Norris Geyser Basin Trail--Porcelain Basin Loop
Originally I was going to post this with the Odds and Ends. I had forgotten how truly beautiful (and how many pictures I took) of this section of the Park. I took way over 100 pictures in the Porcelain Basin. So, I am posting separately...
The Norris Geyser Basin is on the western side of the Grand Loop. There are several boardwalk walking loops within two "sub" basins: Porcelain Basin and Back Basin. Porcelain is on a mostly flat
terrain. The Back Basin is a bit more challenging, but well worth the walk. The booklet gives lots of geological information. This basin is the hottest and most dynamic within the Park. It is mostly acidic and part of an area with the world's most active volcanoes. New hot springs and geysers appear frequently. Changes can happen quickly or ever so slowly.
The pools, streams and springs (and their various colors and designs) can be seen in multiple places as one views the open "field" from the boardwalk at Porcelain Basin (there is an overlook above the basin). Geyser names: Pinwheel, Constant, Whirligig, Sunday, and Ledge. Hurricane Vent, Congress Pool, Porcelain Springs, Whale's Mouth (a quiet spring) and Crackling Lake (named for the popping sounds from springs on its south shore) are the other named hydrothermals in this basin. This Basin changes frequently. It can topped with water or extremely dry.
There is also a rather large "forest" of "lodgepole" pines. These are gray trees with no needles, killed by thermal activity. They wear "white socks" which come from silica that has run from various springs and pools about a foot or so up the base of the tree. The silica penetrates the bottom of the tree and hardens the bases of these trees.
Colors are beautiful and often vivid. There is evidence of thermophiles (heat loving organisms and microorganisms) which possess an array of color. There is an abundant diversity of microscopic organisms including bacteria, archaea, eukarya. Viruses are not among the three domains, but, nonetheless thrive in hydrothermal features as the can survive extreme conditions. Colors can change with change of temperature or chemistry
Yellows (various shades) typically contain sulphur and can smell like rotten eggs.
White flower-like designs indicate silica (most often seen around the edge of a pool or spring).
Dark, brown, rust and red contain various amounts of iron, bacteria and archaea along with high levels of arsenic.
Emerald green--Algae and chlorophyll. Some bacteria and archaea may grow in the mats. They form at 155 degrees F
Dark Blackish-green mats are formed in cooler water from alga (Zygogonium).
Vivid Blue--salts containing sulfur, arsenic and boron.
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