The periodic, forceful ejection of hot water and steam from a natural vent, occurring when groundwater heated by nearby volcanic activity becomes trapped and pressurized within a narrow underground plumbing system until it flashes suddenly into steam and blasts upward. Because it requires a precise combination of heat, water supply and constricted underground geometry, an actively erupting geyser is a genuine rarity, with Yellowstone hosting the largest concentration, including Old Faithful's famously predictable eruptions.
Facts
PeriodicityDefined by its intermittent water discharge; a geyser's eruptive activity can change or cease entirely as mineral deposition alters its underground plumbing over time. 1 ScaleTwo broad types by eruption behavior: fountain geysers, which erupt in intense bursts from pools of water, and cone geysers, which erupt in steady jets lasting seconds to several minutes from mounds of sinter; Grand Geyser at Yellowstone is the tallest predictable geyser on Earth, and water typically works down to about 2,000 meters before contacting hot rock. 1 First DescribedThe word geyser entered English in the late eighteenth century from Geysir, the name of a specific geyser in Iceland that first erupted in the fourteenth century and whose name means 'gusher'. 1 Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceSuperheated water and steam sprayed turbulently from a surface vent once pressurized underground water boils, generally in areas of recent volcanism near a source of magma. 1 Sources
1. Geyser (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia 'Geyser', lead section
The pressurized water boils, and this causes the geyser effect of hot water and steam spraying out of the geyser's surface vent.
Wikipedia 'Geyser', Types and Introduction sections
fountain geysers which erupt from pools of water, typically in a series of intense, even violent, bursts; and cone geysers which erupt from cones or mounds of siliceous sinter
Wikipedia 'Geyser', Etymology and Great Geysir sections
The Great Geysir, which first erupted in the 14th century, gave rise to the word geyser.
Wikipedia 'Geyser', lead section (periodicity sentence)
A geyser (, UK: ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam.
Wikipedia 'Geyser', lead section (distinguishing-appearance sentence)
The pressurized water boils, and this causes the geyser effect of hot water and steam spraying out of the geyser's surface vent.
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