2007/06/19
Spurting Mud
Today is our last day to tour Yellowstone and we've decided to drive the lower loop of the park. Thermal features, waterfalls, Bald Eagles, Buffalo, and a coyote are some of the things we saw in our travels.
The Lower Geyser Basin has your typical geysers but it also has "paint pots" --- bubbling pools of clay.
We couldn't see into the pool but this "geyser" was shooting mud into the area. It's called Red Spouter.
When Fountain Geyser (the geyser not erupting in the front of the photo) is thinking about erupting, the thermal activity increases in the area --- Morning Thief, the geyser erupting in the photo, erupts as well as a couple of other smaller geysers near by.
Clepsydra Geyser has been erupting constantly since the 1959 earthquake.
In the West Thumb Basin we saw this beautiful pool call Abyss Pool ---- the water was so clear you could see a long way down into the pool but couldn't see a bottom.
Seismograph Spring
Yellowstone Lake is a large (136 square miles) beautiful lake on the eastern side of the park. From the national parks web site: "The west Thumb of Yellowstone Lake was formed by a large volcanic explosion that occurred approximately 150,000 years ago (125,000-200,000). The resulting collapsed volcano, called a caldera ("boiling pot" or caldron), later filled with water forming an extension of Yellowstone Lake." The cone in the photo is called Fishing Cone and is one of the many thermal features in this area.
A fire did not kill these trees ---- they were cooked. After a series of small earthquakes the temperature of the ground rose to 200F subsequently "cooking" the trees. This is called Cooking Hillside in the Mud Volcano area.
Across from Cooking Hill is this large thermal area --- can you see the Buffalo getting a spa treatment?
Mud Volcano
Nothing like a quick dip to cool off.
It's easy to understand why this area is called Artists Paint Pots.
A mud geyser near Artists Paint Pots --- this geyser was spurting mud about 10 feet into the air.
Another view of the Artists Paint Pots
Gibbon Falls
The Lower Geyser Basin has your typical geysers but it also has "paint pots" --- bubbling pools of clay.
We couldn't see into the pool but this "geyser" was shooting mud into the area. It's called Red Spouter.
When Fountain Geyser (the geyser not erupting in the front of the photo) is thinking about erupting, the thermal activity increases in the area --- Morning Thief, the geyser erupting in the photo, erupts as well as a couple of other smaller geysers near by.
Clepsydra Geyser has been erupting constantly since the 1959 earthquake.
In the West Thumb Basin we saw this beautiful pool call Abyss Pool ---- the water was so clear you could see a long way down into the pool but couldn't see a bottom.
Seismograph Spring
Yellowstone Lake is a large (136 square miles) beautiful lake on the eastern side of the park. From the national parks web site: "The west Thumb of Yellowstone Lake was formed by a large volcanic explosion that occurred approximately 150,000 years ago (125,000-200,000). The resulting collapsed volcano, called a caldera ("boiling pot" or caldron), later filled with water forming an extension of Yellowstone Lake." The cone in the photo is called Fishing Cone and is one of the many thermal features in this area.
A fire did not kill these trees ---- they were cooked. After a series of small earthquakes the temperature of the ground rose to 200F subsequently "cooking" the trees. This is called Cooking Hillside in the Mud Volcano area.
Across from Cooking Hill is this large thermal area --- can you see the Buffalo getting a spa treatment?
Mud Volcano
Nothing like a quick dip to cool off.
It's easy to understand why this area is called Artists Paint Pots.
A mud geyser near Artists Paint Pots --- this geyser was spurting mud about 10 feet into the air.
Another view of the Artists Paint Pots
Gibbon Falls
