Images

A wide array of phototrophic microbial community textures exhibited in an alkaline (pH ~8.5) hot spring outflow channel in the Biscuit Basin, including thick mats, toadstools, ropes, and pinnacles. The differences in color are due to pigments (chlorophylls, bacteriochlorophylls, and carotenoids) produced by phototrophic microorganisms.

Sabrina Brown collecting samples from Yellowstone Lake core YL16-2C at the National Lacustrine Core Facility (LacCore) at the University of Minnesota.

The Yellowstone River is divided into five reaches (labeled and color-coded): Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Tower–Gardner, and Mammoth.  Monitoring stations (yellow dots on map) between each reach of the river reaches allow geochemists to measure river composition and then determine the sources of chloride (Cl) and other solu

Map showing ice cover in the Yellowstone region. Light shaded areas bounded by black and red lines indicate areas covered during the Pinedale (about 20,000-15,000 years ago) and Bull Lake (about 150,000 years ago) glaciations, respectively. Blue lines are contours in thousands of feet on the maximum reconstructed Pinedale glacier surface.

Summary diagram of the geological record and timing of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff eruption. See Swallow et al. (2019) for more details.

Models of magma storage. Part (A) depicts the standard model of magma storage—a single, large body of crystal-poor melt, surrounded by crystalline mush. Although this is the standard 'mush' model, geophysical studies fail to find evidence of this type of magma storage at many active systems.

Maps displaying the stages of evolution of the more recent cycle of volcanism associated with Yellowstone Caldera. From Finn and Morgan, 2002 (High-resolution aeromagnetic mapping of volcanic terrain, Yellowstone National Park).

Map panels showing the distribution of major caldera-forming ash-flow deposits from the three major caldera-forming eruptions on the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field. Updated from Christiansen, 2001 (USGS PP 729-G) with new age information.

Map showing three types of young faults in Yellowstone National Park. 1) Resurgent dome faults. 2) Volcanism and caldera faults. 3) Basin and Range faults. Courtesy of the Wyoming State Geological Survey.

Color-coded map showing the range of helium isotope values across Yellowstone National Park. BC = Boundary Creek, GGB = Gibbon Geyser Basin, MHS = Mammoth Hot Springs.

Contrasting photos of Heart Spring on Geyser Hill in the Upper Geyser Basin from 1998 (left) and 2019 (right). Can you spot differences in the hot spring? Photos courtesy of the National Park Service.

Promontory Point GPS station (P709) with Yellowstone Lake in the background. Solar panels power the station, barrel on the ground houses the batteries, and the brown metal box on the ground contains the receiver that can be accessed to retrieve real-time data. Photo by Brendan Hodge, EarthScope Consortium, spring 2019.

Dan Dzurisin, of the Cascades Volcano Observatory, conducting a leveling survey at Newberry Volcano, Oregon, in 2002.

Sulphur Caldron -- an example of an acid-sulfate hydrothermal feature in Yellowstone National Park. Photo taken by Blaine McCleskey, September 2008.

View of Castle Geyser, near Old Faithful, in eruption, taken from the boardwalk, November 5, 2019.

This mountain meadow inhabiting species is generally distinctive in its long copious stem and leaf hairs and inflorescences with congested white to pinkish or light purplish flowering heads that are surrounded by very long stem leaves.

Alpine meadow near Two Ocean Pass on the Continental Divide just south of Yellowstone National Park.

Image of the north part of Yellowstone Lake with the smoke plume from the Brimstone Fire in the distance, acquired by the YVO webcam on September 2, 2019, at 2:05 PM MDT.

The Parting of the Waters, looking southeast. North Two Ocean Creek splits into Atlantic Creek, flowing to the left in the photo, and Pacific Creek, flowing to the right. The wooden sign indicates that it is 3,488 miles to the Atlantic Ocean and 1,353 miles to the Pacific Ocean.

Aerial view of the new thermal area, in the center left. The existing Tern Lake thermal area is the bright white patch of ground in the upper middle part of the image. West Tern Lake is in the lower right. Research conducted under NPS Geology Programs Milestones Permit 2016-9.

View from the ground of the new thermal area near Tern Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Research conducted under NPS Geology Programs Milestones Permit 2016-9.