Old Faithful: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox hot spring |
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| name = Old Faithful |
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| photo = Old Faithfull-pdPhoto.jpg |
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| photo_width = |
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| photo_caption = Eruption of Old Faithful |
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| name_origin = Named by [[Henry D. Washburn]], September 18, 1870 |
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| location = Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, [[Teton County, Wyoming]] |
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| lat_d = 44.4596552 |
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| long_d = -110.8324335 |
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| region = US-WY |
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| coords_ref = <ref name="rcn">{{cite rcn|9909|Old Faithful}}</ref> |
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| elevation = {{convert|7349|ft|m}} <ref>{{cite gnis|1592387|Old Faithful}}</ref> |
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| type = Cone geyser |
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| height = {{convert|106|ft|m}} to {{convert|185|ft|m}} |
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| duration = 1.5 to 5 minutes |
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| frequency = 45 to 125 minutes |
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| discharge = {{convert|3700|USgal|m3}} to {{convert|8400|USgal|m3}} |
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| depth = |
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| map = SouthernSectionUpperGeyserBasinOldFaithful.JPG |
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| map_caption = Southern section of Upper Geyser Basin |
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| map_width = |
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}} |
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'''Old Faithful''' is a cone [[geyser]] located in [[Wyoming]], in [[Yellowstone National Park]] in the [[United States]]. Old Faithful was named in 1870 during the [[Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition]] and was the first geyser in the park to receive a name.<ref>{{cite book |author=Bauer, Clyde Max |title=Yellowstone Geysers |location=Yellowstone Park, Wyoming |publisher=Haynes, Inc |year=1947 |oclc=1517713}}</ref><ref name="tour"/> It is also called the most predictable [[geographical]] feature on [[Earth]] erupting almost every 91 [[minutes]]. The geyser, as well as the nearby [[Old Faithful Inn]], is part of the [[Old Faithful Historic District]]. |
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==History== |
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On the afternoon of September 18, 1870, the members of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition traveled down the [[Firehole River]] from the [[Kepler Cascades]] and entered the Upper Geyser Basin. The first geyser they saw was Old Faithful. In his 1871 Scribner's account of the expedition, [[Nathaniel P. Langford]] wrote: |
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{{cquote|Judge, then, what must have been our astonishment, as we entered the basin at mid-afternoon of our second day's travel, to see in the clear sunlight, at no great distance, an immense volume of clear, sparkling water projected into the air to the height of one hundred and twenty-five feet. "Geysers! geysers!" exclaimed one of our company, and, spurring our jaded horses, we soon gathered around this wonderful phenomenon. It was indeed a perfect geyser. The aperture through which the jet was projected was an irregular oval, three feet by seven in diameter. The margin of sinter was curiously piled up, and the exterior crust was filled with little hollows full of water, in which were small globules of sediment, some having gathered around bits of wood and other nuclei. This geyser is elevated thirty feet above the level of the surrounding plain, and the crater rises five or six feet above the mound. It spouted at regular intervals nine times during our stay, the columns of boiling water being thrown from ninety to one hundred and twenty-five feet at each discharge, which lasted from fifteen to twenty minutes. We gave it the name of "Old Faithful."|Nathaniel P. Langford, 1871<ref>{{cite journal |last=Langford |first=Nathaniel P. |authorlink=Nathaniel P. Langford |year=1871 |month=May–June |title=The Wonders of the Yellowstone |journal=Scribner's Monthly |volume=II |issue=1-2 |page=123}}</ref>}} |
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In the early days of the park, Old Faithful was often used as a laundry: |
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{{cquote|Old Faithful is sometimes degraded by being made a laundry. Garments placed in the crater during quiescence are ejected thoroughly washed when the eruption takes place. [[Philip Sheridan|Gen. Sheridan's]] men, in 1882, found that linen and cotton fabrics were uninjured by the action of the water, but woolen clothes were torn to shreds.<ref>{{cite book |last=Winser |first=Henry J. |title=The Yellowstone National Park-A Manual for Tourists |location=New York |publisher=G.P. Putnam Sons |year=1883 |page=46}}</ref>}} |
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==Eruptions== |
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[[File:OldFaithful.ogg|thumb|16-second video clip of an eruption]] |
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Eruptions can shoot {{convert|3700|to|8400|USgal|L}} of boiling water to a height of {{convert|106|to|185|ft}} lasting from 1.5 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is {{convert|145|ft}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chapple |first=Janet |title=Yellowstone Treasures |publisher=Granite Peak Publications |year=2005 |location=Providence, RI |page=79 |isbn=0-9706873-1-1}}</ref> The highest recorded eruption was {{convert|185|ft|m}}. Intervals between eruptions can range from 45 to 125 minutes, averaging 66.5 minutes in 1939,<ref name=Woodward>{{cite journal |journal=Northwest Science |title=Old Faithful, An Example of Geyser Development in Yellowstone Park |volume=13 |year=1939 |pages=50–5 |author=Clyde Max Bauer and George Marler |url=http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/org_nws/NWSci%20journal%20articles/1927-1939/1939%20vol%2013/13-2/2008-02-11/v13%20p50%20Bauer%20and%20Marler.PDF}}</ref> slowly increasing to an average of 90 minutes apart today.<ref name="gosa">{{cite gosa|OLDFAITHFUL|Old Faithful}}</ref> The time between eruptions has a [[bimodal distribution]]. |
