Geysir

The word geyser comes from this one hole in the ground: Geysir, from the Icelandic verb geysa, to go quickly forward. Geological study suggests it began forming around 1150, and a geyser at the site is described by Saxo Grammaticus in a work finished about 1206, though the oldest definite accounts of the Haukadalur springs date to 1294, when earthquakes reshaped the valley and opened new ones. Its behaviour still tracks seismic activity, in 1630 the eruptions shook the valley. Eruptions can throw boiling water sixty metres up, but they are infrequent now and have stopped for years at a time.