In a desolate, windswept plain in southern Iceland, some of the most extraordinary scenery on earth can be found. From the pools of sulfur steam and hot water, something erupts every fifteen minutes, sending a column of boiling water 70 feet into the air. This phenomenon is called a geyser, a term derived from the ancient Icelandic word goysa.
Geysers occur when underground spring water encounters hot rocks, usually in areas with high volcanic activity. The reason it happened in Iceland was because there was a huge mile-long fissure called allmannagja. The fissure is part of a rift in the surface that runs from north to south and is as long as the Atlantic Ocean. When magma from the earth's core surges up from cracks and hardens, it presses on the Atlantic tectonic plates, causing them to separate at a rate of two centimeters per year. When tectonic plates touch the continents surrounding the oceans, the continental margins become stressed. The force of the impact causes wrinkles, protruding mountains, and occasionally cracks. After this phenomenon occurs, magma is released to the ground through volcanic activity.
——"142 Starting Points for Reading"