David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Travertine Deposit at Crystal Geyser outside Green River, Utah. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 50 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2.8, 1/400 sec). Crystal Geyser is unique in that it is cold and driven by carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, it didn’t erupt during this visit.
While driving from Colorado to New Mexico, I made a stop in Green River, Utah. I wanted to spend a day visiting the Crystal Geyser. This is a unique cold geyser powered by underground carbon dioxide and not underground geothermal heat. I saw Crystal Geyser erupt twice before in 2009, and 2010 and hoped to see it erupt again. Unfortunately, the eruptions were on this day were very small. Just slight increases in the flow of water coming out of the ground. I spent most of the day at the site just waiting. I set up three cameras to record any action. One camera (Nikon N1V1) was in the car, and the other two closer to the eruption site (a steel tube sticking out of a hole in the ground. I also took images of the rust-stained Travertine that formed from water released from the geyser.
Individual images from the slide show can be viewed here.
Before leaving Green River for Cedar City, I made a stop at the nearby Crystal Geyser. The cold geyser is near an abandoned Air Force missile testing facility, and is right next to the Green River. The geyser is now accessible via a dirt road on Bureau of Land Management land. I was fortunate to arrive this time when the geyser erupted. The geyser is unique in that the water is cold, and powered by carbon dioxide — not heat. The geyser is the result of drilling for gas (petroleum) many years ago. When the place was under Air Force control, the geyser was off-limits for visits. The eruptions are irregular, and you need to be lucky or very patient to see an eruption happen. In this image there is someone meditating while the eruption occurred. The water coming out of the geyser rises over 20 feet in the air — and unlike Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, the water from Crystal Geyser is cold to the touch. The water is mineral rich, and deposits building the crystalline Travertine terrace as the water flows to the river.
