A fumarole is an opening in a planet's crust, often in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which

emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen
sulfide. The steam forms when superheated water turns to steam as its pressure drops when it
emerges from the ground.
Fumaroles may occur along tiny cracks or long fissures, in chaotic clusters or fields, and on the
surfaces of lava flows and thick deposits of pyroclastic flows. A fumarole field is an area
of thermal springs and gas vents where magma or hot igneous rocks at shallow depth release
gases or interact with groundwater.[1] From the perspective of groundwater, fumaroles could be
described as a hot spring that boils off all its water before the water reaches the surface.
Fumaroles may persist for decades or centuries if located above a persistent heat source; or they
may disappear within weeks to months if they occur atop a fresh volcanic deposit that quickly
cools.