A Geyser result of high temperature

A geyser is the result of underground water under the combined conditions of high temperatures and increased pressure beneath the surface of the earth. Since temperature rises about 10F for every sixty feet under the earth’s surface, and pressure increases with depth, water that seeps down in cracks and fissures until it reaches very hot rocks in the Earth’s interior becomes heated to a temperature of approximately 290 0F.

Water under pressure can remain liquid at temperatures above its normal boiling point, but in a geyser, the weight of the water nearer the surface exerts so much pressure on the deeper water that the water at the bottom of the geyser reaches much higher temperatures than does the water at the stop of the geyser. As the deep water becomes hooter, and consequently lighter, it suddenly riser to the surface and shoots out of the surface in the form of steam and hot water. In turn, the explosion agitates all the water in the geyser reservoir, creating further explosions. Immediately afterward, the water again flows into the underground reservoir, heating begins, and the process repeats itself.

In order to function, then, a geyser must have a source of heat, a reservoir where water can be stored until the temperature rises to an unstable point, an opening thought which the hot water and steam can escape, and underground channels for resupplying water after water after eruption.

Favorable conditions for geyser exist in regions of geologically recent volcanic activity, especially in areas of more than average precipitation. For the most part, geysers are located in three regions of the world: New Zea land, Iceland, and the Yellowstone national park area of the United States. The most famous geyser in the world is Old faithful in Yellowstone Park. Old Faithful erupts every hour, rising to a height of 125 to 170 feet and expelling more than ten thousand gallons during each eruption. Old faithful earned its name because, unlike most geysers, it has never failed to erupt on schedule even once in eighty years of observation.