LOWER
GEYSER BASIN (YELLOWSTONE
HOTSPOT) HYDROTHERMAL FEATURES
Celestine Pool (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (above: looking ~NW; below: looking ~WNW).
Celestine Pool is an overflowing hot
spring that has occasional burst eruptions up to 4 feet high.
Silex Spring (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (above: looking ~ENE; below: looking ~ESE).
This hot spring has a deep turquoise
color, caused by the presence of hot water having an abundance of exceedingly
small particles of colloidal silica.
Silex Spring is an overflowing hot spring, sometimes heavily overflowing,
and sometimes has geyser eruptions.
Observers have reported whirlpool draining events of the pool after
geyser eruptions.
Silex Spring - geyserite (siliceous sinter) rimming
the hot spring. The orangish-brown areas
have extremophile bacterial mats. The
whitish-gray borders are bacteria-free (~) geyserite.
Fountain Paint Pots (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (above: looking ~N; below: looking ~ESE).
Mud pots, or paint pots, are pools of thin
to thick muddy material consisting of clay-sized grains of clay minerals mixed
with varying amounts of water. Rising
gases result in bursting bubbles of mud at the surface.
The clay forms by chemical weathering of
rhyolite lava, a common lithology in the Yellowstone Hotspot area. When rising hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S),
exsolved from subsurface magma, reaches the top of the water table, oxidation
occurs and sulfuric acid forms (H2SO4). The sulfuric acid reacts with the rhyolite,
forming various clay minerals.
Mud pots in Yellowstone tend to have thin
mud in boreal spring and early summer and boiling-type bubbles appear at the
surface. In boreal late summer and
autumn, the mud is thick, which alters the bubble surfacing and bubble bursting
behavior of rising gases.
Fountain Paint Pots have various delicate
shades of pinks, grays, yellows, and orangish-browns. The colors are from a variety of disseminated
iron oxide species.
Fountain Paint Pots - wet thick mud at center, surrounded by
~dried mud masses.
Fountain Paint Pots (above & below) - wet, thin mud in
main pool with boiling-type bubbles at the surface. Notice the diapir-like burst in the upper
left of the above photo.
Small spurting hot spring vent near
Fountain Paint Pots (Fountain Group, Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot,
northwestern Wyoming, USA) in August 2010.
Red Spouter (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (above: looking ~E; below: looking ~SE).
Two vents in adjacent craters here act as
perpetual mud spouters or fumaroles.
This feature formed from a surface fracture formed during the 1959
Hebgen Lake Earthquake.
Leather Pool, Fountain Group, Lower Geyser Basin,
Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2010 (looking
~NE). This is a quiet pool, except for
some geyser eruptions immediately after the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake.
Twig Geyser, Fountain Group, Lower Geyser Basin,
Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2010 (looking ~N).
Twig Geyser’s eruption activity ranges
from relatively small splashes to 20 feet high bursts of water.
Jet Geyser (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (above: looking ~SE; below: looking ~S).
Jet Geyser is a multivent feature with an
elongated, irregularly-mounded geyserite cone formed along a fracture in the
surrounding geyserite platform. Recorded
activity here ranges from dormancy to 20 feet high geyser eruptions. Some of Jet Geyser’s erupting vents spout
subhorizontally.
Super Frying Pan (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (above: looking ~SE; below: looking ~SSE).
This feature consists of one main vent of
irregular shape plus smaller, variably-shaped vents and enlarged
fractures. Geyser or geyser-like
activity first occurred in the 1960s.
Modern eruptions are bursts and spouts up to 15 feet high.
Fountain Geyser (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (above: looking ~NNE; below: looking ~N).
Subvertical walls of whitish-gray
geyserite lines the crater of Fountain Geyser.
Its moderately frequent eruptions have ranged in height from about 10
feet to about 100 feet high. Eruptions
occasionally consist of large bursting bubbles of water.
Spasm Geyser (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (looking ~NNW).
Spasm Geyser’s eruption behavior varies,
with geyser columns ranging from a few feet high to about 40 feet high. The vents have irregular to jagged
outlines. Cross-sections of the upper
parts of the adjacent, somewhat irregularly-layered geyserite platform are
visible, which were probably exposed as the result of a steam explosion in
1963.
Clepsydra Geyser (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (looking ~NW).
This geyser is almost always erupting from
an attractive, multicolored, geyserite-lined pool and vent complex. Splash-like eruptions can reach up to about
45 feet high. This type of activity has
been nearly constant since the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake.
Clepsydra Geyser (above & below) in eruption in August
2010.
Jelly Geyser (above & below), Fountain Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2010 (looking ~W).
