Hot sea water on tap 

by Bill Baird

In size and location the Geysir just to the southwest of Gunna Springs in the Reykjanes peninsula of southwest Iceland was not out of the ordinary. It lay at an altitude of 20 metres above and 1350 metres from the sea in an area where there were several other hot springs and geysirs. In 1927 it had a regular period of 15 minutes and threw boiling water and steam between 3 and 6 metres in the air at each eruption. It was the nature of this water which was astounding, it was pure sea water, making this geysir a unique phenomenon in the natural world. Unfortunately the active life of the geysir was short and by 1937 geysir activity had ceased leaving only a continuously boiling pot. The theoretical conditions which could have caused the sea water geysir are discussed by Tom F. W. Barth, 1942 'Some unusual groundwater phenomena in Iceland.' Saertrykk av Norsk. Geografisk Tidssirift, B. 9, H.4, 158-172.