522 NOTES ON THE RECENT ERUPTIONS IN THE TAUPO ZONE N.Z. 



the hot rock below, and receiving a small influx of percolating 

 waters, is the only apparatus required. It is, however, curious to 

 observe that geysers are at present confined to the three regions 

 mentioned above — Iceland, the Yellowstone and the Taupo Zone ; 

 and that the characteristic rock in each is rhyolibic lava of the 

 same character. (1) 



It will be very interesting to watch for further symptoms either 

 of subsidence and quiescence of the subterranean forces, or of 

 another outbreak which seems to me the more probable, and is 

 indeed involved in my hypothesis of an upward movement of lava 

 in the throat of Tarawera. If such actions should recommence 

 we should be justified in feeling some apprehension of a renewal 

 of true volcanic action, long, but how long no one can tell, 

 dormant in this region. 



(1) At the last February meeting of the Geological Society, Professor 

 Judd, F.K.S., &c. exhibited photographs of the geysers and terraces of New 

 Z ;aland, taken by J. Martin, Esq., F.G.S. In the instantaneous photo- 

 graphs of the geysers, the explosive action of the steam which is still 

 engaged in the water after its rise into the air which might have been 

 conjectured, but had never been observed before, is distinctly shown. 'The 

 body of heated water, after its rise from the geyser-tube is seen to be 

 violently dispersed, probably by a liberation of high pressure steam.' 



