 Castle Geyser Eruption |
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| Name Origin | Named by the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition on September 18, 1870 |
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| Location | Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming |
| Coordinates | 44°27′50″N 110°50′03″W / 44.46389°N 110.83417°WCoordinates: 44°27′50″N 110°50′03″W / 44.46389°N 110.83417°W |
| Elevation | 7,333 feet (2,235 m) |
| Type | Cone geyser |
| Eruption Height | 90 feet (27 m) |
| Eruption Frequency | 10 to 12 hours |
| Eruption Duration | 20 minutes |
| Commons | * Media related to Castle Geyser at Wikimedia Commons |
 Southern section of Upper Geyser Basin |
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Castle Geyser is a cone geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. It is also noted for the particularly large sinter deposits that form its cone. These have been likened in appearance to a castle.
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History
On September 18, 1870 the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition entered the Upper Geyser Basin, eventually naming seven geysers they observed in the basin. This appearance of this geyser led Lieutenant Gustavus Cheyney Doane to name it Castle Geyser.[1]. Nathaniel P. Langford gave this account in his 1871 Scribner's article:
"The Castle," situated on the summit of an incrusted mound, has a turreted crater through which a large volume of water is expelled at intervals of two or three hours to the height of fifty feet, from a discharging orifice about three feet in diameter. The architectural features of the silicious sinter surrounding it, which is very massive and compact, indicating that at some former period the flow of water must have been much greater than at present, suggested its name. A vent near it is constantly discharging a large stream of boiling water, and when the geyser is in action the water in this vent boils and bubbles with great fierceness.[2]
Eruption
The geyser has a 10-12 hour eruption cycle. The geyser erupts hot water for about 20 minutes to a height of 90 feet (27 meters) before changing to a noisy steam phase for 30-40 minutes.[3]
The sinter cone for Castle Geyser was dated to around 1022 using carbon-14 dating. This date is much younger than the presumed age of 5000 to 15000 years. A 3-D laser scan done of the cone shows evidence that this geyser has gone through four to five distinct stages to reach its current configuration.[4]
In November 2002, an earthquake in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska caused Castle Geyser, as well as other geysers in Yellowstone, to decrease in eruption frequency.[5] The affected geysers have since returned to their previous pattern.
| Images of Castle Geyser | ||||||||||||||||||
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References
- ^ Bauer, Clyde Max (1947). Yellowstone Geysers. Yellowstone Park, Wyoming: Haynes. ASIN B0007E44C4.
- ^ Langford, Nathaniel P. (May-June 1871). "The Wonders of the Yellowstone". Scribner's Monthly II (1-2): 124.
- ^ "Castle Geyser". Old Faithful Area Tour. http://www.nps.gov/yell/tours/oldfaithful/castleg.htm. Retrieved 2005-09-15.
- ^ Foley, Duncan. (2004). "How Does Your Geyser Grow? 3-D Laser Scanning and Preliminary 14C Dating of Castle Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming". Geological Society of America - Rocky Mountain (56th Annual) and Cordilleran (100th Annual) Joint Meeting (May 3–5, 2004), 15
- ^ "Quake in Alaska Changed Yellowstone Geysers". University of Utah News and Relations. http://www.utah.edu/unews/releases/04/may/geysers.html. Retrieved 2005-09-15.
- ^ Langford, Nathaniel Pitt (1905). The Discovery of Yellowstone Park; Diary of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the Year 1870. St. Paul, MN: Frank Jay Haynes. pp. 123. http://www.archive.org/details/diaryofwashburne00langrich.
External links
- "Castle Geyser movie". http://www.gigagraphica.com/geyser/castle/castle.html. Retrieved September 16 2005.
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