Yellowstone News and Information

Hypoliths: Life thriving under the beach-white sinters of Yellowstone's hydrothermal areas While most attention is given to the hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, and mud pots in Yellowstone’s hydrothermal areas, there are lessons just beneath the surface about how life might have taken shape on Earth billions of years ago. Yellowstone  Caldera  Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Dr. Jeff Havig and Professor Trinity Hamilton, researchers in Plant and Microbial Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota. A s one walks along the boardwalks in one of the many hydrothermal areas in Yellowstone National Park, there is a feast for the senses—the rotten egg smell of hydrogen sulfide, the blasting spray of geysers, the bubbling and boiling water in hot springs, the hiss of gas escaping fumaroles, the low thumping of mud pots, and the dazzlingly bri...