Yellowstone National Park’s Morning Glory Pool is truly a sight to behold. Named for its remarkable likeness to its namesake flower, Morning Glory Pool is an absolutely beautiful one of a kind hot spring geyser which quickly captures the eye with its many colors and crystal clear geothermal ‘pool’ in its midst.
Though at first glance the Pool looks as though it could be a cool water spring, the actual temperature of the geothermal springs and pools at Yellowstone can reach as high as 456 degrees Fahrenheit.
The various pigments produced by multitudes of tiny microbes, which are technically called microbial mats, are responsible, at least in part, for the striking hues of the yellows, greens, and oranges that create the colors of Morning Glory as well as other thermal pools in Yellowstone Park.
Each different species of these tiny microbial mats has a very specific and preferred temperature which they thrive in. Because Yellowstone’s springs are most typically known to be hottest at the center and coolest at the edges, the difference in temperatures then creates the pools color gradient which appears and varies in colors.
Morning Glory’s colors are also mostly influenced by how light interacts with the water’s depth, in turn creating its yellows and oranges in the shallows and its various green coloring in the deep end.
For those who love the wilderness and the great outdoors, you will also be sure to love some of natures most astonishing natural springs and pools which can be found deep in the heart of Yellowstone National Park.