On our second full day in Yellowstone we drove south from Mammoth to the Upper, Middle, and Lower Geyser Basins and to Norris Geyser Basin. It was rather different from scouring the landscape for wildlife since we knew what we were looking for and where it would be found. Geothermal features change over time, but they don’t move around as quickly as wildlife! Here are some of our photos:
Grand Prismatic Spring from the boardwalk. This view includes a large area of red thermophilic bacteria that provide a lot of the color around the spring. To the right of the red band you can see what appears to be a series of shallow terraces. Our guess is that these are caused by mineral deposits as the hot, mineral-laden water from the spring gradually cools. In the background you can see the blue-green of the deep center of the spring, with an edge of yellow where the water is the right temperature to support that color of bacteria.Another view of Grand Prismatic Spring with a reflection of the sky in the shallow pools around the spring. Again, the color banding around the deep blue-green central pool comes from different kinds of thermophilic bacteria that grow in the water as it cools. No bacteria grow where the water is hottest, allowing the blue-green color to appear. Yellow for the next-hottest temperatures, then red for the next-hottest, then brown, and so on.Final view of the shallow terraces and colors around Ground Prismatic Spring, with a reflection of the sky on the calm, slowly flowing water. Osprey perched in tree next to the Firehole River. The bird kept watching us as we moved along the opposite side of the river, and it seemed like he was particularly interested in anyone who stopped walking to look at him for any length of time. When I raised my camera he moved to another tree. Maybe he was afraid that I would shoot him with a Canon.Tourists in front of Norris Geyser Basin. This extremely dynamic geyser basin is the hottest in the park, and it has been a little different every time we visited over the years. Old steam vents stop and new ones start; small and large geysers make their appearance, and the colors caused by thermophilic bacteria and minerals are continually changing. A fascinating place!Porcelain Spring portion of the Norris Geyser Basin. Lots of steam vents, hot water, and boiling springs in this view. The milky water seems to be caused by mineralization, while the oranges and yellows are thermophilic bacteria.Waterfall on the Firehole River. We found this on a narrow one-way drive up Firehole Canyon; the drive had opened for the season just the day before.Our previous photos came from May 2-4 when the weather was wonderful, but on May 5 Yellowstone had mixed snow and rain. A gentle reprise of winter. The weather varied according to elevation, with higher areas receiving more snow. This is Mammoth Hot Spring viewed from the General Store, but there is not much to see. Visibility was poor, and it was not a good day for photography. We did take a drive to look for wildlife, but the rain and snow hid the views.
Next post: back to good weather and good wildlife sightings.
Interesting factoid: the Livermore Valley used to have some hot springs, although I don’t really know where they were located. Anyway, at one point when we were researching bioremediation for contaminated soil, we looked at what kinds of microbes were already in the soil. Among other things, we discovered spores from ancient thermophilic bacteria, apparently just hanging around waiting to reactivate next time the conditions were right.
awesome pictures Jesse and thanks for the microbiology lesson.
Thanks! Did you find the links to the rest of the Yellowstone posts?
Interesting factoid: the Livermore Valley used to have some hot springs, although I don’t really know where they were located. Anyway, at one point when we were researching bioremediation for contaminated soil, we looked at what kinds of microbes were already in the soil. Among other things, we discovered spores from ancient thermophilic bacteria, apparently just hanging around waiting to reactivate next time the conditions were right.