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The largest fumarole in the park has been measured as high as 322 degrees Fahrenheit (161 degrees Celsius) making it one of the hottest fumaroles in the world.
A closeup of the previous one.
Yellowstone is a very special place. It is a volcano, infact it is one of the world's most active super volcanoes. The existence of all these hot springs, geysers is because they lie just over this massive cauldron which is very active and will erupt anytime.
Even thou this looks like an image from space, these are mattes of cyanobacteria thriving in the scalding waters of hot thermal features in the Geyser basins of Yellowstone National park. The brilliant colors are the result of thermophilic cyanobacteria growing in the near-boiling waters.
There are other colder bacteria living in those boiling water which produce these many different colors, which are:
Cyanobacteria (163 F or 73 C) yellow
Fungi and Algae (140 F or 60 C) yellow/green
Protozoa (133 F 66 C) Orange
Mosses (122 F or 50 C) Brown
The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. This is the highest concentration of active geysers in the world, thanks to its location in a super-volcano's caldera.
Source: wapedia.mobi/en
Stereoview by "Phos", Pointe-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe. Ca. 1900?
Fumaroles at the foot of the volcano. [converted to anaglyph]
A fumarole (or fumerole - the word ultimately comes from the Latin fumus, "smoke") is an opening in a planet's crust, often in areas surrounding volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen sulfide. The steam forms when superheated water vaporizes as its pressure drops when it emerges from the ground. The name solfatara, from the Italian solfo, "sulfur" (via the Sicilian language - compare to the volcano Solfatara), is given to fumaroles that emit sulfurous gases.
The site of a former sulphur mine, the Sulphur Works is right by the park road, with mud pots and fumaroles, and the smell of rotten eggs.
A mudpot, mud pool or paint pot is a sort of hot spring or fumarole consisting of a pool of usually bubbling mud.
Mudpots form in high-temperature geothermal areas where water is in short supply. The little water that is available rises to the surface at a spot where the soil is rich in volcanic ash, clay and other fine particulates. The thickness of the mud usually changes along with seasonal changes in the water table.
The mud takes the form of a viscous, often bubbling, slurry. As the boiling mud is often squirted over the brims of the mudpot, a sort of mini-volcano of mud starts to build up, sometimes reaching heights of 3-5 feet. Although mudpots are often called "mud volcanoes", true mud volcanoes are very different in nature.
The mud is generally of white to greyish color, but is sometimes stained with reddish or pink spots from iron compounds. When the slurry is particularly colorful, the feature is then called a "paint pot".
In the desert in Niland, CA
See my video of the mudpot in action: www.youtube.com/watch?v=acOrXCqdnmY&feature=channel_page
Fountain Paint Pot trail, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA
Map (link):
[ www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=https://4.bp.blogspot.com/... and Spasm Geysers, Fountain Paint Pot trail, Yellowstone National Park images&ved=0ahUKEwjkgubQv8XeAhUC3Y8KHaFRCQ8QMwhNKBowGg&iact=mrc&uact=8 ]
This part of Lower Geyser Basin seen from a half-mile trail has all four of the hydrothermal features found in the park:
Clepsydra Geyser is a geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. Clepsydra plays nearly continuously to heights of 45 feet. The name Clepsydra is derived from the Greek word for water clock. Prior to the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake, it erupted regularly every three minutes.
Yellowstone National Park has several hydrothermal areas, so what makes the Fountain Paint Pot Area worth visiting? For starters, this part of Lower Geyser Basin has all four of the hydrothermal features found in the park (mudpots, geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles) and you can see them all from a compact half-mile long boardwalk loop. While none of the many Fountain Paint Pot Area geysers are as famous as Old Faithful, they erupt so frequently that you are almost guaranteed a great show on your short hike. Since the walkway passes all four of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal formations, the hike comes with a guaranteed lesson in hydrothermal volcanism.
Hiking the loop in a clockwise direction, you will first pass through a forest of lodgepole pine snags that were drowned and left lifeless by the surrounding hot springs. As you approach the northwest end of the loop, you will spot a lively collection of geysers. Clepsydra Geyser, Fountain Geyser, Jelly Geyser, Jet Geyser, Morning Geyser, Spasm Geyser, and Twig Geyser erupt with various levels of regularity.
