The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-30
SCIENCE
by DAVID DIETZ-

Hot Springs and Geysers Are
an After-Efect of Ancient
Volcanic Action.
IF you visit Yellowstone National
Il park this spring or summer, the
hot springs and geysers Of that
famous region may recall 70 your
mind the recent volcanic eruptions
in the Andes mountains.
They will, II you are up on your
geology, for the biologists have
pointed out a direct connection be-
tween the two types OF phenomena.
1t Is known today that hot springs
and geySers are an after-ehect Of
ancient volcanic action.
Yellowstone park is the worlds
most famous geyser field.
II was first seen In 1907 by a trap
per, John Golfer, who described it
so wildly that It became known IS
Golfers He'll" The Yellowstone
region was not explored scientifically
until sixty years later.
The first geyser region to be ac-
curately described was that of Ice
land in 1S47. A third geyser region
exists in New Zealand.
y
A Natural Fountain
A GEYSER is a sort of natural
N fountain. throwing great Jets
Of hot water and steam into the
air.
Eruptions vary from once a year
to every five minutes, depending
upon the nature of the particular
geyser, but in most cases occur with
a surprising regularity.
The best known geyser is old
Faithful" Of Yellowstone park,
which erupts regularly every seventy
minutes.
The explanation of geysers is to
be found in the geology Of the re-
gionS IN which they occur.
The Yellowstone region is a great
area which was built up by lava
flows from volcanoes on its borders.
These volcanoes now are extinct.
The lava-fiows cooled quickest on
the surface, and as the surface
solidifed. much heat was i'm
prisoned underneath.
AS a result, the rock layers below
the surface still are at high tenn
perature. Ground water seeping
into the cracks in these layers is
heated TO a high temperature and
much Of it is turned into steam.
The geyser consists of a vent
reaching from the surface to an
underground pocket.
y
Steam Pressure
THIS pocket fills with hot water
Il and steam. When the steam
pressure becomes high enough to
lift the weight Of water, it blows the
water and steam out through the
vent and there is an eruption.
The regularity of action is caused
by the fact that 1t takes the same
number of minutes each time for
the pocket to fill and the steam
pressure to rise to the proper point.
Hot springs are caused by ground
water coming in contact with rock
layers at high temperatures.
Regions which contain geysers al
ways contain large numbers of hot
springs. However, hot springs are
found in many regions where there
are no geysers.
In time, all volcanoes become in
active, their store of lava becoming
exhausted. But even after activity
has ceased, the region of a volcano
is likely to be rather warm and as
a result the land will abound in hot
springs or emit fumes and gases of
various sort, particularly carbon
dioxide.
A typical region is the Land OF
Ten Thousand Smokes near the
still active Katmai volcano in
Alaska. Hot sulphur fumes and
other gases arise from cracks in
the ground, known technically as
fumaroles.
When the vent from lava pocket
fails to reach the surface, there may
be great intrusions of lava between
other layers of rock, where 1t solidi-
fles into igenous rocks.
These come to view when in time
the forces Of erosion wear away the
softer rocks into which they have
been intruded.