Punch Bowl Spring - Yellowstone N.P., Wyoming
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 44° 28.164 W 110° 50.916
12T E 512042 N 4924021
Punch Bowl Spring is located in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.
Waymark Code: WMDXHY
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 03/06/2012
Views: 6
Punch Bowl Spring was named by the 1871 Hayden Survey for its punch bowl shape. The spring is located at the summit of a hot spring mound in a 12 foot diameter crater with a 30 foot depth. The crater has a raised rim of sinter about 30 inches high.
Information sources: The Geyser Observation and Study Association (
visit link) and Yellowstone National Park.com (
visit link)
Text of sign at Punch Bowl Spring:
Punch Bowl Spring
Heat, water, and minerals have combined to create the delicately scalloped rim surrounding Punch Bowl Spring. Another important element is the behavior of the thermal feature. The circulation of water, amount of runoff or surging, and style of eruptions (if any) all determine where mineral is deposited and in what particular form. Punch Bowl’s activity has remained relatively constant for the last 100 years.
Active Sculpture
Like all thermal features in Yellowstone, hot water circulating deep within the earth dissolves minerals from surrounding rock. As this water reaches the surface, it cools and the mineral resolidifies into sinter, a silica-rock of greyish-white color, or in the Mammoth area, into travertine, a calcium-rich rock. Sinter deposits build up very slowly. Rates vary wildly, but average around 1 to 2 inches every 100 years. Travertine, however, builds up much more quickly, at times up to 1 inch a week.