Glaciers and Thermal Water Features
Water is shown in many forms on stamps, such as scenery with glaciers or thermal features. Yes, I am talking about the extremes here - cold & hot. Glaciers
These are frozen water, rivers of ice created by an accumulation of snow compacting over the years. More snow collects than melts each year. Flowing ice carves mountains down to nothing over geologic time, but during our lifetime, they can be majestic.
New Zealand has issued several stamps showing their frozen rivers.
- #1105 Tasman G. 50¢ - the longest one in NZ, found on South Island, within Aoraki / Mount Cook Nat. Park
- #1106 Snowball G 80¢
- #1107 Brewster G $1.00
- #1108 Fox G, $1.50 – on the west coast of South Island
- #1109 Franz Josef G, $1.80 – on the west coast of South Island
- #398 Fox G, 28¢ - as above
- Canada #934 - Glacier National Park, in Alberta along the border with the USA
- Iceland #741 - Iceberg in Jokulsarlon Pool. Large chunks of ice from the tip of an ice sheet break off to float out to sea – a danger to navigation.
Thermal Water Features
Water that is heated by magma below the earth’s surface comes up as hot springs, pools and geysers. Several countries have beautiful or spectacular places to depict on stamps.
- US #1453 Old Faithful Geyser, in Yellowstone National Park, is so named because it shoots water into the air fairly regularly. It will erupt 65 minutes after an eruption lasting less than 2.5 minutes or 90 minutes after an eruption lasting more than 2.5 minutes. It is not the highest in the world, but quite famous.
- Iceland #208B - a fairly spectacular geyser in Iceland
- Iceland #742 Stokkkur Hot Springs
- Iceland #679 Mud pool / thermal spring in Iceland
- New Zealand #1346 Champagne Pool 10¢, south of Rotorua in North Island. Its name comes from the many bubbles of gas rising from the bottom.
The following is a set of stamps from New Zealand in 1993.
Top row:- #1155 Champagne Pool 45¢ as above
- #1156 Boiling Mud – Rotorua, 50¢
- #1157 Emerald Pool 80¢
Bottom row:- #1158 Hakereteke Falls $1.00
- #1159 Warbrick Terrace, $1.50, which is created by chemicals from a thermal water source crystallizing in layers in a flat area, and building up the terraces over time.
- #1160 Pohutu Geyser, $1.80 in the Rotorua region, it spouts 2 to 3 times per hour or more, and can reach 100 m high.
Now that you have had a taste of such scenery, you may want to continue searching for more of it.
Return from Glaciers and Thermal Water Features to Mother Nature
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