Water at a depth of 23 metres (75 ft) is around 120 °C(248 °F), but cannot boil because of the weight of the water pushing down on it from above. When this water is forced up to around 16 metres (52 ft), some of the water may be above boiling point, which sets off the chain reaction: the pressure decrease allows more water to boil and flash boil into steam, which drives the unboiled water further up the conduit. As this happens closer and closer to the surface, with increasing velocity, the water and steam is forced out, and it is this mixture of water and steam that forms the eruption.