Monday, May 10, 2021
Yellowstone National Park, WY
TOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,388
After school and work today, Grant, Jack and I went back to the park to check out Mammoth Hot Springs.
It was an amazing experience because we got caught in a snow storm and the park looked like a winter wonderland.
Mammoth Hot Springs are a must-see feature of Yellowstone National Park in part because they’re so different from other thermal areas in the area. This is largely because limestone is a relatively soft type of rock, allowing the travertine formations to grow much faster than other sinter formations. It has been described as looking like a cave turned inside out.
At Yellowstone each year, the rain and melted snow seeps into the earth. Cold to begin with, the water is quickly warmed by heat radiating from a partially molten magma chamber deep underground, the remnant of a cataclysmic volcanic explosion that occurred 600,000 years ago.
After moving throughout this underwater “plumbing” system, the now hot water rises up through a system of small fissures. Here it also interacts with hot gases charged with carbon dioxide rising up from the magma chamber. As some of the carbon dioxide is dissolved in the hot water, a weak, carbonic acid solution is formed.
In the Mammoth area, the hot, acidic solution dissolves large quantities of limestone on its way up through the rock layers to the hot springs on the surface. Above ground and exposed to the air, some of the carbon dioxide escapes from the solution. Without it, the dissolved limestone can’t remain in the solution, so it reforms into a solid mineral. This white, chalky mineral is deposited as the travertine that forms the terraces.
Yellowstone Photo Gallery
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Yellowstone Video Gallery
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Day 198: Yellowstone National Park
Thursday, May 13, 2021Yellowstone National Park, WYTOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,388Today is our last day in Yellowstone and we were lucky enough to spot a grizzly. It was another awesome day! Yellowstone Photo GalleryClick image to enlarge.[Best_Wordpress_Gallery...
Day 197: Yellowstone National Park
Wednesday, May 12, 2021Yellowstone National Park, WYTOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,388We had a lot of school and work to do today, so we took a quick break in the afternoon to go explore West Yellowstone. Yellowstone Photo GalleryClick image to...
Day 196: Yellowstone National Park
Tuesday, May 11, 2021Yellowstone National Park, WYTOTAL MILES TRAVELED: 9,388We all went out to explore Yellowstone Lake this afternoon. It was another 'winter wonderland' day at the park with intermittent snow showers and it felt like there was magic in the air....
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