CHAPTER FIVE

Hot Water

Imagine you are in this park. Suddenly, you hear a loud noise of water moving very fast. Then hot water and steam pour out of the ground. You are looking at a geyser.

What makes a geyser? When it rains or snows, the water goes into the ground. Deep under the ground, there is hot rock. If rainwater touches a lot of hot rock, it begins to boil. Then there’s a lot of steam.

Suddenly, the water can’t stay under the ground. It has to come out. Geysers are very hot, so don’t go near them!

These white cliffs look like they are made of ice, but they are really made of rock. Hot water came out of the ground and poured down the mountain. Then minerals in the water made these incredible cliffs. They look like waterfalls, but they never move. They are thousands of years old.

At the Jigokudani Monkey Park in Japan, hot water from under the ground makes pools. When the weather is cold, monkeys sit in the warm water.