Note: | 8/20/1981 The birth of a geyser: At 1500 there appeared a water column on the far northern side of Porcelain Basin. A geyser was erupting from a vent 30 in in diameter about 20 yards west of the Collapsed Cave in a continuous stream @ > 15 feet. The eruption paused for 12 minutes then erupted for 11, paused for 12 and erupted again. This time however after 11 minutes it abruptly decreased from 15 to 6 feet and continued to erupt for at least 3 hours continuously in this way. During the eruptions the water was murky and muddy, like tea, and little pebbles were ejected at a rate about 5-15 per minute. During the eruption a cave like vent 6 yards north of main vent splashed and overflowed heavily. And another vent 15 yards west of the man vent erupted along a 8 ft wide crack (No. S) ~ about 6 feet and overflowed between eruptions. This vent would go into a loud steam phase. Tomas V |