Mammoth to Norris
length = 21 miles

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Here at Mammoth Hot Springs, water doesn't erupt like in the geyser basins but flows, gently from cracks. Hot water dissolves the underlying limestone and deposits it on the surface forming these huge terraces.


Liberty Cap stands 37 feet high and 20 feet in diameter. Its cone is made of calcium carbonate, deposited at a time when hot water flowed from its top.

As we leave Mammoth Hot Spring heading south, the road passes thru Golden Gate.

Shown here is Obsidian Cliff, a "mountain of glass". This rock formation is the same as rhyolite, but in this case, the rhyolite cooled so quickly that it did not crystalize. Instead, black glass was formed.



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