PEALE.] 



COMPARISON OF GEYSER REGIONS. 



369 



In the Iceland region there are about six areas or groups, which are 

 from 40 to 50 miles apart. In New Zealand there are about ten areas, 

 the greatest distance between them being about 15 miles. In the Yel- 

 lowstone National Park there are between thirty and forty areas, and if 

 they are followed, starting with the Mammoth Hot Springs and going 

 southward through the geyser basins of Fire Hole Eiver to Shoshone 

 Lake, Heart Lake, and back northward, via Yellowstone Lake and Yel- 

 lowstone Eiver, there will be only two points where the air-line distances 

 between spring areas is as much as Iti miles. 



In Iceland there are only three areas with geysers of note. In the Yel- 

 lowstone National Park there are at least eight such localities, and in 

 New Zealand fully as many. In the number of springs and noted gey- 

 sers the two latter regions far exceed Iceland, in which "Geyser" and 

 " Strokhr" are the two prominent spouters. For those in New Zealand 

 the reader is referred to Chapter II, Part II, and to the recapitulation 

 and the end of Part I for the geysers of the Park. As to the number 

 of springs in New Zealand, an enumeration has probably never been 

 made, but they appear to be very numerous, and are found on siliceous 

 plateaus or mounds, as in our own region. 



The following table gives the size of individual areas for comparison : 



Locality. 



Area in 

 acres. 



Number of 

 springs 

 and gey- 

 sers. 



Geyser area of Haiiljadal, Iceland , 



Geyser area of Rekium, Iceland 



WTiakaari Island, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand 



Siliceons jjlatoau at Orakeikora'ko, New Zealand 



East side of Eotomaliana, including Te Tarata, New Zealand 



Upper Gevser Basin Fire Hole River, in Yellowstone National Park 

 Lower Geystr Basin Fire Hole Eiver, inTellowstone National Park 



Mound of' Castle, Yellowstone National Park 



Gibbon Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park , 



Giantess Group, Upper Fire Hole Geyser Basin 



Grand Group, Upper Fire Hole Geyser Basin 



Fountain Group, Lower Geyser Basin 



20 



50 



30 



1 



6i 



2,560 



19, 200 



H 



275 



18 



30 



15 



100 

 100 



76 



85 



440 



693 



15 



200 to 300 



55 



70 



17 



Some of the individual groups in the geyser basins of the Yellowstone 

 Park have been included in the table, so that a fair comparison with 

 the Orakeikorako plateau can be made. We have no data as to the ex- 

 tent of the various New Zealand areas, but several of them include a 

 number of siliceous plateaus upon which springs are found. Of course 

 in each of the three countries there are hot springs outside of the limits 

 of the mails as we have given them here, and if we take these into ac- 

 count, the American localities will exceed the others, especially if the 

 Nevada and California springs are counted. If the springs of Snake 

 Eiver, south of the Park, and those of Shields Eiver and the Mussel- 

 shell, with others to the north (all of which are on the same north and 

 south line as the geyser basins of Fire Hole Eiver), are considered as a 

 part of the same system as the springs of the National Park, the total 

 length of the line is about 200 miles. 



As to the heights to which the geysers throw their columns there is 

 probably not much difference between the three regions, although the 

 Yellowstone Park probably has a greater number of geysers which 

 erupt regularly to 100 feet or more. The records of the New Zealand 

 geysers are deficient in this resi)ect. 



The greatest height recorded as attained by the Great Geyser of Ice- 

 24 H, PT n 



