GEYSERS 321 



rock and as the spray falls back and cools, this is deposited, 

 forming craters of singular shape and grotesque beauty. 

 On looking into these craters a smoothly lined, irregular, 

 crooked, tubelike opening is seen to extend down into 

 the ground. It is through this that the water finds its 

 way to the surface. How long these tubes are nobody 

 knows, but they must reach to a point where the heat is 



CONE OF THE BEEHIVE GEYSER. 

 Built from the dissolved material brought up by the hot water. 



sufficient to raise water to its boiling point. This heat is 

 probably due to hot sheets of lava. 



When the water in the tube is heated enough to make 

 it boil under the pressure to which it is subjected, steam 

 forms and some of the water is pushed out over the sur- 

 face. This escape of water relieves some of the pressure, 

 and more of the water far down in the tube expands into 

 steam thus throwing more water out. Huge indeed must 

 be the reservoir to which the tube in a geyser like the 

 Giant leads, to be able to pour out such a vast quantity 

 of water. 



