Yellowstone

Executive summary by darmansjah

Yellowstone is home to more geothermal features than any place on Earth.

LIVING COLOR

Colorful, pigmented bacteria rings Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring, the country’s largest hot spring. The sterile water in the center is a simmering 160ᵒF (71ᵒC).

ANIMAL AND MINERAL

Wolves, such as this male calling his pups roams Yellowstone in 11 overlapping packs. Mineral terraces form from dissolved limestone that rises through hot springs, solidifying when the water hits the open air.

Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. The world’s first national park-established in 1872-preserves the continent’s largest supervolcano, the active Yellowstone caldera. Within Yellowstone National Park’s 3,572 square miles (8,992 sq km) of stunning  scenery are at least half of the world’s geothermal features, including more than 300 geysers an more than 10,000 hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots. The park holds the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states, with grizzly and black bears, gray wolves (restored in 1995), bison, elk, wolverines, and mountain lions. The Old Faithful geyser erupts 17 times a day, propelling thousands of gallons of steaming, pressurized water about 130 feet (40 m) into the air to the oohs, aahs, and gasps of visitors.