Detecting natural fractures with ground penetrating radar and airborne night-thermal infrared imagery around Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, USA

摘要

Both surface and shallow (similar to 3 m depth) subsurface natural fractures exist around the siliceous sinter cone of Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park. Surface fracture trends identified using night-thermal infrared (FIR) imagery are consistent with previously mapped fault and fracture trends in the Upper Geyser Basin and Old Faithful area. An April 2015 ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the Old Faithful Geyser cone detected similar "blind" subsurface fracture trends around the siliceous sinter cone of Old Faithful Geyser. Intersecting NE and NW as well as WNW and ENE trends in the shallow subsurface provide potential fracture pathways for the flow of hydrothermal fluids around Old Faithful Geyser. Both the TIR and GPR techniques contribute new information on the permeable pathways around Old Faithful Geyser.