Geyser

gi'ser, a violent outburst of hot water. The term is Icelandic and was applied to the hot springs of Iceland, the first known. There are about one hundred of these in a plain thirty miles west of Mt. Hecla. The largest is the Great Geyser. It issues from a funnel-shaped orifice ten feet wide at the bottom and seventy feet wide at the top. The rim is covered with a coating of silicious deposit sixteen feet thick, arguing a great age. At intervals of six hours a column of water shoots up for about five minutes, rising to a height of 212 feet, equal to that of three tall trees. Other geysers are found in New Zealand and California. The largest geyser known is in New Zealand. It sends up a black, boiling mass of mud, stones, and water to a height of 1,000 feet. The most celebrated group of geysers, however, are in the Yellowstone National Park in a corner of Wyoming. There are over 1,500 geysers in this district. The largest, the Grand Geyser, throws water to a height of 250 feet. The most noted is Old Faithful. Without doubt geysers are connected with volcanic action. Vast quantities of steam are formed by the contact of water with heated rocks. An explosion follows,--the geyser is the vent; the hot water that lies above the steam is blown out into the upper world. See Yellowstone Park