enlarged and had become heart
The eruptions increased in vigor in the late shaped. No further change took place in Seis-
winter of 1966 (fig. 4). By this time, the diame- mic's crater during the 1971 72 winter, proba-
ter of vigorously washed ground around the bly because it had ceased eruptive activity.
geyser was about 21 m, caused by the nearly Geyser activity was confined wholly to Satel-
vertical fall of erupted water. During the years lite's vent, while Seismic had become an inter-
of 1967 through 1969, the pattern of Seismic mittently overflowing spring.
Geyser's eruptive activity underwent progres- Intervals between ruptions of the new vent
sive changes. The length of the quiet phase during 1972 ranged from I5 to 37 min: each
between eruptions slowly increased to about eruption lasted 21 to 31 min and consisted of
40 to 50 min. Each eruption was complex with either two or three separate periods of spout-
a duration of about 15 to 20 min, during which ing. Each eruption was initiated by a rise in
30 or more separate bursts occurred. The first water level of about 0.20 m in both craters. At
burst of each sequence explosively broke the times, Seismic overflowed for a few minutes
surface of the pool, as shown in figure 5. The with no consequent eruption of Satellite. Boil-
crater was still slowly being enlarged on its ing in Satellite was continuous from eruption
margins. to eruption.
In the early part of 1971, a vent (now called By June 1974, all eruptive activity was con-
Satellite Geyser) developed on the east fined to Satellite, which most commonly
shoulder of the crater. Satellite's vent, like surged to heights of about 1 m but had some
Seismic's, resulted from one or more explo- spurts to 3 m or a little higher. The duration of
sions. During the season, further enlargement observed eruptions of Satellite ranged from 31
occurred. There was a break of about 0.6 m in to 47 min, and the eruption intervals ranged
the side next to Seismic Geyser, which resulted from 49 to 66 min (data from Roderick Hut-
in the water of both springs being continuous chinson, Natl. Park Service). At times,
at the surface when levels were high. between eruptions, both pools were quiet in
When first observed in 1971, the water was str► king contrast to earlier almost constant
boiling vigorously in Satellite's crater, and this activity.
was characteristic of its pattern throughout Seismic's vent was probed extensively in
the remainder of the season. But periodically, 1974, but the maximum accessible depth was
Satellite erupted with massive bursts to a 6.6 m, where temperatures ranged from
height of about 3 to 3.7 m and occasionally to 89.6° C to 95.6°C. Temperatures at the bottom
6 m. Its eruptions were synchronized with were, in general, slightly below those at 3.7 m,
those of Seismic, with both vents erupting where the observed range was 88.9°C to
simultaneously. 99.0°C. Satellite's vent was probed to a maxi-
Figure 5.—Bursting eruption of Seismic Geyser mum depth of 3.7 m, where the temperature
(August 1968). range was from 94.3°C to 97.8°C (tempera-
ture data from Manuel Nathenson, U.S. Geol.
Survey).

Seismic activity around Yellowstone Park

Since the discovery of Yellowstone Park,

earthquakes of sufficient intensity to be recog-
nized have occurred rather frequently. (The
most recent earthquakes were in the Mam-
moth Hot Springs area on December 19, 1976,
magnitude M 1 =4.3 and 4.5, respectively.)
After the 1959 earthquake, the National Park
Service, in cooperation with the U.S. Geologi-
cal Survey, installed three seismographs in the

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 park. One was also set up at Hebgen Lake. gressed, the standing level of water in each
They commonly record an average of about hole rose to the ground surface and then
five shocks daily around the park; on rare attained positive pressures (in capped holes)
occasions, they may record 100 or more in a that ranged up to an equivalent level of 65.5 m
single day. Most events are so slight that they above ground. The excess pressure exceeded
cannot be felt by man, but occasionally strong the hydrostatic pressure by 47 percent in one
earthquakes occur, such as that of August 17, hole.
1959. These very high pressures near the surface in
Seismic records indicate that, on an average rocks that are originally very permeable mean
of about once in 10 years, a strong earthquake that some kind of self-sealing mechanism
occurs in the States adjoining Yellowstone operates within the geyser reservoir. Such a
National Park, particularly in Montana. The highly pressurized system has subsurface
last strong earthquake prior to August 17, temperatures that indicate a superheated con-
1959, was on November 23, 1947. Neither the dition of the fluids.
1947 earthquake nor any earlier historical one
was sufficiently intense to produce major Seismic response of Yellowstone geysers
hydrothermal changes. But some of the evi-
Earthquakes, largely localized just outside
dent changes in the hot springs that have
of the Yellowstone caldera, result in violent
occurred over the centuries are probably asso-
shaking of the large, high-temperature con-
ciated with strong seismic activity. The Heb-
vection systems of the geyser basins. New frac-
gen Lake earthquake, far from being the only
tures form in the self-sealed shallow parts of
incident to affect the geyser basins, was no
these systems where high-temperature water is
doubt preceded by many earthquakes of equal
confined at pressures well above hydrostatic.
intensity during the past few thousand years.
The new fractures provide new escape chan-
Microearthquake monitoring of the park in nels for fluid in the overpressured system. As
recent years by the U.S. Geological Survey old fractures and permeable channels become
and by the University of Utah has revealed a sealed by precipitation of hydrothermal min-
pattern of frequent small events that tend to be erals, new channels are provided by the peri-
localized immediately outside of the Yellow- odic seismic activity. The seismic response of
stone caldera but rarely occur inside the cal- such a system evidently differs greatly from
dera. (See "Teleseismic Studies Indicate Exist- place to place. Some responses are nearly
ence of Deep Magma Chamber Below instantaneous, but others evolve slowly over a
Yellowstone National Park" by H. M. lyer, period of years.
Earthquake Information Bulletin, March We believe that Seismic Geyser provides the
April 1974, vol. 6, no. 2.) keys for understanding the origin of other
The active belt extends eastward from Heb- spring and geyser vents. Some other craters
gen Lake to Norris Basin and then eastward are also of recent origin, with jagged ledges of
for a few kilometers adjacent to the caldera sinter and sediments in the crater walls bearing
rim. Thus, of the major geyser basins, only mute evidence that powerful eruptions were
Norris is near the most active seismic belt; responsible for creating the vents. Other
Shoshone, the major Firehole River geyser spring and geyser vents are smooth walled,
basins, and West Thumb are all within the rel- probably because they are old enough for
atively inactive caldera. initial irregularities to have been covered by
sinter.
Subsurface properties of Yellowstone's geyser
basins References
Marler, 1)., 1964, Effects of the Hebgen Lake
The temperature and pressure gradients in
earthquake on the hot springs of the Firehole
the upper few hundred meters of Yellow-
Geyser Basins, Yellowstone National Park: U.S.
stone's geyser basins provide the basis for Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 435 Q. p. 185 197.
understanding how and why new vents form. Marler, G. D. and White, I). E., 1975, Seismic
Research holes drilled in Yellowstone Geyser and its hearing on the origin and evolution of
National Park show maximum temperatures geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone National
ranging from 143° to 237.5°C. As drilling pro- Park: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 86, p. 749 759.

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