Castle Geyser Surreal

As I mentioned in an earlier posting ( http://flickr.com/photos/fortphoto/262785900/ ) the funky oranges and yellows of the geothermal areas at Yellowstone really blended nicely with the fall colors in the grasses. Here's a pano stitched from two frames of Castle Geyser.

Castle Geyser has some of the most impressive sinter deposits in the world. For more info on this impressive formation from Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Geyser ) :

The geyser has a 10-12 hour eruption cycle. The geyser erupts hot water for about 20 minutes to a height of 90 feet (27 meters) before changing to a noisy steam phase for 30-40 minutes.

It is also noted for the particularly large sinter deposits that form its cone. These have been likened in appearance to a castle. This appearance led Lieutenant G.C. Doane to name it Castle Geyser in 1870. The geyser is located in the Upper Geyser Basin a short walk from Old Faithful Geyser.

The sinter cone for Castle Geyser was dated to around 1022 using carbon-14 dating. This date is much younger than the presumed age of 5000 to 15000 years. A 3-D laser scan done of the cone shows evidence that this geyser has gone through four to five distinct stages to reach its current configuration.

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