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Under construction Yellowstone Lake Basin Storm Point Area
Storm Point Sand Dune Depressions These depressions gather bison in the winter since the snow cover here is reduced and vegetation for food is easier to find. If you put your hand into the sand, unlike our experiences at the beach, the temperature you feel goes up dramatically. The heat from the hot spot is sitting just below the surface here. In fact, the depressions themselves are likely to be due to phreatic explosions in which heated gases explode the ground above them. Why? Several reasons I suspect although the key is the rapid expansion of superheated gases likely caused by removal of the capping pressure above - could be water table levels, could be strength of rocks above the pressure dome, etc.
Yellowstone Lake Here's a happy camper fishing on Yellowstone Lake. This photo was taken in 2000 by the author and you can see the smoke billowing in the background from the Raven Creek fire. Of note here is the large size of the lake and how it is surrounded by mountains to the East.
 
LeHardy Rapids & Sour Creek Dome
Sour Creek Dome and Mallard Lake Dome (the other resurging lava dome) are about 10 miles apart and their "linkage" appears to run along Elephant Back Mountain. Mallard Lake Dome is just adjacent to the Old Faithful area. Data on Sour Creek Dome indicates vertical motion annually. From 1987-1995 it was declining 8-12 mm/year. From 1995-2000 the dome was raising in height by 4 mm/year. One theory is that injection of basalt like lava into the base of magma causes the land to rise while extrusion of hydrothermal fluids (gases, liquids) allows the land to go down. These dome actions seem analogous to "breathing" although one wonders what sort of critter would breathe like that!!
By the end of this day we had seen a lot of wildlife in the Park. The sightings include: Swallows, ravens, Big Blue Bee, pronghorn antelope, Elk (Bulls & Cows), Bison (Lots & Lots), Cutthroat trout, Pelicans, Osprey (on nest), Coyote, pika/marmot, salmonflies (stoneflies), and 2 hikers caught in the middle of a bison herd (their own fault!).
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