Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black HillsOwen, Luella Agnes
Science
Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills
Owen, Luella Agnes
Caves -- Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.); Caves -- Ozark Mountains
(2) At no point does the water in the tube attain the temperature of
ebullition which it should have under the pressure to which it is
subjected, but the temperature depends on the time that has elapsed
since the last eruption. As a great eruption comes near it approaches
the boiling point.
(3) At the depth of about forty-five feet the difference between the
temperature of the water and the calculated boiling point for that
pressure is the least.
The main point of his theory appears to be that an eruption takes place
when the water in the tube reaches the boiling point, and to account for
it, "He supposes that the column in the central tube communicates by a
long and sinuous channel with some space, be it what it may, which is
subjected to the action of the direct source of subterranean heat. The
temperature gets raised above the boiling point, due to the pressure,
and a sudden generation of steam is the result. This steam rises in the
column of water, which, being cooler, causes it to condense. Gradually
the heat of the water is raised until the water of the channel must
boil, and the steam therefore cannot condense, but must accumulate and
acquire a gradually increasing tension. The condensation of the bubbles
possesses a periodic character, and to this is due the uplifting of the
water in what Bunsen calls conical water hills, which are accompanied by
the subterranean explosions."
Prof. Comstock is quoted as thinking "Bunsen's theory has not yet been
proved adequate to explain the more prominent features of geyser
eruptions. Nor does it, in his opinion, account for all the differences
between geysers and hot springs, and he proposes a structural
hypothesis which combines Bischof's and Bunsen's theories."
This hypothesis is illustrated by a figure in which a reservoir partly
filled with water is connected with the surface by a tube having a
double curve, and he explains that the water collecting in the depressed
curve should confine the steam, rising from the reservoir in the other
curve until the pressure is sufficient to cause an eruption. His theory
of action being that the water in the reservoir remains in equilibrium
at a certain level, and the constant heat fills the space above with
vapor, which heats the water held in the downward bend of the tube, and
that also evolves vapor which fills the balance of the tube to the vent.
When the combined pressure of this vapor and water are overcome by the
expansion of vapor accumulated above the reservoir, they are forced out,
and followed by a portion of the water of the reservoir. This theory is
in the report of Captain Jones on Northwestern Wyoming.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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