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Welcome
to Point of Interest Road
Signs! A
collection of photos of road and trail signs. Click
here for more Wyoming Signs
Yellowstone
National Park - Hot Lake Bed
Location
of sign - East Entrance Road/US 14 in Yellowstone National
Park
Photo
taken June 2008
Close
up view of sign
Wide
view of sign
Text
of sign:
Hot Lake Bed
The
surface water is cold enough to kill by hypothermia; the lake bed beneath is
a geologic hot spot. At the bottom of Mary Bay,
to
your right, heat flow measurements are among the highest recorded in the
park.
Lake
bed thermals are not visible from here in summer but there are clues on
shore. From steam vents (patches of bare, bleached
ground)
in the hills to the northwest, a fracture line runs straight through the lake
bed and across Steamboat Point, conducting heat
from
deep magma chambers. Puffs of steam and recent earthquakes are evidence
of ongoing instability.
While
driving around the lake look for dramatic examples of steaming shoreline near
West Thumb. Thermal activity is
Yellowstone's
volatile subconscious always threatening to surface - the
monster in the basement, the catastrophic waiting to
happen.
Mary Bay, like nearby Indian Pond, is a hydrothermal explosion
crater.
Graphics
on the sign
In addition
to the text there is an insert picture of nutrients being stirred up by
intense heat in the lake bed which benefits aquatic life
in
the lake. There is also a large photo of Yellowstone Lake
pointing out the location of Mary Bay, and two thermal areas.
Please help us
out by submitting
a photo!
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