The cone-building stage may be said to continue until eruptions of lava and fragmental materials cease altogether.  Sooner or later the volcanic forces shift or die away, and no further eruptions add to the pile or replace its losses by erosion during periods of repose.  Gases however are still emitted, and, as sulphur vapors are conspicuous among them, such vents are called SOLFATARAS.  Mount Hood, in Oregon, is an example of a volcano sunk to this stage.  From a steaming rift on its side there rise sulphurous fumes which, half a mile down the wind, will tarnish a silver coin.

Geysers and hot springs.  The hot springs of volcanic regions are among the last vestiges of volcanic heat.  Periodically eruptive boiling springs are termed geysers.  In each of the geyser regions of the earth—­the Yellowstone National Park, Iceland, and New Zealand—­the ground water of the locality is supposed to be heated by ancient lavas that, because of the poor conductivity of the rock, still remain hot beneath the surface.

Old faithful, one of the many geysers of the Yellowstone National Park, plays a fountain of boiling water a hundred feet in air; while clouds of vapor from the escaping steam ascend to several times that height.  The eruptions take place at intervals of from seventy to ninety minutes.  In repose the geyser is a quiet pool, occupying a craterlike depression in a conical mound some twelve feet high.  The conduit of the spring is too irregular to be sounded.  The mound is composed of porous silica deposited by the waters of the geyser.

Geysers erupt at intervals instead of continuously boiling, because their long, narrow, and often tortuous conduits do not permit a free circulation of the water.  After an eruption the tube is refilled and the water again gradually becomes heated.  Deep in the tube where it is in contact with hot lavas the water sooner or later reaches the boiling point, and bursting into steam shoots the water above it high in air.

Carbonated springs.  After all the other signs of life have gone, the ancient volcano may emit carbon dioxide as its dying breath.  The springs of the region may long be charged with carbon dioxide, or carbonated, and where they rise through limestone may be expected to deposit large quantities of travertine.  We should remember, however, that many carbonated springs, and many hot springs, are wholly independent of volcanoes.

The destruction of the cone.  As soon as the volcanic cone ceases to grow by eruptions the agents of erosion begin to wear it down, and the length of time that has elapsed since the period of active growth may be roughly measured by the degree to which the cone has been dissected.  We infer that Mount Shasta, whose conical shape is still preserved despite the gullies one thousand feet deep which trench its sides, is younger than Mount Hood, which erosive agencies have carved to a pyramidal form.  The pile of materials accumulated about a volcanic vent, no matter how vast in bulk, is at last swept entirely away.  The cone of the volcano, active or extinct, is not old as the earth counts time; volcanoes are short-lived geological phenomena.