Golden Gate Photo - Yellowstone National Park Gallery

Golden Gate Photo - Yellowstone Gallery - Page 1
Fine Art Photography from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

In 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park, making it the first national park in the world. The biggest attractions to Yellowstone are its wildlife and geological wonders. This geologically active area is renown for its geysers, mud pots, fumaroles, hot springs, and other features that are all the result of a violent volcanic past (and present). Yellowstone contains over 10,000 of these geothermal features, including about 200 to 250 active geysers. A localized heat source from the Earth's mantle, called a mantle plume or "hot spot", lies beneath this area. The mantle plume caused rises of rhyolitic magma to the surface, resulting in violent eruptions which produced a series of calderas. These caldera-forming eruptions began about 16.5 million years ago just west of the junction of Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada. This mantle plume passed beneath the Craters of the Moon area around 7 to 10 million years ago. Subsequently, basaltic lava erupted, much less violently, and covered the rhyolite deposits at Craters of the Moon. The same mantle plume, now under the Yellowstone area, has produced the 3 most recent caldera-forming eruptions here, occurring about 2 million, 1.3 million, and 630,000 years ago. The mantle plume hasn't necessarily moved, rather the North American Plate has been moving over it to the southwest. The collapsed central portion of Yellowstone, which forms the caldera, is an area about 28 miles (45 Km) by 47 miles (76 Km). Some day in the future, another huge caldera-forming eruption will likely occur in this vicinity.

	Lakeshore Geyser Lakeshore Geyser is located in the West Thumb Geyser Basin and at the edge of the West Thumb portion of Yellowstone Lake. Most of the time, it is inundated by cold lake water, rendering the geyser dormant. It can only erupt when both the lake is low (most likely in late summer to early winter) and the geyser is hot. The last known major eruption of this geyser was in 1970. Print No. A01NW-27-1
	Bison and the Yellowstone River This herd of american bison was taken along the Yellowstone River between the Mud Volcano area and Yellowstone Lake. This appears to be a popular area for spotting the bison as they cross the road back and forth, taking refuge in the warmth of the hot springs and steam vents or retreating to the cooler waters of the Yellowstone River. Print No. A01NW-27-3
	Bison and Cooking Hillside At the Mud Volcano Area, here is one of the destinations for the bison in the image above. The Mud Volcano Area is near the spot of greatest uplift and sinking of the Yellowstone Caldera. Earthquakes are common in this area where a number of faults converge. Print No. A01NW-27-6
	Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Looking east from Artist's Point, this is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The yellow to red colors are caused by geothermal alteration of rhyolite. This alteration has weakened the rock, allowing the Yellowstone River to easily erode a narrow gorge through the deposit. Print No. A01NW-29-4
	Petrified Stump This standing remnant of a tree is located near Lost Lake. These trees had to have been buried rapidly by Eocene- to Oligocene-age volcanic ash deposits to remaining in a vertical position during the petrification process. Silica leaching from the surrounding ash deposits gradually replaced the pore spaces in the wood. Print No. A01NW-31-2 More about petrified wood from the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
	Lost Lake Lost Lake lies on a trail between Roosevelt Lodge and the exhibit of the petrified tree (the one behind gates to keep vandals out). This is grizzly bear country, though only a lone duck on the lake was spotted on this hike. Print No. A01NW-30-11

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