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News From the Field

Geysers have loops in their plumbing


February 24, 2015

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University of California, Berkeley, volcanologist Michael Manga and his students threaded sensors and cameras into the superheated water of geysers in Chile and Yellowstone National Park 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

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University of California, Berkeley

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