Summary report of diamond drilling in thermal areas of Yellowstone National Park, and method for determining heat flow in thermal area

Fournier, R. O.

Muffler, L. J. P.

Truesdell, A. H.

White, D. E.

English

Crossref

Geothermal studies - Yellowstone National Park (Test Site 11), Wyoming

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UNITED STATES 
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
INTERAGENCY REPORT NASA-109 
GEOTHEFNAL STUDIES - YELLOWSTONE 
NATIONAL PARK ( T e s t  S i t e  l l ) ,  '"n'n""Th uvrviw~.~i\IGX 
D. E. Whi-te** 
R. c) .  Fournier"  
L. J. P. Muff le r**  
A. H. Truesdell-x-* 
May 1968 
P r e p a r e d  by the  G e o l o g i c a l  S u r v e y  
f o r  t h e  N a t i o n a l  A e r o n a u t i c s  and 
Space A d m i n i s t r a t i o n  (NASA) 
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https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19680015779 2020-03-12T10:26:31+00:00Z
Part I1 - New Nethod for Detemining He%% F~GWS-------------------- 7 
Figure 1 - Grzph Showing Temperatures Recoi-ded and Related 
wit'n Depth I n  Diamond Drill Holes in Yellowstone 
National Park 
Figure 2 - Pre ih ina ry  Eeat Flow Jkp oil" Cid laithl?iil Area, 
Yellowstone National Fark, Wyoming, Usii-~g Heavy 
Snowfalls as 2 Caloi.ixctric K&hx3 
D. E. kLiite, R. 0. Fournier, L. J. P. Xdffier, and A. E. Truescieli 
ABS TX4C T 
i w e s t i g a t i o n s  of t 'nerml ereas I n  Y e l l o x s t o r e  k t i o n a i  ?ark icciu6e 
t h e  cor re la t ion  of subswface tcxperatures deterr,fined by diaxond drii l inE;,  
smi"ace 'cmperature messuraents,  md rexote sensor ckca. %lis repsrt, 
i n  two par'is, describes 1) xhe p r e i h i n s r y  results o f  diamond dr i l l i i ig ,  
s-mxarizing l i thology,  subsur%ce t a p r e t i l i - e s  ami pressures i n  L bhe & F i i  
holes ,  and 2)  a method of u s i n g  heavy snow f a l l  i n  calor imetr ic  detemLna- 
t ions .  
The snow f a l l  method appears applicable t o  r e p e t i t i v e  2hotographic 
itnd in f r a red  observation from space. 
nietsrs p l i g h t  assist such s tudies  but lime not  ye t  been tes ted .  
oi- i l l ing ir ,fomation i s  t o  be correlated w;th analyses of surface monitor- 
i n g  and a i r c r a f t  renote sensor data, 
?assisre racromve imaging radio- 
The 
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Y-10 
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215 ft. 
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242 
593 
812 
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t s q e x i i x r e s  were stili inc-q-9 LLc.Lng -1 d o n g  the  boillng-p~iii cu--ve a t  t A e  
xx.:Lmrr L q t h s  d r i l l e d  ( 2 i k  r'eet, 516 f e e t ,  and 511: feet), 
2 )  ~ a + e r  pressures rneasured a t  tl;e surTace exceeded atmosshei-ic 
i n  9 holes. 
o f  50 t o  200 f e e t  and cormonly ranged f i " ~ ~  30 t o  100 ?si, measured at g r o u d  
l w e i .  
the upper, cooler parts or' h i g j  tmxprature hot sprimg systess. 
high perniea-oilities of near-surface rocks a r i i  sediaents h2ve been decreased 
g rea t ly  by delsosition of s i l i c a ,  zeol i tes  an2/or c a l c i t e .  
Tnese ' l a t e s i a i "  press-nes geazrslljr becmie evidect r;t Ocpths 
The h i @  water pressxres a x  r e l a t ed  t o  se l f - sea l ing  ;r.ecknisr:s i n  
Original 
3) The f i r s t  occurrence of welded ash-flow tuff' ins ide  t h e  Yellox- 
s tone caldera  was encountered i n  the  Rabbit Creek hole  2ron 32 f e e t  t o  %?fie 
b o t t o n  02 t h e  hole at  538 f e e t .  
s t r x t u a l l y  high resurgent dome cent ra l  t o  -the caldera.  
This hole  i s  loca ted  on t h e  flark of t h e  
4)  Core logging provided a prelinicarjr  de temina t ion  of' t h e  nature  
and disti- ibution o f  hydrothermal minerals. Nost of t h e  holes i n  Up2er, 
Iv;idmy, cid Loxer Geyser Basins a r e  characterized by zeol i tes  (domixaxt 
m r d e n i t e  with subordinate c l i n o p t i l o l i t e  and m a l c i t e )  , c a l c i t e ,  qaer tz  , 
pyr i t e ,  ncnts lor i l loni te  , and minor pyrrhot i te  and f luo r i t e .  'Two of t'nese 
wel ls  contained abundant ear thy h e m t i t e .  The Korr ls  hole was characterized 
