Fountain Geyser is a

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only ...

in the Lower Geyser Basin of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is border ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Fountain is the dominant member of a group of geysers at the Fountain Paint Pots thermal area. Morning Geyser, which erupts from a vent close to Fountain's, is larger, but is inactive during most years. Fountain, by contrast, is usually active. It is a fountain-type geyser that erupts jets ranging in height up to or more, with most eruptions containing at least a few bursts that reach 40 to 50 feet. Intervals (= eruption start to eruption start) vary from year to year but are commonly about 4.5 to 6 hours, with occasional longer intervals of 11 to 12 hours. Durations of eruptions are typically about 30 minutes. Occasionally, Fountain departs from its usual behavior and enters so-called "wild-phase" eruption, during which the height is much reduced but the duration can be as long as two weeks. Fountain is not to be confused with similarly named, and nearby (and larger),

Great Fountain Geyser The Great Fountain Geyser is a fountain-type geyser located in the Firehole Lake area of Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. It is the only Lower Geyser Basin feature that the park makes predictions for. Eruption The geyse ...

, another of the major features of Lower Geyser Basin, adjacent to the Firehole Lake road.

References

{{Wyoming Geysers of Wyoming Geothermal features of Teton County, Wyoming Geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park Geysers of Teton County, Wyoming