As you progress around the walkway toward the northeast corner, you will pass Red Spouter, which behaves like a fumarole, a hot spring, and a mudpot throughout the year. It is like a hot spring in the winter, a muddy reddish pool in the spring and a steaming fumarole in the drier summer and fall. Wrapping down the east side of the boardwalk, you will pass Leather Pool and a slope of fumaroles. These gaps in the surface whistle and hiss as gasses and steam escape from the ground. Just below the fumaroles, where a little more water is present, the trail circles Fountain Paint Pot. These mudpots bubble and pop as globs of mud springs from the surface like miniature trapeze artists.
Continuing downhill, the hydrothermal features become even wetter as you arrive at Silex Spring. Look down into the small blue pool rimmed with white silica. Water spills over the sides of the spring creating an orange-colored surface covered in rippling runoff. These colors are created by thermophiles, heat-loving microorganisms that live in Yellowstone’s hot springs.
( www.hikespeak.com/trails/fountain-paint-pot-trail-yellows... )
Geothermal features of Yellowstone NP- A brief note:
There are four geothermal features found in the park – Hot springs, Geysers, Fumaroles , and Mud volcanoes/pots.
What is a Hot spring?
Hot spring, also called thermal spring, spring with water at temperatures substantially higher than the air temperature of the surrounding region. Most hot springs discharge groundwater that is heated by shallow intrusions of magma (molten rock) in volcanic areas.
Some thermal springs, however, are not related to volcanic activity. In general, the temperature of rocks within the earth increases with depth. The rate of temperature increase with depth is known as the geothermal gradient. In such cases, the water is heated by convective circulation: groundwater percolating downward reaches depths of a kilometre or more where the temperature of rocks is high because of the normal temperature gradient of the Earth’s crust—about 30 °C / kilometer in the first 10 km. The water from hot springs in non-volcanic areas is heated in this manner.
But in active volcanic zones such as Yellowstone National Park, water may be heated by coming into contact with magma (molten rock). The high temperature gradient near magma may cause water to be heated enough that it boils or becomes superheated. If the water becomes so hot that it builds steam pressure and erupts in a jet above the surface of the Earth, it is called a geyser.
[ Warm springs are sometimes the result of hot and cold springs mixing. They may occur within a volcanic area or outside of one. One example of a non-volcanic warm spring is Warm Springs, Georgia (frequented for its therapeutic effects by paraplegic U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who built the Little White House there) ].
List of hot springs:
[ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hot_springs ]
The science of colors of a hot spring:
[ ttps://www.britannica.com/science/hot-spring]
Many of the colours in hot springs are caused by thermophilic (heat-loving) microorganisms, which include certain types of bacteria, such as cyanobacteria, and species of archaea and algae. Many thermophilic organisms grow in huge colonies called mats that form the colourful scums and slimes on the sides of hot springs. The microorganisms that grow in hot springs derive their energy from various chemicals and metals; potential energy sources include molecular hydrogen, dissolved sulfides, methane, iron, ammonia, and arsenic. In addition to geochemistry, the temperature and pH of hot springs play a central role in determining which organisms inhabit them.
Examples of thermophilic microorganisms found in hot springs include bacteria in the genera Sulfolobus, which can grow at temperatures of up to 90 °C (194 °F), Hydrogenobacter, which grow optimally at temperatures of 85 °C (185 °F), and Thermocrinis, which grow optimally at temperatures of 80 °C (176 °F). Thermophilic algae in hot springs are most abundant at temperatures of 55 °C (131 °F) or below.
What is a Geyser?
A geyser is formed when water collecting below the surface is heated by a magma source. When the water boils, it rises to the surface. If the water has an unobstructed path, it will pool on the surface in the form of a steaming hot springs. If the passage of the water is imposed upon, the pressure will increase. When the pressure becomes too great, the water converts into to steam. Steam takes up 1,500 times the volume of water, and at this point, the pressure becomes so intense that the steam and surrounding water droplets shoot out of the ground in geyser form, erupting until the pressure has abated and the process starts all over again.
What is a fumarole?
It’s a vent in the Earth’s surface from which steam and volcanic gases are emitted. The major source of the water vapour emitted by fumaroles is groundwater heated by bodies of magma lying relatively close to the surface. Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide are usually emitted directly from the magma. Fumaroles are often present on active volcanoes during periods of relative quiet between eruptions.
Fumaroles are closely related to hot springs and geysers. In areas where the water table rises near the surface, fumaroles can become hot springs. A fumarole rich in sulfur gases is called a solfatara; a fumarole rich in carbon dioxide is called a mofette. If the hot water of a spring only reaches the surface in the form of steam, it is called a fumarole. [ www.britannica.com/science/fumarole ]
What is a mud volcano/ mud pot/ paint pot?
