Thermophilic bacterial mats on the gracefully terraced shoulders along the runoff streams of Grand Prismatic Spring: A beauty that will captivate your gaze in the changing lights of late afternoon, early October, 2017- XIV [EXPLORED]

A clear view of the spring at this climatic condition was almost impossible from the trail. Extreme cold breeze and fumes were almost covering us. So I was concentrating on a bit different compositions. My lens was being repeatedly foggy. Moreover, we were in terrible hurry to cover almost all possible spots, for there had been a bad news for us, a forecast of heavy snowfall next day since morning, restricting our entry to the park. So we had to curtail down our program into a single day. I was almost running with my camera taking as many photographs as I could.

A video on Grand Prismatic Spring:
thekidshouldseethis.com/post/the-grand-prismatic-spring-o...

Grand Prismatic Spring
Grand Prismatic Hot Spring is the most photographed thermal feature in Yellowstone. That's because of its crazy-bright colors and enormous size.
What Makes the Grand Prismatic so Grand?
It is deeper than a 10-Story Building. Extremely hot water travels 121 feet from a crack in the Earth to reach its surface.
Being the third largest in the world, Grand Prismatic spring is bigger than a football ground with a max diameter of 370 feet, and approximately 161 feet in depth.
If you now wonder how the depth measurement of such an extensive hot spring could be done, the answer is as simple as scary. In 1994 park geologist Rick Hutchinson navigated the "Little Dipper", a small row boat made of fiberglass-coated plywood, over the scalding hot water to the center of the spring and plumbed the pool's deepest point. Probably, not many people did envy him for that hell of a job.
At a surface temperature of 70 °C Grand Prismatic Spring does not release as much steam as Excelsior Geyser, and it has never shown any geyser activity. However, if you want to spot larger parts of the spring's water surface, you should pick the hours between noon and late afternoon of a warm, sunny day.
One of the most surprising facts and the origin of its name is that by a freak of nature the color sequence from the spring's center to the rim is in conformity with that of a rainbow and of sunlight dispersed by a prism. Miraculously, the spring's edges and the area beyond are nearly perfectly horizontally oriented, so water drains almost equally into all directions, enabling its breathtaking appearance. In this context it may be interesting to know that on August 17th, 1959 the Hebgen Lake earthquake tilted Grand Prismatic Spring and its surroundings as a whole by approximately 2 cm and shifted the overflow to a predominately easterly direction.
The new observation platform on the hillside southwest of Grand Prismatic Spring, completed in summer of 2017, offers fascinating views down from above on the spring as a whole.

Rainbow of Colors
The hot spring has bright bands of orange, yellow, and green ring the deep blue waters in the spring. The multicolored layers get their hues from different species of thermophile (heat-loving) bacteria living in the progressively cooler water around the spring. In 1968, researcher Thomas Brock discovered a microbe living in one of Yellowstone’s extremely hot springs. In the years since, research on Yellowstone’s microbes has led to major medical and scientific advances, including the sequencing of the entire human genome.

A detail note on bacteria
Grand Prismatic Spring hides many secrets, the most exceptional of which may be behind the mesmerizing color pattern. Both colors and their brilliance are not always the same, they vary with the change of weather and of seasons. Microbe communities along the spring‘s rim, adapted to its weak alkaline conditions (pH 7.0 to 8.3), vary in species and composition depending on water temperature as well as on exposure to sunlight and species-specific nutrients or toxins. The outer brown areas, supplied by already cooled effluent water of 30 °C to 45 °C, feature stratiform mats of brownish-black Calothrix cyanobacteria. These microbes protect themselves against the sun by the dark brown pigment scytonemin.
The lower, 45 °C to 60 °C warm outflow channels and areas of Grand Prismatic Spring are dominated by long streamers and filamentous mats of orange-tan Phormidium laminosum cyanobacteria. Just as Calothrix they use pigments as sunscreen, but in this case orange to red carotenoids. Phormidium is associated with orange (in winter green) filaments of Chloroflexus aurantiacus, which prefer the same temperature range and apply green bacteriochlorophylls to carry out photosynthesis. Closer to the spring at a temperature range of 52 °C to 74 °C biofilms of yellow-green Synechococcus cyanobacteria perform oxygenic photosynthesis and fix carbon dioxide. The brightly yellow, but occasionally pink or red colored streamers of Thermus aquaticus prefer even higher temperatures of up to 80 °C at the very edge of the spring until the water gets too deep. This hyperthermophilic bacterium consumes other mircobes and organic matter to grow and sustain life.
In contrast to the sterile blue water in center, whose temperature reaches 87 °C (189 °F) in the depth, the internal edges of Grand Prismatic Spring may also be colonized by microbes. However, this has not yet been confirmed. Parallelling the except size very similar Octopus Spring in White Creek Group, the presence of pale hyperthermophilic bacteria from the group of Aquificales such as Thermocrinis or Hydrogenobacter can be expected.
“Excelsior Geyser’s rugged crater was created by rare massive geyser eruptions. Surprisingly, it also preserves a record of past life. For thousands of years, microbes have grown in the runoff channels extending from nearby Grand Prismatic Spring. These vast communities were buried alive as the flowing hot water deposited a crust of silica minerals. The resulting deposit, called sinter, preserved the shape of the microbial mat it entombed. As new mats grew, more layers developed. Today’s formation is the result of this interplay between its living and nonliving components. Yellowstone’s hydrothermal features provide a glimpse into the distant past when intense volcanism was widespread on the young Earth. The lifeforms found here help scientists understand the type of life that likely arose and diversified billions of years ago on our planet” [ www.hikespeak.com/trails/midway-geyser-basin-yellowstone/ ]
The deep blue center of the spring is because its water scatters the blue wavelengths of light more than others.

View from the ground level
From the ground, it is unfortunately difficult to take all the measure and beauty of Grand Prismatic Spring, but it is interesting to observe the ochre gradients that spread on its sides, when the water temperature is lower. Depending on the temperature of the air, steam will be released more or less from the hot pool. In summer, you will notice the slight gradient of colours visible from the ground, as well as the blue in the center of the pool. When it is cooler, water vapour makes it difficult to observe colours, unless the wind is blowing.

Source:
[ www.volcanic springs.com/index.php?section=USA&usasection=midwaygeyserbasin&usasubsection=excelsiorgroup ]
[www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/grand-prismatic-midw... ]

Taken on: October 8, 2017

Tags:

Yellowstone National Park

National Parks Of USA

Natural Wonders

Tourism in USA

Old Faithful Geyser

Midway Geyser Basin

Grand Prismatic Spring

Thermophilic bacteria

Bacterial Mat in the runoff stream of Grand Prismatic Spring « less

Groups appears in: • *Little stories-pics with "soul"*:Invited photos only ! • #3/...flickrjob's third more » • in explore • 6,000 Views Unlimited 6000 • America's Parks Fav+ • The Fog / The Mist and The Rain • FAV = 110 and more • Photography is art - La fotografia è arte « less

Stats: 45,138 views / 32 comments

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: