RAPID: Seismic Investigation of Geysers at El Tatio

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

THhis RAPID requestaims to collect a new and exciting data set that will support geyser eruption research currently funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal of this proposal is to create a short-term seismic array that will monitor and characterize the seismic behavior of the shall subsurface at El Tatio Geyser Fields. This is the third largest geyser field in the world. Due to the more relaxed stance on marginally invasive scientific investigations, El Tatio is an ideal location to deploy such a network. The data will be unique in sensor density and duration. Consequently, results will likely surpass those for any other geyser field. The goal is to characterize subsurface processes resulting in seismic vibrations and correlate these sources with surface eruption characteristics measured by Michael Manga?s group (at UC Berkeley). The concurrent measurements of temperature, discharge rate, eruption height, eruption duration and recurrence time, will make this data set completely unique. As the world?s third largest geyser field, El Tatio is a key geotourism location. Better understanding of the subsurface processes for such locations will eventually help education the broader public. Geyser eruptions are also key for understanding volcanic eruption processes as well as constraining important properties for geothermal energy generation. Because this is a unique data set, and the data will be archived at the IRIS DMC for posterity, we anticipate that the data will contribute to further investigations into geothermal and geyser processes.