Beauty and Chromatic Pools - Yellowstone N.P., Wyoming - Hot Springs on Waymarking.com

Beauty and Chromatic Pools are two colorful pools in the Upper Geyser Basin. The two pools are interconnected at depth. One pool overflows while the other drops in level and cools. This state will continue for a few years and then the water will shift to the other pool and it begins to overflow. When this waymark was established Chromatic Pool was the active one. The photos on the sign show Beauty Pool active. Please indicate which pool was active on your visit.

Information sources from The Geyser Observation and Study Association (visit link) and Yellowstone National Park.com (visit link)

Text of sign at Beauty Pool:
Beauty and Chromatic Pools
Living Color
The vivid colors of Beauty Pool’s basin and runoff channels are created by microscopic lifeforms. Incredibly, these organisms survive and thrive in an environment that would be lethal to us and most other living creatures. Scientists are just beginning to understand these lifeforms; amazingly, hot spring environments may sustain a diversity of organisms rivaling that of terrestrial rain forests.
Thermal Feature Color Gradient
In the geyser basins with alkaline or neutral pH (Upper, Midway, Lower, West Thumb, and Mammoth Hot Springs), color is primarily a function of what lives and grows in a feature. The graph to the right represents the upper environmental temperature limits for life and the corresponding colors (which vary over the course of a year as a consequence of seasonal changes) in the features or runoff channels.
Hidden Connections
Beauty Pool shares an underground link with Chromatic Pool (to your immediate left). When Beauty Pool is full, Chromatic Pool’s water level is much lower; sometimes the reverse may be observed. Many other features in the Upper Geyser Basin have demonstrated similar behavior. The factors affecting such exchanges of function are many and may include phenomena such as earthquakes and continuing mineral accumulations in each features’s underground “plumbing.”

Temperature (F): 164 to 175 Temperature (C): 73 to 79 Type: Developed Cost?: Use Fee Open to the Public?: no Clothing Optional?: no Other Amenities: Adjacent to boardwalk trail in Upper Geyser Basin.

Visit Instructions:
1. Include a photo of the hot spring

2. Describe your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   11/27/2022 chrissyml visited it 09/19/2019 dzeih visited it 09/10/2019 icaunais visited it 08/25/2019 Duodenfer_ visited it 12/01/2016 Castor007 visited it 01/22/2016 BFin visited it 06/25/2014 yetispaghetti visited it 10/13/2013 Eibacher Kuckuck visited it 07/27/2012 The_Simpsons visited it 10/02/2010 Volcanoguy visited it 09/18/2006 kJfishman visited it 10/17/1999 daisy1620 visited it

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