RHH's photos with the keyword: mammoth hot spring

This photo was taken by my wife in the Mammoth Hot Spring area of Yellowstone National Park and in the area of the terraces, terraced mounds built up by the hot springs in the area. This photo shows an area that is not active where the sinter, the calcium carbonate deposits from the hot water that seeps up through the ground, is a grayish white, its normal color. The browns and greens and yellows one sees in active areas are not the color of the sinter, but of algae that live in the hot water. The dead trees are characteristic of areas that are or have been active since the hot water and sulfuric acid produced by the thermal activity very quickly kill the surrounding vegetation. Thermal activity can start nearly anywhere in the park and just as quickly vanish from an area leaving the gray-white sinter behind.

Mammoth Hot Springs is at the north end of Yellowstone National Park and is one of the more active thermal areas, though for years now the activity has slowed. The white mounds in the picture are part of the terraces, but a part that is mostly inactive. I have pictures, however, from the 1970's that show at a great deal of activity in this area. In this area it is possible to walk through the terraces on boardwalks, just visible at the lower end of the picture and of the terraces, but otherwise the ground in these thermal areas is very unstable and very dangerous.

In this area thermal activity has built up huge terraces of sinter deposits. The actual activity changes from year to year and areas that are active at one time may be inactive at others. These springs are on the southern end of the terraces but years ago when we visited Yellowstone this area was inactive and the main area, now dead, was very active.