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Signs! A
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Yellowstone
National Park - Old Faithful's Plumbing
Location
of sign - Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park
Photo
taken June 2008
Text
of sign:
Old
Faithful's Plumbing
Old Faithful's steaming and spouting merely hint at the thermal
action below ground. After an eruption, the partially emptied
geyser
chambers
again fill with hot water. As steam bubbles rise, they clog
narrow sections of the geyser tube. Pressure and temperature
then
increase until steam abruptly forces its way upward, discharging
some water in preliminary splashing. This splashing apparently
unloads
enough water to start a chain reaction deep within the system.
As larger quantities of water flash into steam, the geyser
surges
into full eruption. When the geyser tubes are nearly empty,
eruption ceases. The system then begins to refill, and the
entire
cycle
starts anew.
Predicting
Old Faithful
Every
geyser has its own unique eruption indicators. Between spoutings,
watch Old Faithful for signs of impending thermal activity.
For most of the interval, steam gently billows from Old Faithful's
cone. A few minutes before an eruption, intermittent jets of
spray
spurt a few feet above the surface. When the spurt become
sustained and surge upward, a full eruption has begun.
The
average interval between Old Faithful's eruptions is growing
longer. Frequent earthquakes in and near Yellowstone may alter
the
underground plumbing, changing the routes of circulating
water. Vandalism - people throwing objects into Old Faithful's
vent -
may
also contribute to the slowdown.
No two eruptions are the same; the height and the duration
vary. Because the duration of Old Faithful's last eruption
determines
the
time between eruptions, only the next discharge can be
predicted. Subsequent eruptions are impossible to predict.
Graphics
on the sign
In
addition to the text this sign features a graphic description of how the Old
Faithful Geyser works and a picture of Old Faithful
erupting.
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You
can find more information about the state of Wyoming here.
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