Small Changes in the Chinese Spring Area

We’re almost here to opening weekend for the East Gate – though it will be another week until West Thumb Geyser Basin is accessible. Patience. I keep telling myself just to be patient.

Before my fall last week, I had intended to put up a reasonably cohesive post about the changes noticed in the Upper Geyser Basin. For this week, though, I’ve just gone through and processed some photos of what caught my eye and will share a few of the changes noted on opening weekend. For this post, I’ll just focus on the Chinese Spring area.

THE CHINESE SPRING AREA

In this area there are two springs by the boardwalk, Chinese Spring and East Chinaman Spring. I’ve been hearing and slightly feel thumps in the area near East Chinaman Spring for a couple of years now. The visit on opening weekend was the same. I’ve wondered if perhaps these thumps could be related to the “flaming” seen at the bottom of Blue Star Spring??? Just a random thought there. They seem to come from somewhere between this area and Blue Star Spring. Chinese Spring looks a bit hotter with fewer microbes growing close to the raised sinter rim around this spring

There’s also a buried spring also in line with the other two springs here. I’ve heard this referred to as “The Third Chinaman” – but in thinking of a better name, perhaps “Barrel Spring” might be appropriate as in Lee Whittlesey’s Nomenclature Manuscript, it talks of the possibility that a barrel of soap might have been buried here in the early days of the park’s existence. I like names that give a bit more of the story – so that’s my proposal for a nickname for this thermal feature.

It’s been relatively unchanged for many years. In 2012, a wash from what might have been a more significant eruption of Old Faithful, or perhaps just a gully-washer of a rainstorm, washed much gravel into half of this buried spring. Other than that, photos taken of this look unchanged. Until this year. Two or three small vents are opening up. It will be interesting to see if the yellow monkey flowers grow in a ring this year, or if it’s too hot for them now. Each year they’ve grown where the temperature is just right for them to thrive, so changes with them may indicate changes in temperature.