Jelly Geyser infrequently erupts, although
historical observations indicate that it often erupted before the 1959 Hebgen
Lake Earthquake. The moderately large
crater is bordered by grayish, irregularly scalloped geyserite that is slightly
overhanging in places.
The Jelly Geyser crater shown above is
shadowed by eruption steam from adjacent Clepsydra Geyser.
Geyserite-permineralized lodgepole pines in the southern Fountain Group, Lower
Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2010
(looking ~NW).
Lemon Spring, between Serendipity Springs and the
Great Fountain Group, Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern
Wyoming, USA in August 2011 (looking ~N).
Lemon Spring’s water temperature has
varied. At certain temperatures,
yellowish-colored extremophile bacterial mats grow profusely around the pool,
which inspired the name.
This hot spring is not a geyser, but light
overflow, heavy overflow, and boiling episodes do occur.
Firehole Spring (above & below), White Creek Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2011 (looking ~NNW).
Firehole Spring is a beautiful,
fascinating, overflowing hot spring - it’s one of my favorite Yellowstone features. This steaming, delicate blue-colored pool has
a near-center vent from which light-colored, flickering and flame-like gas
bubbles frequently emerge. Only some of
the gas bubbles significantly disturb the water surface with small bursting
splashes. Bursts can reach about 6 feet
high.
The gas bubbles are composed principally
of steam (H2O). Upon emerging
from the pool’s vent, most steam bubbles are cooled by the surrounding water
and condense into liquid water, thereby not disturbing the surface much.
The yellowish-orangish-brownish areas on
the northern side of Firehole Spring have extremophile bacterial mats.
Firehole Spring (above & below)
Surprise Pool (above & below), Great Fountain
Group, Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in
August 2011 (looking ~NNW).
Above: This overflowing hot spring has an
intense blackish-blue to blackish-green color.
Vigorous boiling occurs along portions of the pool border and sometimes
near the center. Surprise Pool does not
have geyser eruptions.
Below: Surprise Pool’s drainage channel heads
~WSW and is bordered by irregularly wavy geyserite crusts. The deep yellowish and orangish-brown colored
areas have extremophile bacterial mats.
Surprise Pool (above & below)
White Creek Group, Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot,
northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2011 (looking ~SW).
Geysers and hot springs occur in and along
a one-third mile stretch of White Creek Valley, located to the southeast of
Surprise Pool-Great Fountain Geyser area.
Great Fountain Geyser (above & below), Great Fountain
Group, Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in
August 2011 (looking ~W).
This large, high-playing geyser has a low,
extensive, fairly flat platform with irregularly concentric geyserite
ridges. The geyserite platform is about
150 feet across. Large, ~predictable, ~1
to 2 hour-long eruptions occur once or twice or three times a day, reaching
about 100 to 250 feet high.
Great Fountain Geyser (above & below) (looking ~NNW)
Great Fountain Geyser - the water-filled central vent has a ~14
to ~20 feet diameter.
Great Fountain Geyser - irregularly layered geyserite
(siliceous sinter) at the outer edge of the platform.
White Dome Geyser (above & below), White Dome Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2011 (above: looking ~N).
White Dome Geyser has an old, very large,
projecting, whitish gray to pinkish-orangish cone of geyserite (siliceous sinter)
that sits on top of a larger, low, paleo-hot spring geyserite mound. Moderately frequent geyser eruptions up to 30
feet high occur here, spewed from a fairly small vent.
White Dome Geyser (above & below) (looking ~W)
White Dome Geyser (looking ~N)
Gemini Geyser (above & below), White Dome Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2011 (looking ~ENE).
The very shallow pool at front-center is
Gemini Geyser. Two vents are present -
the gray area in the back part of the pool has one vent and the
yellowish-orange area has the other.
Gemini Geyser has slightly angled eruptions up to about 10 feet high.
Gemini Geyser - eastern vent (above) and western vent
(below).
Pebble Geyser (above & below), White Dome Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2011.
This small hot spring first erupted in the
late 1960s. Pebbles that were brushed
into the pool by vehicle traffic on the adjacent roadway were ejected during
its first known eruption.
Pebble Geyser eruptions are short-lived
and reach 1 to 20 feet high.
Cave Spring, White Dome Group, Lower Geyser Basin,
Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2011 (looking ~ENE).
Pink Cone Geyser (above & below), Pink Cone Group,
Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August
2011 (looking ~N).
This geyser has a moderately small,
subsymmetrical geyserite cone. The pink
and orange and red colors are from iron oxide (hematite, Fe2O3). The blackish areas have been attributed to
manganese oxide staining of the geyserite.
Pink Cone Geyser has ~1.5 to 2 hour-long
eruptions about once a day, although this has changed in the past. Dormancies have also occurred. Erupting water column heights reach about 30
feet high.
