Publications

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptive activity or suspected volcanic activity (SVA) at 6 volcanic centers in 1995: Mount Martin (Katmai Group), Mount Veniaminof, Shishaldin, Makushin, Kliuchef/Korovin, and Kanaga. In addition to responding to eruptive activity at Alaska volcanoes, AVO also disseminated information for the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team...

This report provides a detailed picture of the rockslide-debris avalanche of the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano. It provides a characterization of the deposit, a reinterpretation of the details of the first minutes of the eruption of May 18, and insight into the transport mechanism of the mass movement. Details of the rockslide event, as revealed by eyewitness...

The conductivitites of selected gneiss (two) and amphibolite (one) core samples have been measured under conditions of elevated temperature and pressure with a needle‐probe. Water‐saturated thermal conductivity measurements spanning temperatures from 25 to 300°C and hydrostatic pressures of 0.1 and 34 MPa confirm the general decrease in conductivity with increasing temperature but...

Intensely altered wall rock was collected from high-temperature (640 °C) and low-temperature (375 °C) vents at Augustine volcano in July 1989. The high-temperature altered rock exhibits distinct mineral zoning differentiated by color bands. In order of decreasing temperature, the color bands and their mineral assemblages are: (a) white to grey (tridymite-anhydrite); (b) pink to red...

Three-dimensional seismic travel-time tomography of The Geysers geothermal area, in the coast ranges of northern California, shows a strong (−9%) anomaly in VP/VS, the ratio of the compressional and shear wave speeds, that is not evident in VP alone and corresponds closely to the most intensively exploited part of the geothermal reservoir. This anomaly probably indicates low pore...

Inverting P- and S-wave polarities and P:SH amplitude ratios using linear programming methods suggests that about 20% of earthquakes at The Geysers geothermal area have significantly non-double-couple focal mechanisms, with explosive volumetric components as large as 33% of the seismic moment. This conclusion contrasts with those of earlier studies, which interpreted data in terms of...

The enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 saw the assignment of definite responsibilities relating to hot dry rock (HDR) to the US Geological Survey (USGS). This mandate provided some explicit guidelines and individual tasks in areas in which the USGS already had close ties to the Department of Energy and a number of its national laboratories. This paper discusses various tasks in...

Volcaniclastic units cored at depths of about 87, 164, 178, 226, and 246 m below sea level and carbonate units located between depths of 27 and 53 m below sea level in the Hilo drill core were found to be deposited at or near sea level. Four of these units are hydroclastic deposits, formed when subaerially erupted Mauna Loa lava flows entered the ocean and fragmented to produce quenched...

Geophysical, geological, and seismicity data are combined to develop a transpressional strain model for the southern Washington Cascades region. We use this model to explain oblique fold and fault systems, transverse faults, and a linear seismic zone just west of Mt. Rainier known as the western Rainier zone. We also attempt to explain a concentration of earthquakes that connects the...

Comb-layered quartz is a type of unidirectional solidification texture found at the roofs of shallow silicic intrusions that are often associated spatially with Mo and W mineralisation. The texture consists of multiple layers of euhedral, prismatic quartz crystals (Type I) that have grown on subplanar aplite substrates. The layers are separated by porphyritic aplite containing equant...

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), a cooperative program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, has maintained a program of seismic monitoring at potentially active volcanoes in the Cook Inlet region since 1988. The principal objectives of this program include the...

Numerical simulations of multiphase fluid and heat transport through a porous medium define combinations of rock properties and boundary conditions which lead to geyser‐like periodic discharge. Within the rather narrow range of conditions that allow geyser‐like behavior, eruption frequency and discharge are highly sensitive to the intrinsic permeabilities of the geyser conduit and the...