Usually mud volcanoes are created by hot-spring activity where large amounts of gas and small amounts of water react chemically with the surrounding rocks and form a boiling mud.
Geo-chemistry of mud volcano: Hydrogen sulfide gas rising from magma chamber, as in Yellowstone’s, causes the rotten-egg smell. Microorganisms, or thermophiles, use this gas as a source of energy, and then help turn the gas into sulfuric acid. The acid then breaks down the rocks and soil into mud. Many of the colors seen are vast communities of thermophiles, but some of the yellow is pure sulfur. When iron mixes with sulfur to form iron sulfide, gray and black swirls sometimes appear in the mud (From description of the display board in the park).
If the water of a hot spring is mixed with mud and clay, it is called a mud pot. Variations are the porridge pot (a basin of boiling mud that erodes chunks of the surrounding rock) and the paint pot (a basin of boiling mud that is tinted yellow, green, or blue by minerals from the surrounding rocks).
There are other mud volcanoes, entirely of a nonigneous origin, occur only in oil-field regions that are relatively young and have soft, unconsolidated formations.
Sources: [ www.britannica.com/science/mud-volcano ], and display boards of the YNP.
A quick overview of YNP
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Approximately 96 percent of the land area of Yellowstone National Park is located within the state of Wyoming. The Park spans an area of 8,983 km2 comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests eco-region.
It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. Aside from visits by mountain -men during the early to mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s.
The park contains the headwaters of the Yellowstone River, from which it takes its historical name. Although it is commonly believed that the river was named for the yellow rocks seen in the ‘Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone’, the Native American name source is unclear.
Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. The caldera is considered as an active volcano. It has erupted with tremendous force several times in the last two million year. The Yellowstone Caldera is the largest volcanic system in North America. It has been termed a "supervolcano" because the caldera was formed by exceptionally large explosive eruptions. The magma chamber that lies under Yellowstone is estimated to be a single connected chamber, about 60 km long, 29 km wide, and 5 to 12 km deep. Yellowstone Lake is up to 400 feet deep and has 180 km of shoreline.The lake is at an elevation of 7,733 feet above sea levels. Half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features are there in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In May 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey, Yellowstone National Park, and the University of Utah created the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO), a partnership for long-term monitoring of the geological processes of the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field, for disseminating information concerning the potential hazards of this geologically active region.
Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous mega fauna location in the contiguous United States. Grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in this park. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States.
Forest fires occur in the park each year. In the largest forest fires of 1988, nearly one third of the park was burnt.
Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing and sightseeing. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use either snow coaches or snowmobiles.
Fire in Yellowstone NP:
Causes of wildfire in Yellowstone NP
Wildfire has had a role in the dynamics of Yellowstone’s ecosystems for thousands of years. Although many fires were caused by human activities, most ignitions were natural. The term "natural ignition" usually refers to a lightning strike. Afternoon thunderstorms occur frequently in the northern Rocky Mountains but release little precipitation, a condition known as ‘dry lightning’. In a typical season there are thousands of lightning strikes in Yellowstone. Lightning strikes are powerful enough to rip strips of bark off of a tree in a shower of sparks and blow the pieces up to 100 feet away. However, most lightning strikes do not result in a wildfire because fuels are not in a combustible state.
The great fire incidence of 1988
The Yellowstone fires of 1988 collectively formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control due to drought conditions and increasing winds, combining into one large conflagration which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time in its history. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. A total of 793,880 acres, or 36 percent of the park was affected by the wildfires.
Fire incidence, 2016
As of September 21, 2016, 22 fires (human and lightning-caused) have burned more than 62,000 acres in Yellowstone National Park, making it the highest number of acres burned since the historic 1988 fire.
Heritage and Research Center
The Heritage and Research Center is located at Gardiner, Montana, near the north entrance to the park. The center is home to the Yellowstone National Park's museum collection, archives, research library, historian, archeology lab, and herbarium. The Yellowstone National Park Archives maintain collections of historical records of Yellowstone and the National Park Service. The collection includes the administrative records of Yellowstone, as well as resource management records, records from major projects, and donated manuscripts and personal papers. The archives are affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration.
Most fumaroles are complexly zoned in mineralogy and color. The throat of the fumaroles (seen as the vertical whitish lines in the photo) was a place of high acidity and temperatures. High temperatures and acid leached minerals away from these throats. Hiking poles are about 120 cm tall. NPS photo by M. Fitz.