When active, a slightly-expanding jet of
water erupts ~vertically. Eruptions
include pauses of several seconds that involve just steam emissions before
water eruption resumes.
Pink Cone Geyser erupting (above & below) in August
2011. The above photo shows steam
emissions during one of the seconds-long pauses in water eruption.
Artesia Geyser, Black Warrior Group (Firehole Lake
Group), Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in
August 2011.
Artesia Geyser is essentially a perpetual
spouter. Every minute or so, it cycles
through a <5 feet high geyser eruption to low, very minor splashing and
boiling to another <5 feet high eruption.
Higher eruptions occurred in the 1970s, as
did a dormancy event. Subhorizontal
geyser eruptions have sometimes occurred.
Artesia Geyser
Young Hopeful Geyser & Gray Bulger
Geyser (above
& below), Black Warrior Group (Firehole Lake Group), Lower Geyser Basin,
Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2011 (looking ~NNW).
Young Hopeful Geyser has a dark,
water-filled pool with a crude J-shaped outline. The present crater shape is mostly a
consequence of a mid-1970s steam explosion.
Moderately small, nearly constant splashing eruptions occur in the
eastern end of the pool. Both travertine
(CaCO3) and geyserite (siliceous sinter) (SiO2·nH2O)
are reported to be forming at Young Hopeful Geyser.
The blackish-colored material just behind
and to the right of the splashing in the above photo and two photos below has
been identified as manganese oxide mineralization.
The light to dark cream-colored area
behind and to the right of Young Hopeful Geyser’s pool has a small vent from
which splashing occurs (see above & 1st photo below from August
2011) or noisy steam eruptions (observed in July 2012).
Young Hopeful Geyser & Gray Bulger
Geyser, Black
Warrior Group (Firehole Lake Group), Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot,
northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2011 (looking ~WNW).
Young Hopeful Geyser is the dark-colored
pool with splashing.
None of the references I have access to
are sufficiently specific to allow me to confidently identify Gray Bulger
Geyser. I think that Gray Bulger
Geyser is the slit-shaped, splashing
feature in the below photo and the lower front part of the above photo.
Gray Bulger Geyser
Firehole Lake (above & below), Black Warrior Group
(Firehole Lake Group), Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern
Wyoming, USA in August 2011 (looking ~NNE).
Travertine (CaCO3) has been
reported along portions of the shores of this lake.
The small perpetual spouter seen in the
right distance in the below photo is Artesia Geyser.
Steady Geyser (above & below), Black Warrior Group
(Firehole Lake Group), Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern
Wyoming, USA in August 2011 (looking ~NE).
This feature is reported to be the largest
perpetual spouter anywhere. It is
located on the margin of Black Warrior Lake.
Steady Geyser has built up a mound composed of both geyserite (SiO2·nH2O)
and travertine (CaCO3). The
pinkish gray and dark red areas have been attributed to manganese oxide
staining, but I suspect the coloring agents are principally iron oxides.
Steady Geyser (looking ~NW)
Black Warrior Lake (above & below), Black Warrior Group
(Firehole Lake Group), Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern
Wyoming, USA in August 2011.
Black Warrior Lake has hot water and
receives drainage from Firehole Lake. It
drains into Hot Lake via some rapids called “Hot Cascades” (see next feature
below). The splashing eruption seen
above is Steady Geyser.
Hot Cascades (above & below), draining from Black
Warrior Lake into Hot Lake, Black Warrior Group (Firehole Lake Group), Lower
Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in August 2011
(looking ~NNE).
Hot Lake, Black Warrior Group (Firehole Lake
Group), Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Hotspot, northwestern Wyoming, USA in
August 2011 (looking ~SW).
Hot Lake is the third of a series of hot
water lakes. Hot Lake receives water
draining from Firehole Lake and Black Warrior Lake. Water from Hot Lake discharges into Tangled
Creek, which heads west and northwest and eventually drains into the Firehole
River.
Info. mostly synthesized from:
Bryan, T.S. 2008. The Geysers of Yellowstone, Fourth Edition. Boulder, Colorado. University Press of Colorado. 462 pp.
Fritz, W.J. 1985. Roadside Geology of the Yellowstone Country. Missoula, Montana. Mountain Press Publishing Company. 149 pp.
Ohsawa et al. 2000.
Geothermal blue water colored by colloidal silica. Proceedings
of the World Geothermal Congress, 2000, Kyushu-Tohoku, Japan, May 28-June 10,
2000: 663-668.
Schreier, C. 1987. A Field Guide to Yellowstone’s Geysers, Hot
Springs and Fumaroles. Moose,
Wyoming. Homestead Publishing. 96 pp.