Where on Earth? - March 2018

by The American Geosciences Institute
Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Clues for March 2018:

1. The presence of this hot spring, long considered sacred by Native Americans, was reported to Congress in 1871 by geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden as part of his survey of the geothermally endowed region that, the following year, would become the nation’s first national park.

2. The spring owes its brilliant bands of color to different species of thermophilic bacteria and archaea that live in successively cooler zones of water that encircle the center, where water heated to 87 degrees Celsius rises to the surface from 36 meters below.

3. At 112 meters across, it the largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world.

Name the hot spring & the national park.

Scroll down for the answer

Answer: Grand Prismatic Hot Spring in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the United States and the third largest in the world. It owes its brilliant bands of color to different species of thermophilic bacteria and archaea that live in successively cooler zones of water that encircle the center. Photo by Gregg Beukelman.

March 2018 Winners: Elisa Bergslien (Buffalo, N.Y.) Philip Evans (Leavenworth, Wash.) Edward A. Metz (Crawford, Neb.) Don Privett (Great Falls, S.C.) Karen Ritchie Ritter (Wichita, Kan.)

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EARTH also welcomes your photos to consider for the contest. Learn more about submitting photos.