A tourist photographs the fumaroles and hot springs at Hveravellir, the geothermal area along the Kjölur route in the middle of the west highlands between the glaciers Langjökull and Hofsjökull.
Locality: Cottonwood Basin, Arizona
Weathered volcanic tuff (Towel Creek Tuff) cones associated with fumarolic acitivity.
Volcanic fumarole with spiral tafoni.
For more information visit:
Lassen Volcanic National Park largest Hydrothermal Area - featuring thumping mud pots, steaming fumaroles and boiling pools.
The Stefanos crater at the floor of the Nisyros Volcano caldera.
The existence of a large hydrothermal system under Nisyros, with brine temperatures above 500°C at 1,700 m depth is documented by the formation of five larger hydrothermal craters within the central caldera of the volcano.
The largest of the craters is called Stefanos. It is the biggest and the best preserved hydrothermal crater in the world. Its form is ellipsoidal; its tallest axe is extended at 330 metres and the smallest 260 metres. Its height is extended at 30 metres and it is estimated that it cannot be older than 3000-4000 years.
Two types of fumarolic activity occur within the caldera crater field: degassing and steaming mud pools are present in the central parts of Stefanos and Polybotis craters, and the second type of fumaroles is bound to disseminated channels and fissures within the walls and rims of the craters as well as along major fracture zones. The gases with temperatures of a few degrees below or close to 100°C are also rich in H2O, CO2, H2, H2S, and CH4. They seem to originate from the deeper parts of the hydrothermal system.
Turrialba Volcano is named after the region of Costa Rica in which the volcano is situated in Turrialba County, Cartago of Costa Rica. The stratovolcano is 3,340 m (10,958 ft) high and is about 45 minutes from the Atlantic slope town of Turrialba. The summit has three craters, one of which has fumaroles and sulfur pits.
La porta dell'inferno non poteva presentarsi più bizzarra e tetra. Sul cratere di vulcano rocce gialle e un'intossicante puzza di marcio.
Calcite Springs
Hot springs are sites where groundwater emerges at the Earth’s surface (or on the seafloor). Hot spring water has to be higher in temperature than the human body (an admittedly arbitrary definition): >98° Fahrenheit or >37° Celsius. Geysers are hot springs that episodically erupt columns of water. The highest concentration of geysers and hot springs anywhere is in and around the Yellowstone Hotspot Volcano (northwestern Wyoming, USA).
Calcite Springs is a cluster of hot springs and fumaroles emerging from hydrothermally altered, mixed volcanogenic siliciclastics of the Sepulcher Formation (Eocene) along the steep riverbanks of the northern Yellowstone Canyon, near Tower Falls, in the northeastern part of Yellowstone Park. These hot springs erupt acidic to alkaline, hot to near-boiling water, plus petroleum (oil and gas condensates). Hydrothermal and gaseous precipitates from Calcite Springs discharge waters include opal, calcite, gypsum, barite, native sulfur, pyrite, and an undescribed black iron-bearing mineral. Black-colored water along the edge of the Yellowstone River at Calcite Springs contains abundant fine-grained pyrite (iron sulfide), which is brassy gold-colored in non-powdered form. Identified extremophile microbes recovered from Calcite Springs runoff channels include one species of Aquificales bacteria, one species of Korarchaeota archaea, and three species of Crenarchaeota archaea.
Clips 1-3 - Calcite Springs in the mid-afternoon of 2 June 2014.
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Fumaroles are hot steam vents. When the water table is high, they may spit or spout water. High-energy fumaroles are noisy - their roaring can be heard miles away sometimes.
Seen here is a fumarole in the eastern Fountain Group of Yellowstone's Lower Geyser Basin. Yellowstone's main road used to go through here and was rerouted after multiple fumaroles emerged decades ago. Remnants of the old road are still present - for some reason, they were not entirely removed. The flat-topped rock above this fumarole looks suspiciously like an old road remnant, but I'm not sure.
The park service used to have a sign here that said "A Fumarole". Because the feature is unnamed, some folks started referring to this as "A" Fumarole (jokingly suggesting that "B" Fumarole and "C" Fumarole are nearby).
Geothermal areas of Yellowstone
The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles. In total, the number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000 and 200 to 250 geysers erupt in Yellowstone each year, making it the the place with the highest concentration of active geysers in the world.[2] Many of these features build up sinter, geyserite or travertine deposits around and within them.
