The colors and shapes found at Mammoth Hot Springs are determined by two forces. The shapes tell about how fast the hot water is moving while the colors tell us how hot the water. Wet and white means near boiling with the colors ranging from red to green as the water temperature drops. This view shows both of the main shapes. The “lumpy” areas show that the water is moving quickly, while the terraces indicate slower moving/pooling water. The shapes are formed when the dissolved calcium carbonate precipitates as the water cools. When the water no longer flows, the bacteria die and the structures become light grey, getting darker with age.
Feedback Requests
I often focus on more specific areas for more abstract views, but I chose this view because it shows a mix of lumpy ridges and terraces. It’s worth noting that the location of the flow changes constantly. This photo is from June 2024. Last fall, the area seen here was dry and grey.
Pertinent Technical Details
R5, 100-500 @ 100, 1/200 s, f/16, tripod and polarizer.
The geology of Mammoth Hot Springs is well depicted here. Thanks for the explanation for the varying shapes and colours, moulded by time and temperature. Did you add any saturation or a polarization filter. I need to visit this region.
Mark, never tire of these scenes you post from YNP. Always think back on the book you recommended “Death In Yellowstone”. Some sad outcomes from a place so graced with beauty.
No thoughts for changes here…
Hey Mark – I think I like your idea of tighter crops and abstract compositions better than this treatment. Not sure how close you can get to this subject, but since the subject is already naturally distorted, I’d try a wide angle lens to fill the foreground with outrageous geology and maybe still include some sky. Maybe also shoot when the location has shadows – as it is, I can’t immediatey appreciate the excellent lumpy architecture captured here.
Mark, this reminds me of similar geothermal areas in New Zealand. I wonder if abstraction would be improved by cropping to remove the blue sky. This colour seems totally at odds with the remainder of the photo and distracted me from the shapes and colours of the geothermal deposits.
I’ve been here many times & never tire of this strange beauty, but I was not aware of of how its geology creates itself. Sooo interesting. Thank you for that. I love this iconic version.
One visit here (with camera of course) I met a scientist who was being filmed for a documentary on how this particular piece of Yellowstone was being studied to further our understanding of how other planets might function. She was fascinating to listen to, and so generous with her knowledge. I thought the filmmakers ought to film us talking about it - but for some reason they didn’t think so…
Although the colors of the sky & rock are complementary to each other, I do agree that cropping out the sky would make it more about the crazy geography. OR maybe crop up a bit to balance the sky & rock, emphasizing the crazy colors of the two together?
Wow, what a magnificent landscape! I love the colors of the terraces. They’re probably a bit more vibrant because of the polarizing filter. I think that works well.
There’s a slightly milky area in the middle. I suppose that’s hot steam?
