Geyser Island Spouter, Saratoga Springs, New York Postcard

"Geyser Island Spouter, Saratoga Springs, New York" by Catherine Sherman. One of the first sights you see on the Geyser Creek Loop Walk is the Geyser Island Spouter in Saratoga Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs, New York. The scene is especially beautiful in mid-October as the leaves begin to take on their Autumn colors. Pressurized carbonic gas pushes a stream of water from the Geyser Island Spouter in Geyser Creek. The island is formed from tufa, a form of limestone created from hardened minerals and salts from the steady stream of the water. The water isn't hot, unlike hot springs and geysers in Yellowstone National Park. The Saratoga Springs area has the only active spouting geysers east of the Mississippi River in the United States. The mineral springs for which the area is famous arise from fissures in the Saratoga Fault, which runs 65 miles (105 km) from Whitehall to Albany. The carbonated water that vents in springs and geysers is rich in minerals and salts. The water isn't hot. Geyser Island Spouter, which sends a narrow plume of water 10 to 15 feet (3 to 5 meters) into the air, first emerged in the early 1900s. Since that time, it has deposited minerals that grow a tufa deposit at the rate of two inches (5 cm) per year. Two of the most visited springs today are Geyser Island Spouter and Orenda Spring, along Geyser Creek. Orenda Spring has created a massive tufa dome, which continues to fossilize leaves and other debris as it grows.