A visit to the California’s Old Faithful Geyser is the perfect complement to your Napa Valley getaway. This landmark is a unique wonder, as geysers can only exist where conditions are just right; there must be a natural subterranean supply of water, a heat source, and an underground network of fissures and fractures that guide the water straight to the . . . Continued
The Old Faithful Geyser of California - is one of three geysers in the world with the designation "old faithful." These are the geysers that perform at regular intervals. A geyser exists only where conditions are right. These conditions include a natural deep subterranean . . .
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The key to understanding how geysers work is to first learn about the relationship between water and steam. Steam is formed when water is heated to its boiling point, causing it to transition from its liquid form to its gaseous form. When it transforms into steam, water’s molecular structure becomes less tightly-knit and expands in volume. In this form, it can occupy up to 1600 times its’ original space. Understandably, when steam is confined at depth, there is nowhere for it to expand, so subterranean pressure builds up until a breaking point is reached. This causes the eruption of a geyser, in which steam bursts forth from the ground, taking with it large amounts of superheated subterranean water.
However, this also leaves a ‘vacancy’ in the underground chamber where the water had once been. As a result, surface water will travel down through the ground after an eruption, thus refilling the chamber. Because these chambers are usually located near an underground heat source, such as hot magma, this phenomenon restarts the cycle and once again sets the eruption process in motion.