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More pictures of the geyser basin. In the background is the Old Faithful
Lodge, which is the largest log structure in the world, unless a larger one
has been built since my visit. |
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A series of small geysers which have built themselves up into the semblance
of a row of small volcanos. The steam rising from their tops, adds to the
illusion. |
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One of the thermal pools, which seems to have fallen on hard times.
The area is changing all of the time. many of the geysers or pools may become
inactive or dry out, while others will increase in activity, or in size.
Sometimes geysers will degenerate into pools, or pools might rise up and
become geysers. |
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A rather small fissure which seems to have built itself a rather large
enclosure. This pool is still young and shallow, the water being quite cool
towards the edges. |
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A planked walkway, bearing a striking resemblance to a fishing dock,
leads out to a particularly large thermal pool. |
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Geysers, and thermal pools are both formed by the same forces, get their
energy from the same source, and operate in a similar fashion. The water
seeps into crevices from the water table, or percolation, and is heated in
the rocky chambers far below ground. It can rise to the surface slowly and
form pools, or it can rise explosively because of constrictions or the presence
of sealed chambers below ground. |
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The geysers and pools in a given formation are generally all part of
a single system, and are thus, all interrelated. Often a series of geysers
will erupt in tandem, or the level of a thermal pool will rise or lower just
before or after an eruption. The entire area is a large caldera, where molten
rock is thought to come to within thirty miles of the surface. This common
energy source is what drives all of the thermal features of the park. |
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Small, hot, and exuding a slight plume of steam, this little steam vent
bides it's time. As in all thermal areas, the soil is thin and sterile. |
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Just outside of the geyser basin, a squirrel looks across an alien landscape.
The trees ringing the edge of these thermal areas seem like bits of Earth
transplanted to the edge of another planet. |
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Old Faithful, during a quiet moment. |
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The edge of the forest. |
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This magnificent pool is large enough to swallow a car. |
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A crevasse at the boundary between the thermal area and the pine forest
which is common to the area. |
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This seems less a hot pool, and more a simple break in the crust that
overlays the thermal area. It is very young, and in, perhaps a couple of thousand
years, it may well have formed itself into a pool of respectable size, and
depth. |
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A mud pot, sort of a dirty thermal pool. |
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The Firehole River, this time meandering through one of the geyser basins.
It's plenty obvious here, how this river got it's name. |