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Signs! A
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Yellowstone
National Park - Travertine Occupants
Location
of sign - Mammoth Hot Springs area trail at Yellowstone National
Park.
Photo
taken June 2008
Close-up
view of sign
Wide
view of sign
Text
of sign:
Travertine Occupants
You
are looking at a world of heat loving microorganisms called
"thermophiles." Billions of them live, die and are buried at
Mammoth
Hot Springs.
Food
for Life
Feasting
on Chemicals
Filamentous
Bacteria
Thread-like
filamentous bacteria link together, creating chains that can spread into
aprons. They live on hydrogen sulfide gas rising
through
vents - the gas you likely smell here.
Living
on Sunshine
Cyanobacteria
Like
flowering plants, colorful cyanobacteria use light for energy, or photosynthesize.
If other microorganisms did not consume
hydrogen
sulfide gas near the vents, these sun-loving microbes would be poisoned.
Perished
Communities
Heated
deep underground, water rises through buried limestone, then deposits the
mineral calcite above ground. The calcite
hardens,
becoming travertine. As hot spring water flows, trees, grasses,
thermophiles, and even the boardwalk are entombed!
Smothered
by a coat of travertine, a fossil-like impression of thermophiles is cast in
stone. These travertine impressions are
evidence
of former thermophile communities.
Yellowstone's
hot springs are among Earth's most extreme environments. Yet
life survives and thrives in conditions that would be
lethal
to humans. Scientists studying hot spring habitats are
learning about life's limits on Earth. What they learn here
may also aid
the
search for life on other planets.
This
exhibit made possible by a generous grant to the Yellowstone Park Foundation
from NASA Astrobiology Institute and
Lockheed
Martin Space Operations.
Graphics
on the sign
In addition
to the text there is a picture of filamentous bacteria, cyanobacteria,
entombed filamentous bacteria and entombed
cyanobactoria.
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