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Michael L. Sorey

Publications and source records attributed to Michael L. Sorey.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2003

Water-level changes induced by local and distant earthquakes at Long Valley caldera, California

Distant as well as local earthquakes have induced groundwater-level changes persisting for days to weeks at Long Valley caldera, California. Four wells open to formations as deep as 300 m have responded to 16 earthquakes, and responses to two earthquakes in the 3-km-deep Long Valley Exploratory Well (LVEW) show that these changes are not limited to weathered or unconsolidated near-surface rocks. All five wells exhibit water-level variations in response to earth tides, indicating they can be used as low-resolution strainmeters. Earthquakes induce gradual water-level changes that increase in amplitude for as long as 30 days, then return more slowly to pre-earthquake levels. The gradual water-level changes are always drops at wells LKT, LVEW, and CH-10B, and always rises at well CW-3. At a dilatometer just outside the caldera, earthquake-induced strain responses consist of either a step followed by a contractional strain-rate increase, or a transient contractional signal that reaches a maximum in about seven days and then returns toward the pre-earthquake value. The sizes of the gradual water-level changes generally increase with earthquake magnitude and decrease with hypocentral distance. Local earthquakes in Long Valley produce coseismic water-level steps; otherwise the responses to local earthquakes and distant earthquakes are indistinguishable. In particular, water-level and strain changes in Long Valley following the 1992 M7.3 Landers earthquake, 450 km distant, closely resemble those initiated by a M4.9 local earthquake on November 22, 1997, during a seismic swarm with features indicative of fluid involvement. At the LKT well, many of the response time histories are identical for 20 days after each earthquake, and can be matched by a theoretical solution giving the pore pressure as a function of time due to diffusion of a nearby, instantaneous, pressure drop. Such pressure drops could be produced by accelerated inflation of the resurgent dome by amounts too small to be detected by the two-color electronic distance-measuring network. Opening-mode displacement in the south moat, inferred to have followed a M4.9 earthquake on November 22, 1997, could also create extensional strain on the dome and lead to water-level changes similar to those following dome inflation. Contractional strain that could account for earthquake-induced water-level rises at the CW-3 well is inconsistent with geodetic observations. We instead attribute these water-level rises to diffusion of elevated fluid pressure localized in the south moat thermal aquifer. For hydraulic diffusivities appropriate to the upper few hundred meters at Long Valley, an influx of material at temperatures of 300°C can thermally generate pressure of 6 m of water or more, an order of magnitude larger than needed to account for the CW-3 water-level rises. If magma or hot aqueous fluid rises to within 1 km of the surface in the eastern part of the south moat, then hydraulic diffusivities are high enough to allow fluid pressure to propagate to CW-3 on the time scale observed. The data indicate that seismic waves from large distant earthquakes can stimulate upward movement of fluid in the hydrothermal system at Long Valley.

California↗
USGS2000

Invisible CO2 gas killing trees at Mammoth Mountain, California

Since 1980, scientists have monitored geologic unrest in Long Valley Caldera and at adjacent Mammoth Mountain, California. After a persistent swarm of earthquakes beneath Mammoth Mountain in 1989, geologists discovered that large volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) gas were seeping from beneath this volcano. This gas is killing trees on the mountain and also can be a danger to people. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) continues to study the CO2 emissions to help protect the public from this invisible potential hazard.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2000

Abrupt physical and chemical changes during 1992-1999, Anderson Springs, SE Geyser Geothermal Field, California

