Yellowstone
Yellowstone
ANIMALS
Bison, Bos bison
These herbivores nearly went extinct circa 1880 as the result of a US federal program to drive Native Americans from land by depriving them of their main food source. In a few years they went from approximately 70 million individuals to just 1000 at the turn of the century. The herds of Yellowstone survived this massacre due to the rugged and remote terrain.
Grizzlies (Ursus horribilis)
These grizzlies are dining on a fallen bison. Up to five individuals circled the area of this kill. Despite numerous challenges and warnings to approaching bears, these pictures show two grizzlies eating simultaneously and peacefully.
Elk, Cervus canadensis
ARTISTS' PAINT POTS
Overview of Paint Pots area
This hot stream contains filaments of green algae.
This spring is a deep, saturated blue because electromagnetic radiation is more easily scattered at shorter wavelengths (blue ~ 450 nm, red ~ 700 nm). Reds and yellows pass deeper into the water, while blues are scattered. This is the same phenomenon that gives us a blue sky. For a more complicated answer from two Dartmouth chemists, click here.
The cornflower blue color is the result of silica held as a colloidal "sol," a state between suspension and dissolution. This sol becomes more opaque, but still exhibits the blue scattering phenomenon.
NORRIS BASIN
The Porcelain Basin Overlook
The Black Growler Steam Vent
Sunday Geyser
Whirligig Geyser.
The runoff from this geyser hosts an interesting juxtaposition of Archaea and bacteria living in different temperature ranges. Thermophilic algae (Cyanadium) are green and live in waters 38-56oC. Reddish deposits are siderophilic (iron-loving) Archaea ranging between 50-60oC.
This stream exiting Whirligig is rapidly depositing sinter (silica) on any object in the water, including pinecones and sticks.
Constant Geyser
Emerald Sprng
A bacterial mat
Steamboat Geyser.
This is the tallest geyser in the world, topping out at a record 90 m. It does not erupt predictably, although there seems to be a near constant gurgling, as seen in these pictures. The tallest geyser used to be Waimangu in New Zealand, which erupted into existence suddenly in 1886, and on occasion scalded tourists to death, but Waimangu went extinct after a landslide in 1904.
Green Dragon Spring and the bones of an unlucky tourist. Let's hope it was one of those snotty American kids. :)
Porkchop Geyser blew itself apart in 1989.
Yellow Funnel Spring
Veteran Geyser
More silicification
ROARING MOUNTAIN
This barren cliff is devoid of vegetation but positively brimming with Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, a hydrogen-sulfide chemoautotroph. The acidity produced by these (think of all that hydrogen being liberated from sulfur in H2S) contributes to the chemical breakdown of the cliffs (acid + water + silicate minerals = clay). Only a few fumaroles were active on the day I visited; I'm told there is usually more steam present.
OBSIDIAN CLIFFS
These cliffs represent a high-silica lava flow at low temperature that presents beautiful hexagonal columnar jointing.
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS
Mammoth is unusual in that it is the only Yellowstone area rich in calcium-carbonate formations (travertine). The usual deposition in Yellowstone is of sinter (geyserite, a silica formation). The water feeding Mammoth probably encounters a carbonate unit, such as limestone or dolomite, at depth and dissolves great quantities of CaCO3. This then precipitate at the surface as the dissolved CO2 exsolves, causing the pH of the water to rise.
The Liberty Cap, a 11 m extinct geyser that took approximately 2500 years to build.
Tree kills. These trees decided to put down roots in a spot where Mammoth decided to grow. Trees are dumb. :)
Mound & Jupiter Terraces
Minerva Terrace
Canary Spring
I haven't been able to find in the geologic literature a definite explanation of the "bathtub" shape these deposits take. Why do they extend a few cms, then end abruptly in a steep wall? Why doesn't the travertine spread out evenly, like pahoehoe? My thought: It's temperature related. At a critical distance from the source, the dropping temperature causes the calcium carbonate to quickly precipitate and forms a kind of curtain, which then is added to by each successive layer. This deposition might be augmented if there exists a tidal slosh, back and forth, that aids precipitation; think of how sugar crystals deposit on the sides of a pot of supersaturated water when you agitate the pot by sloshing the water back and forth. But I don't really know why they take these beautiful shapes.
MUD VOLCANO
Steam eruptions in ChurningCauldron
Dragon's Mouth was by far the most interesting part of this thermal area for me. What's happening here is that the bubbling eruptions are happening in a small cave, so that an eerie sound issues forth from the cave along with copious sulfurous steam. It was utterly surreal. I was half expecting a dragon's head to poke out. :)
Near sunset at Mud Volcano
BISCUIT BASIN
Rhyolite in parking lot
Bacterial mats
Sapphire Pool
Shell Geyser
MIDDLE GEYSER BASIN
Hot water issues into the Firehole Creek
Excelsior Geyser
The Washburn Expedition of 1870 noted a 15 m geyser cone near Grand Prismatic. This cone blew itself apart and formed the basin of the Excelsior Geyser, which has
The Grand Prismatic Spring
The largest hot spring in Yellowstone, and the third largest in the world. Grand Prismatic measures 75 x 91 m, is 49 m deep, and issues water at 71oC at the rate of 2000 liters/minute.
SULFUR CAULDRON
This hill is the western edge of the Sour Creek Dome, the most recent area of uplift in the park. You can see the uplift in the treelift slope.
TOWER FALLS
The Tower Falls
Beautiful columnar basalt flows
UPPER BASIN
Old Faithful
Crowds at Old Faithful. Yuck. :(
Doublet Pool
Tardy Geyser
Spasmodic Geyser.
These names as just not nice. Very politically incorrect. ;)
large bacterial mat
Economic Geyser. What's next? Is the NPS going to sell naming rights to geysers? Maybe 3COM geyser? :) Seriously, this geyser was so named because it sometimes sucks back the water in its pool before it erupts, as if it is saving its water.
Beauty Pool
Chromatic Pool
Giant Geyser
This geyser has a large cone of sinter, representing thousands of years of slow deposition. Giant's rare eruptions go up to 250 feet, making it one of the tallest geysers in the world.
Grotto Geyser
The weird shapes of Grotto Geyser are hypothesized to be the remnants of trees.
Morning Glory Spring
This spring is one of the more famous and photographed of Yellowstone's springs, although in recent years its color has faded as tourists have left garbage clogging its vent.
Castle Geyser
So named because of its large, fortress-like sinter cone.
Castle Geyser bacterial mats
The Firehole River. I propose we rename this in honor of Lindsay Lohan. :)
GRAND CANYON of the Yellowstone
This is a closeup of the highly-altered rhyolite that makes up the Grand Canyon rocks. You can see that it is riddled with cracks and veins.
The Upper Falls
View from the Upper Falls
The Lower Falls from Uncle Tom's Trail
Huzzah!
Art
my sculptures
