Saturday 18 August, 2007

Travertine Terraces

Undoubtedly the BEST feature of Yellowstone national park.. is the travertine terrace of mammoth hot springs.. Its so attractive .. that every person who explored this feature in the early 1800's has named it his own way.. some call it the main terrace or upper terraces.. some call it the canary springs, some call it travertine terraces...

All of this is formed by underground water table getting heated by parts of dormant yellowstone volcano.. and the rising steam dissolving lots of calcium carbonate on its way up.. The mineral rich boiling water that flows out.. quickly deposits calcium carbonate forming grand marble laid terraces.. generously painted from the palette of colorful thermophiles (micro organisms that use the heat energy of hot water as their source of energy!), filamentous algae and cyanobacteria. The result is strikingly unique!!.. Enough of desciption.. is what u would be saying by now.. result is here for u to see... Click on the pics to get the best view













7 comments:

Nikhil B N said...

are these pics taken in real time...or generated using a comp??....its simply beautiful

Shekhar said...

@nikhil: Such colors are all over the place there.. live for u to see @ yellowstone!!

BlackThorn said...

i agree wid nikhil...cant believe these sights! njoy maadtidyaa bidu sakkathagi (green wid envy)

Shekhar said...

@tejas: tera bhi number aayega :)

Josh said...

beautiful. yes.
but still i cant stop comparing it with.. :D

Shekhar said...

@sam: guess u have seen too many drains .. come out of it :p

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