Strokkur ( Icelandic , "churn") is a fountain-type

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 i ...

located in a geothermal area beside the Hvítá River in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

in the southwest part of the country, east of

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. It typically erupts every 6–10 minutes. Its usual height is , although it can sometimes erupt up to high.

Location

Strokkur belongs to the

Haukadalur Haukadalur ( Icelandic: , from non, Haukadalr , "hawk dale" or "valley of hawks") is a valley in Iceland. It lies to the north of Laugarvatn lake in the south of Iceland. Geysers Haukadalur is home to some of the best known sights in Iceland: t ...

valley area, where various other geothermal feature such as

mud pool A mudpot, or mud pool, is a sort of acidic hot spring, or fumarole, with limited water. It usually takes the form of a pool of bubbling mud. The acid and microorganisms decompose surrounding rock into clay and mud. Description The mud of a mud ...

fumarole A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcani ...

s and other geysers are located around it, such as the famous

Geysir Geysir (), sometimes known as The Great Geysir, is a geyser in southwestern Iceland. It was the first geyser described in a printed source and the first known to modern Europeans. The English word ''geyser'' (a periodically spouting hot spring) ...

geyser, which lies only to the north.

History

Strokkur was first mentioned in 1789, after an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

helped to unblock the conduit of the geyser. Its activity fluctuated throughout the 19th century; in 1815 its height was estimated to have been as much as . It continued to erupt until the turn of the 20th century, when another earthquake blocked the conduit again. In 1963, upon the advice of the Geysir Committee, locals cleaned out the blocked conduit through the bottom of the basin, and the geyser has been regularly erupting ever since.

Tourism

Strokkur and its surrounding areas regularly attract tourists hoping to see the geyser erupt, as it is one of a very few natural geysers to erupt frequently and reliably.

Evolution of the eruption

Each frame is approximately 1/4 of a second apart, for a total of approximately two seconds: Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 083.JPG Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 084.JPG Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 085.JPG Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 086.JPG Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 087.JPG Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 088.JPG Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 089.JPG Strokkur, Área geotérmica de Geysir, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 090.JPG

References

External links