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More than 137,000 eruptions have been recorded. [[Harry Woodward]] first described a mathematical relationship between the [[Time|duration]] and [[interval (time)|interval]]s of the eruptions (1938).<ref name=Woodward/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/yell/historyculture/arch_interp.htm |title=Season Report on the Naturalist Activities at Old Faithful Station. |year=1939 |author=Harry R. Woodward}}</ref> Old Faithful is not the tallest or largest geyser in the park; that title belongs to the less predictable [[Steamboat Geyser]].<ref name="tour">{{cite web |title=Old Faithful Geyser |work=Old Faithful Area Tour |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/tours/oldfaithful/oldfaith.htm}}</ref> Its popularity is more likely due to the small eruption window and high frequency. |
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==Increasing interval== |
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Over the years, the length of the interval has increased, which may be the result of [[earthquake]]s affecting subterranean water levels. These disruptions have made the earlier mathematical relationship inaccurate, but have in fact made Old Faithful more predictable. With a margin of error of 10 minutes, Old Faithful will erupt 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 2.5 minutes or 91 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 2.5 minutes. The reliability of Old Faithful can be attributed to the fact that it is not connected to any other thermal features of the [[Geothermal areas of Yellowstone|Upper Geyser Basin]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Old Faithful slows, but grows |publisher=Billings Gazette |url=http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyoming/990914_wyo01.html |accessdate=July 21, 2007 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071009200545/http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyoming/990914_wyo01.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate=October 9, 2007}}</ref> |
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==Measurement== |
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Between 1983 and 1994, four probes containing temperature and pressure measurement devices and video equipment were lowered into Old Faithful. The probes were lowered as deep as {{convert|72|ft}}. Temperature measurements of the water at this depth was {{convert|244|F|C}}, the same as was measured in 1942. The video probes were lowered to a maximum depth of {{convert|42|ft}} to observe the conduit formation and the processes that took place in the conduit. Some of the processes observed include fog formation from the interaction of cool air from above mixing with heated air from below, the recharge processes of water entering into the conduit and expanding from below, and entry of superheated steam measuring as high as {{convert|265|F|C}} into the conduit.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Hutchinson RA, Westphal JA, and [[Susan Kieffer|Kieffer SW]] | title=In situ observations of Old Faithful Geyser | journal=Geology | volume=25 | issue=10 | year=1997 | pages=875–878 | url=http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/10/875 | doi=10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0875:ISOOOF>2.3.CO;2|bibcode = 1997Geo....25..875H }}</ref> |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==External links== |
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{{commons category|Old Faithful Geyser}} |
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* {{cite web |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8RUmvolwUQ |title=A day in the life of Old Faithful Geyser, as timelapse video |publisher=YouTube.com}} |
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* {{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060601-oldfaithful-video.html |title=Video Of Old Faithful |publisher=[[National Geographic Society|NationalGeographic.com]]}} |
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* {{cite web |url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=36014 |title=Old Faithful |publisher=NASA [[Earth Observatory]]}} |
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==Gallery== |
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{{Gallery |
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|title=Images of Old Faithful Geyser |
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|width=150 |
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|lines=2 |
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|file:CraterofOldFaithful1872.jpg|Old Faithful Crater, 1872 [[William Henry Jackson]] |
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|file:Bierstadt Albert Old Faithful.jpg|[[Albert Bierstadt]], circa 1881 |
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|file:OldFaithfulJackson1892.jpg|Photo by W. H. Jackson, 1892 |
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|file:OldFaithful1898.jpg|Color, Photochromatic print, 1898 |
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|file:Oldfaithful1912.jpg|Eruption, 1912 |
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|file:CoverHaynesGuideToYellowstone(1916).jpg|Old Faithful on the 1916 [[Frank Jay Haynes|Haynes]] Guide |
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|File:Ansel Adams - National Archives 79-AA-T04.jpg|Old Faithful, by [[Ansel Adams]] in 1941 |
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|file:Yellowstone- Old Faithful standard shot Aat25.jpg|[[Ansel Adams]], 1942 |
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|file:OldFaithful1948.jpg|Eruption, 1948 |
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|file:OldFaithfulVent1953.jpg|Old Faithful Vent, 1953 |
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|file:OldFaithfulWinter1969.jpg|Winter, 1969 |
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|file:OldFaithfulPhilKonstantin.jpg|From Observation Point, 2003 |
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}} |
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{{Upper Geyser Basin}} |
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{{Wyoming}} |
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[[Category:Yellowstone geothermal features]] |
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[[Category:Geysers of Wyoming]] |
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[[Category:Geothermal features of Teton County, Wyoming]] |
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