Bubbles in the Mud

Today’s post features some more images I captured in late February in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming).

The mud pots featured in this post were located in the Fountain Paint Pots area of the park, near Old Faithful. One definition I found of the mud pot is that it is a sort of acidic hot springs with a limited amount of water.

Another description of the mud pot is that it is surface water that collects in shallow, impermeable depressions. Thermal water beneath these depressions causes steam to rise through the ground and heat the collected surface water to a very high temperature … causing the collected, muddy water to “boil” as hydrogen sulfide gas is released (and yes, it can be quite smelly!).

Here are images captured at the Fountain Paint Pots area:

Bubbling mud pot in Yellowstone NP

Bubbling mud pot in Yellowstone NP

Bubbling mud pot in Yellowstone NP

Cropping/expanding the preceding image, you can more clearly see the mud bubbles as they rise from the gooey surface water, some in the process of bursting:

Bubbling mud pot in Yellowstone NP

Still to come … more Yellowstone images, images from the Grand Teton NP area, and early, Missouri woodland wildflowers that are now beginning to appear.

 

Photographic Equipment Used:

  • Canon 5D Mark 3 camera
  • Canon 28-135mm f/4.5 – f/5.6 IS lens, at 135mm
  • Handheld, with IS “On”
  • ISO 250
  • Aperture f/11 and f/16
  • Shutter 1/125 sec. to 1/250 sec.

 

 

Posted in Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Travel Photography
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