by white clay, no zeol i tes ,  and minor c a l c i t e  and p3;rite. Tke Nznmoth hole 
encountered a b n d a n t  secondary Zyr5-k and c d c i t e .  
5 
6 
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A seL5quant imtive r-etliod has jeen developed i n  Ye1lcr;stone foi. 
Keasuring t h e  t o t a l  heat :low t h o u &  hot ground ad jacmt  to p y s e r s  slid 
hox springs.  Tne xethod u t i l i z e s  heavy i n d i v i h z l  snosv?"alls 2s ca lor i -  
xeters , extending Wakefield Dort ' s c;uali tative o5servations (Dort , 1966, 
0 
2. 11439) t h c t  g romd near proxisent therrr,al features  remains bare even 
during heavy snowfall, and t h a t  t he  chic'kness or' t o t a l  sr,owyack increases 
zway from these features .  
Optimum conditions for quant i ta t ive  study a re  provided by an individEal 
heavy snorakl l  of shcr t  duration, when daily t e q e r a t u r e  f luc tua t icns  8re  
not far fron 0 C. Time 0 i s  vhen snow first starts t o  co l l ec t  on bare  
go -md ,  and may cornmonly be f ixed  w i t h  an uncertainty of i / 2  hour o r  so. 
A & t a i l e d  topogrqhic  map o f  t h e  $est  a rea  i s  essent ia l ;  t he  aethod has 
been t e s t e d  i n  two areas i n  Upper Basin, one of which includes Old FaithlZI1. 
At convenient i n t e rva l s  a f t e r  a heavy f a l l  has ceased, the  l i n e s  t h a t  de- 
0 
r i r k  snow from no-snow a re  mapped as iso-heat-flow contours. 
A t  t h e  time each contour i s  mapped, t h e  coctour i s  ca l ibra ted .  We 
had observed t h a t  snow on boardwalks i n  t h e  popular thermal areas re ta ined 
t h e i r  snow cover much longer than on adjacent hot ground, because of In- 
s u l a t i o n  provided by t h e  2"-thick 3oards separated from t h e  ground by 
about 6" of  a i r  space. \here a snov-nelt contour crossed a boardwalk 
2 
J-?? ~~~e sncw of a spec i f ic  area (1 ft used to date) was scraped i n t o  a p s i l ;  
7 
tmzdwzlic SLOW i s  asswxed t o  be equivalent t o  t h e  t o t a l  na tu ra l  keat  f l o x  
02 %he mppeci contour of adjacent hot groucd. Condmted and probddy  SO..!^ 
comrected heat i n  warn gases a re  boxh included without diszlncti.cn. Zach 
boar&aik control  a rea  i s  assumed t o  have been influenced by the  szze gains  
and losses  of heat from so la r  and atmospheric sources as the  adjacent 
gromd t h a t  has just  l o s t  i t s  snow cover a t  t h e  mapped contour. 'EIUS, 
most of the  uncer ta in t ies  concerning these external  sources of energy a r e  
corapensat ed . 
Two reasonably r e l i a b l e  heat-flow contours have been mapped i n  the  
-6 2 
Old F a i t h f d  t e s t  area;  these a re  1020 and 470 x 10 cal /cn sec, 
or roughly 680 and 390 times the  "noma1" 1-1/2 heat-flow uni t s .  These 
seemingly very high heat flows a r e  consls tent  with other evidence, in- 
cluding the  very high near-surface the-mal gradients found i n  t h e  d r i l l  
holes.  
?"ne method i s  l i k e l y  t o  be most usefu l  i n  cases of l a rge  l o c e l  
differences i n  heat  f l o w .  Under favorable c i imat ic  conditions,  it can 
provide rouch data  with minimal tilse and expense. One inportant c l i q a t i c  
l imi t a t ion  recognized t o  da te  is  tha t  a i r  temperature should have been near 
O°C f o r  a few days p r i o r  to t he  snowfall. 
?or  one snowfall when p r i o r  temperatures were coxideraSly  above 0 C ,  
Heat-flow contouring was attempted 
0 
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Reference 
ijort, Wzkefield, Jr., 1966, Rapid reconnaissance of heat-flow pat te rns  i n  
snow-covered thernal  areas: Jour.  Geophys. Research, v. 71, 
p . 4&39-&40. 
9 
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EXPLANATION 
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%-T 470 x cal/cm 2 see ~ 1 0 2 0  x cd/cm 2 sec 
Figure 2 - Preliminary heat flow map of Old Fai thfu l  area,  Yellowstone 
National Park, Wyoming, using heavy snowfalls as a calor i -  
metric method. 


Geothermal studies - Yellowstone National Park /test site 11/, Wyoming

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