The Lady Knox Geyser is a

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in ...

in the

Waiotapu Waiotapu (Māori language, Māori for "sacred waters") is an active Geothermal (geology), geothermal area at the southern end of the Okataina Volcanic Centre, just north of the Reporoa caldera, in New Zealand's Taupo Volcanic Zone. It is 27 kilo ...

area of the Taupo Volcanic Zone in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It is named after Lady Constance Knox, the second daughter of Uchter Knox, 15th Governor of New Zealand. The geyser is induced to erupt daily at 10:15am by dropping a

surfactant Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or interfacial tension between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming ...

into the opening of the vent. Eruptions produce a jet of water reaching up to 20m and can last for over an hour,Lady Knox Geyser, Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland
/ref> depending on the weather. The visible spout is made of rocks placed around the base of the spring to enhance the eruption; over the years silica from the eruptions has built up to give a white cone-shaped appearance. Because the geyser was discovered early in the 20th century, it has no

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

name, unlike almost every other thermal feature in New Zealand.

Discovery

In 1901, the first open prison in New Zealand was established at Waiotapu, its object to accommodate some of the better-behaved prisoners from around the jails of the Rotorua Lakes District. It was a gang of those prisoners who first discovered the clearing in which the geyser is situated and that the spring could be made to erupt by adding soap, discovered when they first added soap to the hot water to wash their clothes.

References

Geysers of New Zealand Okataina Volcanic Centre Tourist attractions in Waikato Articles containing video clips Landforms of Waikato {{Waikato-geo-stub