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The Lower Geyser Basin is the largest geyser basin in area, in
Yellowstone. It covers approximately 11 square miles. By
comparison, the Upper Geyser Basin only covers about one
square mile. Because of its large size, the thermal
features in the Lower Geyser Basin tend to be clumped in
widely spaced groups. The easiest grouping to get to and
probably the most interesting to explore is the Fountain Paint Pot
area.
Also located in the Lower Geyser Basin
is Great
Fountain Geyser. Great Fountain
is the only predicted geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin
and the only predicted geyser in Yellowstone that you can
drive to. Predictions for this geyser are posted at the
Old Faithful Visitor Center and, when staffing allows, at
the geyser.
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Fountain Paint Pot Trail
Along this short
walk you will see very good examples of most types of
thermal features found in Yellowstone. These features
include some very pretty
hot pools, steaming
fumaroles,
erupting geysers and probably the best easily accessed
mudpots in the park. The area is highly active and at
least one geyser is usually erupting here at all times.
It takes about 1/2 hour to get around this area. The
parking lot is small and it can be hard to find a parking
space but the sights along the trail are well worth the
hassle.
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-
Celestine
Pool:
- Celestine Pool is, tragically, one of the hot
springs that has claimed a human life. As in many
of the pools around Yellowstone, the water in
this pretty pool is usually within a few degrees
of boiling. There is little hope of surviving a
fall into such a pool.
-
Clepsydra
Geyser:
- Clepsydra is a pretty geyser often erupting to 45
feet. It was named for a mythical water clock. In
the early history of the park, it erupted with
clock like regularity. After the 1959 Hebgen Lake
Earthquake it went into a "wild phase."
Since then it has erupted almost constantly, only
occasionally stopping after an eruption of nearby
Fountain Geyser.
- Fountain Geyser:
- Fountain is a beautiful geyser. Its 30 minute
eruptions can reach over 75 feet and are
characterized by highly energetic bursts that
wildly explode in all directions. It is a very
fun geyser to watch. Since Morning Geyser is
usually dormant, Fountain is usually the major
performer in the area. It usually erupts every 4
to 15 hours.
- Fountain
Paint Pots:
- The consistency of the Fountain Paint Pots, like
all paints pots, is highly affected by recent
rain and snow fall. When there is a lot of rain,
the paint pots are soupy. As they dry out they
become thicker an thicker. The Fountain Paint
Pots increased dramatically in size following the
1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake. In fact, a trail and
parking lot had to be moved. You can still see
some of the old structure along one edge of the
paint pots.
- Fumaroles:
- There are a number of
fumaroles, steam vents,
located at the higher elevations in the Fountain
area. Notice how the hot pools and geysers, the
wettest features, are located at the lowest
levels. The paint pots are located at an
intermediate level and the fumaroles, the driest
features, are located at the highest level.
- Jet
Geyser:
- Jet is a frequent performer erupting every 7 to
30 minutes to 20 feet. It erupts from at least
five vents in an elongated cone. Jet shows its
connection to Fountain Geyser by erupting more
frequently during Fountains eruptions.
- Leather
Pool:
- Leather Pool gets its name from the thick brown
bacterial mat that is often found in its lukewarm
warm waters.
- Morning
Geyser:
- Morning Geyser is the largest geyser in the
Fountain area and one of the largest geysers in
the world. Unfortunately, it is seldom active.
Its last period of activity lasted for one week
in 1994. When active it can erupt as often as
every 4 hours to 200 feet high and 100 feet wide.
Eruptions last up to 1/2 hour.
- Red
Spouter:
- Red Spouter may sometimes look like a small
geyser but it is actually a
fumarole that
sometimes gets drowned by a puddle of water that
forms near its vent.
- Silex
Spring:
- Silex Spring is a beautiful blue hot spring.
Sometimes, it is possible to see steam jetting
into the pool from the vent at the bottom of the
pool. This steam quickly collapses as it hits the
cooler water of the pool.
- "Sizzler":
- Sizzler is a small geyser of relatively recent
origin. Until a few years ago, it erupted from
cracks in the sinter. More recently it has
started forming a crater. It was interesting to
watch the change from what looked like solid
ground to a gaping hole. This is one of the
dangers of walking off trail in the geyser
basins. You never know when a new hole will open
up.
- Spasm
Geyser:
- Spasm is a small geyser right next to the
boardwalk.
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Great Fountain Geyser
Great
Fountain
Geyser sits in the middle
of one of the prettiest sinter formations in the park.
The sinter forms a series of terraced concentric
reflecting pools around the geyser. Even if the geyser
isn't erupting, it is worth driving past to see the
pools.
Great Fountain is a fountain-type geyser,
erupting in a series of bursts through a pool of water.
Its interval between eruptions ranges from 9 to 15 hours
but its short term average interval is usually stable
enough that the eruptions can be predicted to within an
hour or two. Great Fountain's maximum height ranges from
about 75 feet to over 220 feet. Its duration is usually
about one hour but durations of over two hours have been
seen.
Great Fountain is a major geyser, but many
people, when hearing it erupts to over 200 feet, are
disappointed by its more common maximum of less than 100
feet. For this reason, Great Fountain has earned a number
of pejoratives, such as The Flounder. The smaller
eruptions of Great Fountain are still large and pretty
but pale in comparison to the truly huge eruptions.
Great Fountain erupts in a series of
distinctly spaced bursts. The first group of bursts lasts
about ten minutes. Then there is about a five minute
quiet period followed by another five or so minutes of
activity. These quiet and active episodes continue until
the end of the eruption. Usually the first period of
activity is the tallest and strongest, with the first and
sometimes the second burst being the strongest of the
eruption. Sometimes, the largest burst will occur during
the third active period. This especially seems to occur
when the first period has been uninspiring. Rarely, large
bursts will continue long into the eruption.
Great Fountain is the only major geyser
you can truly watch from your windshield. This is
especially nice in bad weather.
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