Crater of the Oblong Geyser, Its Waters Bubbling from Earth's Unquenched Fires, Yellowstone Nat. Park. Wyo.

Publication

Crater of the Oblong Geyser, Its Waters Bubbling from Earth's Unquenched Fires, Yellowstone Nat. Park. Wyo.

Description

CRATER OF OBLONG GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE NAT. PARK. Very curious in structure are the large globular masses of glistening geyserite surrounding the basin of Oblong Geyser close to the Firehole River about 500 ft. S. of the Giant. Their light tan color contrasts strikingly with the delicate blue shades of the water, which is so transparent that the two fissures deep in the bottom of the crater are clearly visible. Preceding eruptions, which occur every 8 to 15 hours, the water rises to the crater rim and boils for about 15 minutes, after which it is thrown up to a height of from 20 to 40 ft. during a period of about 7 minutes. In the upper basin alone there are hundreds of springs and pools more or less resembling the Oblong Geyser. Some are a few inches in diameter, others several feet across. Certain of the openings are mere circular or irregular holes in the sinter surface, while again there are mounds, domes or cones varying greatly in size, shape, structure and color. Some are as smooth and delicately tinted as pearl, others rough, like coarse sandpaper or sponge, the roughest sometimes being the richest in coloring. The water in certain of them pulsates or throbs, and in others it boils and not infrequently the fissures are true geysers which with more or less regularity discharge varying quantities of hot or boiling water. in contrast to these clear springs there are scattered over the Park many others casting out thick, liquid mud. Such are the Mud Geyser, Black Growler steam vent and Hurricane mud vat, in the Norris basin and the Mud Volcano near the Yellowstone River between Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Canyon. (View looking S. E. Elev. 7,300 ft. Lat. 45° N.; Long. 111° W.)