The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can easily percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then easily erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Thus flat-bottomed valleys between ancient lava flows and glacial moraines are where most of the large geothermal areas are located. Smaller geothermal areas can be found where fault lines reach the surface, in places along the circular fracture zone around the caldera and at the base of slopes that collect excess groundwater. Due to high elevation of the Yellowstone Plateau, the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 °F (93 °C). When properly confined and close to the surface it can periodically release some of the built-up pressure in eruptions of hot water and steam that can reach up to 390 feet (120 m) into the air (see Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest geyser). Water erupting from Yellowstone's geysers is superheated above that boiling point to an average of 204 °F (95.5 °C) as it leaves the vent. The water cools significantly while airborne and is no longer scalding hot by the time it strikes the ground, nearby boardwalks, or even spectators. However, because of the high temperatures of the water in the features, it is important that spectators remain on the boardwalks and designated trails. Several deaths have occurred in the park as a result of falls into hot springs.
Prehistoric Native American artifacts has been found at Mammoth Hot Springs and other geothermal areas in Yellowstone. Some accounts state that they used hot water from the geothermal features for bathing and cooking. In the 19th century, Father Pierre-Jean De Smet reported that natives he interviewed thought that geyser eruptions were "the result of combat between the infernal spirits." The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled north of the Yellowstone area in 1806. Local natives that they came upon seldom dared to enter what we now know is the caldera because of frequent loud noises that sounded like thunder and the belief that the spirits that possessed the area did not like human intrusion into their realm. The first Caucasian known to travel into the caldera and see the geothermal features was John Colter, who had left the Lewis and Clarke Expedition. He described what he saw as "hot spring brimstone." Beaver trapper Joseph Meek recounted in 1830 that the steam rising from the various geyser basins reminded him of smoke coming from industrial stacks on a cold winter morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1850s, famed trapper Jim Bridger called it "the place where Hell bubbled up."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The site of a former sulphur mine, the Sulphur Works is right by the park road, with mud pots and fumaroles, and the smell of rotten eggs.
The Fountain Paint Pot area in Yellowstone has several springs, pools, geysers, a fumarole, and the Fountain Paint Pot. Yellowstone National Park.
This trail is an easy 0.5 mile (0.8 km) loop boardwalk. You will see various hydrothermal features that are expressions of Yellowstone's volcanism. No two features are exactly alike, yet they can be grouped into those with a lot of water (hot springs and geysers) and those with limited water (mud pots and fumaroles).
The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000 and 200 to 250 geysers erupt in Yellowstone each year, making it the place with the highest concentration of active geysers in the world, thanks to its location in an ancient caldera. Many of these features build up sinter, geyserite, or travertine deposits around and within them.
The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Thus flat-bottomed valleys between ancient lava flows and glacial moraines are where most of the large geothermal areas are located. Smaller geothermal areas can be found where fault lines reach the surface, in places along the circular fracture zone around the caldera, and at the base of slopes that collect excess groundwater. Due to the Yellowstone Plateau's high elevation the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 °F (93 °C).
Source: wapedia.mobi/en/Geothermal_areas_of_Yellowstone
Fumaroles at the outer crater rim of Mt Ngauruhoe.
Oturere Valley is in the distance.
Tongariro National Park.
Mt Ngauruhoe Sunrise Summit Climb, Spring 2013.
The Valley is covered with mineral deposits that mark the location of extinct fumaroles. Black staining around these spots typically reflect magnetite or hematite. White zones may be enriched in silica and clay minerals. Orange to yellow staining indicates minerals such as limonite, geothite, or sulfur. NPS photo by M. Fitz.
Inne i kraterkomplekset til Mutnovskij. Mange fumaroler med svovelavsetninger, geysirer og kokende gjørme.
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Inside the crater complex of Mutnovsky. Lots of fumaroles with sulfur deposits, geysirs and boiling mud.
A fumarole in Hverir, the geothermal area beneath the pastel-coloured Námafjall, in the northerh Mývatn area, south of the volcanicaly active Krafla area. The stench of sulphur can be deterring, but a visit in this lunar-like landscape of bubbling mud holes and steaming vents is definitely recommended.
Geothermal areas of Yellowstone
The geothermal areas of Yellowstone include several geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park as well as other geothermal features such as hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles. In total, the number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000 and 200 to 250 geysers erupt in Yellowstone each year, making it the the place with the highest concentration of active geysers in the world.[2] Many of these features build up sinter, geyserite or travertine deposits around and within them.