The Anderson Springs area is located about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of San Francisco, California, in the southwestern part of Lake County. The area was first developed in the late 1800s as a health resort, which was active until the 1930s. Patrons drank a variety of cool to hot mineral waters from improved springs, swam in various baths and pools, and hiked in the rugged hills flanking Anderson Creek and its tributaries. In the bluffs to the south of the resort were four small mercury mines of the eastern Mayacmas quicksilver district. About 1,260 flasks of mercury were produced from these mines between 1909 and 1943. By the early 1970s, the higher ridges south and west of Anderson Springs became part of the southeast sector of the greater Geysers geothermal field. Today, several electric power plants are built on these ridges, producing energy from a vapor-dominated 240 °C reservoir. Only the main hot spring at Anderson Springs has maintained a recognizable identity since the 1930s. The hot spring is actually a cluster of seeps and springs that issue from a small fault in a ravine southwest of Anderson Creek. Published and unpublished records show that the maximum temperature (Tm) of this cluster fell gradually from 63°C in 1889 to 48°C in 1992. However, Tm of the cluster climbed to 77°C in 1995 and neared boiling (98°C) in 1998. A new cluster of boiling vents and small fumaroles (Tm = 99.3°C) formed in 1998 about 30 m north of the old spring cluster. Several evergreen trees on steep slopes immediately above these vents apparently were killed by the new activity. Thermal waters at Anderson Hot Springs are mostly composed of near-surface ground waters with some added gases and condensed steam from The Geysers geothermal system. Compared to gas samples from Southeast Geysers wells, the hot spring gases are higher in CO 2 and lower in H 2 S and NH 3 . As the springs increased in temperature, however, the gas composition became more like the mean composition of steam discharges from the Southeast Geysers. The hot spring waters are low in ions of Cl, B, and Li, but relatively high in HCO 3 , SO 4 and NH 4 . The stable-isotope compositions (deuterium and oxygen-18) of these waters plot near the global meteoric water line. Geochemical data through time reveal apparent maxima in the concentrations of SO 4 , Fe, and Mn in 1991 to 1992, before the cluster became hotter. The black-to-gray deposits from the new spring cluster are rich in pyrite and contain anomalous metals. About one-half mile to the east of the hot springs, mineralized water discharges intermittently from an old adit of the Schwartz (Anderson) mine, and enters a tributary of Anderson Creek. This drainage increased substantially in July 1998, and a slurry of mine water and precipitates were transported down the tributary and into Anderson Creek. In December 1998, the adit water was 22°C, and had a chemical composition that was similar to spring waters that once discharged in the ravines surrounding the old Anderson Springs resort. The cause for the abrupt changes that have occurred in thermal features at Anderson Springs is still not resolved. One possibility is that these changes are a response to withdrawal of steam from The Geysers geothermal field over more than 20 years of production. Pressure declines in the geothermal reservoir may have caused a "drying out" of the overlying condensation zone. Induced boiling in this zone and upflow of deep steam to shallower depths would cause heating and vaporization of shallow ground waters. In addition, earthquakes occurring in the vicinity of Anderson Springs have increased significantly after nearby geothermal power plants began operation. These earthquakes may have enhanced surface discharge of thermal fluids along fractures and faults.

California↗
USGS2000

Hydrothermal activity and carbon-dioxide discharge at Shrub and upper Klawasi mud volcanoes, Wrangell Mountains, Alaska

Shrub mud volcano, one of three mud volcanoes of the Klawasi group in the Copper River Basin, Alaska, has been discharging warm mud and water and CO2?rich gas since 1996. A field visit to Shrub in June 1999 found the general level of hot-spring discharge to be similar, but somewhat more widespread, than in the previous two years. Evidence of recent animal and vegetation deaths from CO2 exposure were confined to localized areas around various gas and fluid vents. Maximum fluid temperatures in each of three main discharge areas, ranging from 48-54?C, were equal to or higher than those measured in the two previous years; such temperatures are significantly higher than those observed intermittently over the past 30 years. At Upper Klawasi mud volcano, measured temperatures of 23-26?C and estimated rates of gas and water discharge in the summit crater lake were also similar to those observed in the previous two years. Gas discharging at Shrub and Upper Klawasi is composed of over 98% CO2 and minor amounts of meteoric gases (N2, O2, Ar) and gases partly of deeper origin (CH4 and He). The rate of CO2 discharge from spring vents and pools at Shrub is estimated to be ~10 metric tonnes per day. This discharge, together with measured concentrations of bicarbonate, suggest that a total CO2 upflow from depth of 20-40 metric tonnes per day at Shrub.Measurements were made of diffuse degassing rates from soil at one ~300 m2 area near the summit of Shrub that included vegetation kill suggestive of high CO2 concentrations in the root zone. Most of measured gas flow rates in this area were significantly higher than background values, and a CO2 concentration of 26 percent was measured at a depth of 10 cm where the gas flow rate was highest. Although additional measurements of diffuse gas flow were made elsewhere at Shrub, no other areas of vegetation kill related to diffuse degassing and high soil-gas CO2 concentrations could be seen from the air.Chemical and isotopic compositions of the gas and water discharging at Shrub and Upper Klawasi indicate derivation from a combination of mantle (magmatic) and crustal (marine sedimentary rock) sources and suggest a common fluid reservoir at depth. In particular, both the total dissolved carbon and values of 13C in CO2 are similar for fluids and gas sampled at each area, and do not appear to have changed with the onset of increased spring temperatures and fluid discharge at Shrub. This suggests that the underlying cause of the recent changes in discharge rate and temperature at Shrub is not an increase in the rate of input of magmatic heat and volatiles, but rather increases in the permeability of the upflow conduits that connect the gas-rich reservoir to the surface.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1996

