Brenda Dewar, age 13, of Camby, In d.,

How is the water in hot springs warmed?

The warm water which bubbles and gushes up from geysers and hot springs is heated in underground kettles. We find them in areas where young volcanoes are still busy and also in places where volcanoes erupted in the past. This might tell us how the underground kettles which heat the water came into being.

Volcanoes send forth hot molten rock. Rain falling upon molten lava spits and turns into steam. Sometimes the lava is many feet thick and the surface is soon cooled by the air. The hot lava below is sealed under a crusty surface and its heat cannot escape. Rain water seeps deep into the cracks and pores of the hot buried rock. There it becomes heated and sometimes even turned to steam.