A geologically young land, Iceland is located on both the Iceland hotspot and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs right through it. This location means that the island is highly geologically active with many volcanoes, and also many geysers, including Geysir, from which the English word is derived, and the famous Strokkur.(Icelandic for "churn") located in a geothermal area beside the Hvítá River in the southwest part of the country, east of Reykjavík.
Strokkur belongs to the Haukadalur valley area, where various other geothermal feature such as mud pools, fumaroles and other geysers are located around it, such as the famous Geysir geyser. It erupts once every 6-10 minutes, and its usual height is 15-20m, although it can sometimes erupt up to 40m high. Strokkur was first mentioned in 1789, after an earthquake helped to unblock the conduit of the geyser. Its activity fluctuated throughout the 19th century; in 1815 its height was estimated to have been as much as 60m.
It continued to erupt until the turn of the 20th century, until another earthquake blocked the conduit again. In 1963, upon the advice of the Geysir Committee, locals cleaned out the blocked conduit through the bottom of the basin, and the geyser has been regularly erupting ever since. Strokkur and its surrounding areas regularly attract tourists hoping to see the geyser erupt, as it is one of a very few natural geysers to erupt frequently and reliably.
About the postmark
The postcard was bought from the Iceland's stand from the World Stamp Show NY2016, which held between May 28 and June 4 2016 in Javits Center, then was sent from Reykjavík (Iceland). Therefore it has a special postmark, made by Iceland Post (Posturinn) for this event.
References
Strokkur - Wikipedia
Sender: Holger
Sent from Reykjavík (Iceland), on 24.06.2016
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