Geological sketches, at home and abroad . ming. But wehad come upon no actual eruptive geyser. In this basin,however, there is one geyser which, ever since the discoveryof the region some ten years ago, has been remarkablyregular in its action. It has an eruption once every hourand a few minutes more. The kindly name of OldFaithful has accordingly been bestowed upon it. We atonce betook ourselves to this vent. It stands upon a lowmound of sinter, which, seen from a little distance, looks asif built up of successive sheets piled one upon stratified appearance, however, is due to the
Geological sketches, at home and abroad . ming. But wehad come upon no actual eruptive geyser. In this basin,however, there is one geyser which, ever since the discoveryof the region some ten years ago, has been remarkablyregular in its action. It has an eruption once every hourand a few minutes more. The kindly name of OldFaithful has accordingly been bestowed upon it. We atonce betook ourselves to this vent. It stands upon a lowmound of sinter, which, seen from a little distance, looks asif built up of successive sheets piled one upon stratified appearance, however, is due to the same x] THE GEYSERS OF THE YELLOWSTONE. 229 tendency to form basins so marked at the Hot Springs onGardiners River. These basins are bordered with the samebanded, brightly-coloured rims which, running in level lines,give the stratified look to the mound. On the top thesinter has gathered into huge dome-shaped or coral-likelumps, in the midst of which lies the vent of the geyser—ahole not more than a couple of feet or so in diameter—. Fig. 28. — Old Faithful in eruption. whence steam constantly issues. When we arrived a con-siderable agitation was perceptible. The water was surgingup and down a short distance below, and when we couldnot see it for the cloud of vapour its gurgling noise remaineddistinctly audible. We had not long to wait before thewater began to be jerked out in occasional spurts. Thensuddenly, with a tremendous roar, a column of mingledwater and steam rushed up for 120 feet into the air, falling 233 GEOLOGICAL SKETCHES. [x in a torrent over the mound, the surface of which nowstreamed with water, while its strange volcanic coloursglowed vividly in the sunlight. A copious stream of stillsteaming water rushed off by the nearest channels to theriver. The whole eruption did not last longer than aboutfive minutes, after which the water sank in the funnel, andthe same restless gurgitation was resumed. Again, at theusual interval, another outburst of the same kin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1882
