(Photo Credits : www.nps.gov )
Yellowstone National Park is America’s first national park. The park was established in 1872 and covers an area of 2,219,789 acres located in three states, namely – Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.
It is considered to be one of the most diverse ecosystem of the world with some of most amazing geysers and hot springs.
History:
The name Yellowstone is derived from the Yellowstone River as there are high yellow rock cliffs along the river banks. Native American were dominated the places in and around park in historic time. The Minnetaree tribe called this river as “Mi tsi a da zi,” that means “Rock Yellow River.” This was later translated to “Yellow Rock” or “Yellow Stone.”
It has the most strangest and interesting geological activities which are not found anywhere in the world. The whole area of the park is the caldera of the super volcano which erupts so many million years ago. However, it is not the extinct one; scientists believe that a very large super volcano is due in this area. Park is full of places where hot water and steam comes up bubbling with a huge hissing sound. There are mud bubbles too.
Major Attractions:
Old Faithful Geyser – This geyser in the park is one of the major attractions. It erupts after every 35 to 120 minutes for 1 1/2 to 5 minutes. It gains maximum height of 90 to 184 feet. It is a biggest regular geyser in the park which has been erupting in this fashion from the time it is being recorded.
Mammoth Hot Springs – The next major attraction of the park is at Mammoth Hot Springs. As a result of excessive heat, water, and plenty of limestone, the rock at mammoth area has fracture giving the appearance of a terrace. The calcite deposit is of white color, however due to the bacteria and other microorganism presence; it creates very beautiful shades of color like pinks, oranges, yellows, greens, and browns. There are two terraces, the lower and the upper terraces.
Norris Geyser Basin – It is one of the hottest geyser basins of Yellowstone. This basin is full of pink, orange, red and yellow colors due to the presence of the mineral oxides. There is no vegetation in this basin as no plants can survive in extremely hot and acidic environment. It is one of the largest geysers in the world.
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