Close up of Morning Glory Pool heat as a green bloom is still a gorgeous sight, but far from its pristine state, a deep indigo was more impressive.
The famous Convolutus is a nice feature, but a dismal remnant of what it was originally. The pool was named by Mrs E. N. McGowan, wife of Assistant Park Superintendent, Charles McGowan in 1883. She called it "Convolutus", the Latin name for the deep blue morning glory flower, which the shape of the spring resembles. By 1889, the name Morning Glory Pool had become common usage in the park. Currently this beautiful pool has fallen victim to vandalism. People have thrown literally tons of coins, trash, rocks, and logs into the pool. Much of the debris subsequently became embedded in the sides and vent of the spring, affecting water circulation and accelerating the loss of thermal energy, reducing the temperature and allowing cyanobacteria which produce a yellow/orange color to propagate down into the pool. The spring originally had a scalloped sinter border, 6-10 inches wide and 2-5 inches high. The entire rim was dismantled by criminal souvenir hunters. Now a tribute to the mindless tourists that created a green swamp from a priceless gem.
Size: 3504px × 2336px
Location: Yellowstone National Park
Photo credit: © Gary Schimelfenig / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: abstract, adventure, america, artistic, attraction, bacteria, beautiful, calcite, caldera, chloroflexus, closeup, colorful, crust, cyanobacteria, environment, explore, formation, fumes, geology, geyser, hot, landmark, landscape, minerals, morning-glory-group*, morning-glory-pool, natural, nature, orange, oscillatoria, outdoors, park, phormidium, popular, scenery, sightseeing, splendid, spring, steaming, summer, synechococcus, thermal, tourism, tranquil, travel, vacation, volcanic, wilderness, yellowstone, yellowstone-national-park