The various geyser basins are located where rainwater and snowmelt can easily percolate into the ground, get indirectly superheated by the underlying Yellowstone hotspot, and then easily erupt at the surface as geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles. Thus flat-bottomed valleys between ancient lava flows and glacial moraines are where most of the large geothermal areas are located. Smaller geothermal areas can be found where fault lines reach the surface, in places along the circular fracture zone around the caldera and at the base of slopes that collect excess groundwater. Due to high elevation of the Yellowstone Plateau, the average boiling temperature at Yellowstone's geyser basins is 199 °F (93 °C). When properly confined and close to the surface it can periodically release some of the built-up pressure in eruptions of hot water and steam that can reach up to 390 feet (120 m) into the air (see Steamboat Geyser, the world’s tallest geyser). Water erupting from Yellowstone's geysers is superheated above that boiling point to an average of 204 °F (95.5 °C) as it leaves the vent. The water cools significantly while airborne and is no longer scalding hot by the time it strikes the ground, nearby boardwalks, or even spectators. However, because of the high temperatures of the water in the features, it is important that spectators remain on the boardwalks and designated trails. Several deaths have occurred in the park as a result of falls into hot springs.
Prehistoric Native American artifacts has been found at Mammoth Hot Springs and other geothermal areas in Yellowstone. Some accounts state that they used hot water from the geothermal features for bathing and cooking. In the 19th century, Father Pierre-Jean De Smet reported that natives he interviewed thought that geyser eruptions were "the result of combat between the infernal spirits." The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled north of the Yellowstone area in 1806. Local natives that they came upon seldom dared to enter what we now know is the caldera because of frequent loud noises that sounded like thunder and the belief that the spirits that possessed the area did not like human intrusion into their realm. The first Caucasian known to travel into the caldera and see the geothermal features was John Colter, who had left the Lewis and Clarke Expedition. He described what he saw as "hot spring brimstone." Beaver trapper Joseph Meek recounted in 1830 that the steam rising from the various geyser basins reminded him of smoke coming from industrial stacks on a cold winter morning in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1850s, famed trapper Jim Bridger called it "the place where Hell bubbled up."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
We then stopped by the Hverir Geothernal Area on our way east, which reminded us fondly of our time in Yellowstone. This area showcases the diversity of Iceland's landscape, with bubbling mud pots, hot springs and fumaroles on display. It is less roped off than Yellowstone in some regards, so you can get very close to the action.
From the sign outside the area:
"Námafjall is a high-temperature geothermal area with fumaroles and mud pots. At a depth of 1000m, the temperature is above 200 degrees Celsius. Along with the steam comes fumarole gas, such as hydrogen sulfide which is responsible for the characteristic hot spring smell in these areas. The hot springs produce considerable sulphur deposits. In previous centuries, sulphur was mined in Iceland to produce gun powder."
A large hot pool at the extensive geothermal zone of Leirhnjúkur, Krafla (North-east of Mývatn).
N1219
Locality: Cottonwood Basin, Arizona
Weathered volcanic tuff (Towel Creek Tuff) cones associated with fumarolic acitivity.
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Giungendo da nord la "valle del diavolo" si annuncia con il paese di Montecerboli (mons Cerberi), un chiaro riferimento a Cerbero, il guardiano dell’Ade del mondo classico. Il paesaggio infernale si sussegue tra sbuffi di vapore, fumacchi e le imponenti costruzioni dell'Enel che sfrutta le forze del sottosuolo per la produzione di energia elettrica. Proseguendo incontriamo Larderello, un villaggio industriale fondato nell'800 per a produzione dell'acido borico ricavato dai cosiddetti "soffioni". E' qui che, nel 1904 il Principe Piero Ginori Conti effettuò il primo esperimento al mondo per la produzione di energia elettrica prodotta col calore del sottosuolo: si accesero 5 lampadine! Da allora sono stati fatti passi da gigante e oggi la zona è uno dei massimi centri modiali per la l'energia geotermica. Ma lo sfruttamento delle forze del sottosuolo ha fatto si che le manifestazioni naturali in superficie siano sensibilmente diminuite negli anni.
A Sasso pisano è ancora possibile vedere come si presentavano questi luoghi fino al settecento. Una valle dall'aspetto infernale costellata di sorgenti calde, sbuffi di vapore affioramenti di zolfo, l'aria con il classico sentore di uova marce, isomma un luogo che le supersizioni del passato collegavano faclimente al diavolo tant'è che alcuni storici attribuiscono a questa zona l'ispirazione per l'ingresso degli inferi descritto nella divina commedia di Dante Aligheri.
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