Invisible CO2 gas killing trees at Mammoth Mountain, California

Since 1980, scientists have monitored geologic unrest in Long Valley Caldera and at adjacent Mammoth Mountain, California. After a persistent swarm of earthquakes beneath Mammoth Mountain in 1989, earth scientists discovered that large volumes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) gas were seeping from beneath this volcano. This gas is killing trees on the mountain and also can be a danger to people. The USGS continues to study the CO 2 emissions to help protect the public from this invisible potential hazard.

California↗
USGS1994

Measurements of heat and mass flow from thermal areas in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, 1984-93

Rates of heat loss from eight steam-heated thermal areas and one conductively heated thermal area in Lassen Volcanic National Park have been determined from measurements made during the period 1984-93. Total heat discharge at the steam-heated areas is assumed proportional to the rate of steam upflow from underlying reservoirs. The dominant mode of heat loss differs among the areas studied; at Bumpass Hell and Boiling Springs Lake evaporation from water surfaces dominates, whereas at Devils Kitchen and Little Hot Springs Valley most of the heat is lost by advection in streams. Heat loss from furnaroles, which discharge at temperatures of 93 157°C depending on the area, accounts for less than 30 percent of the total heat loss for all but the smallest thermal areas. Estimates of total heat loss from the eight steam-heated areas range from about 30 megawatts at Bumpass Hell and Boiling Springs Lake to less than 2 megawatts at Terminal Geyser, Pilot Pinnacle and Lassen Peak, and total about 120 megawatts. The corresponding rate of steam upflow required to supply this total heat loss is approximately 40 kilograms per second, with about half providing heat input to the five thermal areas situated on the flanks of Lassen Peak and the remainder supplying heat to thermal areas situated to the southeast of Lassen Peak along or near Hot Springs Creek. For the most part, heat-loss measurements were made during late summer and fall when streamflows were relatively low. At each thermal area, rates of streamflow and advective heat loss are greatest in the spring and early summer, reflecting depletion of stored heat by infiltrating cold water. Such seasonal variations, along with variations due to errors in our heat-loss determinations, result in uncertainties of approximately ± 20 percent in our estimates of total heat loss and steam upflow at all the Park's thermal areas.

California↗
USGS1985

MONITORING THE HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEM IN LONG VALLEY CALDERA, CALIFORNIA.

An ongoing program to monitor the hydrothermal system in Long Valley for changes caused by volcanic or tectonic processes has produced considerable data on the water chemistry and discharge of springs and fluid temperatures and pressures in wells. Changes in hot spring chemistry that have been recorded probably relate to interactions between the variations in the quantity of liquid and gas discharged. Stable carbon isotope data are consistent with a carbon source either from the mantle or from metamorphosed carbonate rocks. Continuous and periodic measurements of hot spring discharge at several sites show significant coseismic and aseismic changes since 1980.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1985

PRESENT STATE OF THE HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEM IN LONG VALLEY CALDERA, CALIFORNIA.

Results of test drilling to depths of 2 km and data on the chemical and isotopic content of waters from hot springs and fumaroles permit a conceptual model of the present-day hydrothermal system in Long Valley caldera to be delineated. The model consists of two principal zones in which hot water flows laterally from west to east at depths less than 1 km within and around the resurgent dome. Maximum measured temperatures within these zones are near 170 degree C, but estimates from chemical geothermometers and extrapolation of a high temperature gradient measured in a recent drill hole indicate that a source reservoir at temperatures near 240 degree C may exist at greater depths in the Bishop Tuff beneath the west moat.

Conference Paper↗