A 40 year old picture from the famous Geysir area in Iceland. You can clearly see the two strokes of water. The closer one is Strokkur geyser which IS the attraction at Geysir area but the one further away is Geysir after spewing boiling water 60 meters into the air. Sadly, this has not happened for years now and visitors have to make do with its baby brother. PIC loveland
O f course you heard or read about it. It is, after all, one the most famous places in the whole of Iceland and few leave this island without having a look.
There is no coincidence that almost the only word Iceland has given the world for use is the name for a geyser. Which naturally comes from Geysir, which is the tremendous pool of water gushing forth from a hole in the ground in the Geysir area in Iceland.
Except it isn´t!
The real Geysir has not shown any life for decades now apart from a eruption in 2000 which incidentally happened during an earthquake. Most scientists believe it unlikely it will blow again anytime soon. What visitors to the Geysir area really see is its baby brother Strokkur, much harder to pronounce than Eyjafjallajokull, which fortunately shows vigor year-in, year-out every ten minutes or so.
True, Strokkur is but a baby compared to Geysir at its peak. Strokkur, most often, spits powerful watery jets 15 to 20 meters into the air while Geysir was known to fire much larger body of water to 80 meters at best. Sadly, this is something you will have to imagine unless mother nature decides otherwise.
As for why Geysir no longer remains active there are many theories but one that stands out has to do with, surprise surprise, earthquake activity. History shows a correspondence between activity underneath and hibernation or active Geysir.
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