Geysers have loops in their plumbing

Geysers have loops in their plumbing

03/03/2015 02:54 PM EST

University of California, Berkeley, volcanologist Michael Manga and his students threaded sensors and cameras into the superheated water of geysers in Chile and Yellowstone, and have come up with an explanation for why geysers erupt periodically. They've even built a laboratory geyser that erupts every 20 minutes to prove that loops and bends in the underground plumbing trap steam bubbles that slowly leak out, heating the water above until it suddenly boils from the top down.

Full story at http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2015/02/24/geysers-have-loops-in-their-plumbing/

Source
University of California, Berkeley

This is an NSF News From the Field item.