Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Mammoth Hot Springs features an amazing staircase of hot spring pools, known as "terraces". Heat, water, and limestone have combined to form these terraces, which are constantly changing. Water from rain and snowmelt seeps deep into the earth where it is heated by magma within the ancient Yellowstone volcano. It then rises to the surface through faults, or cracks, in the earth's crust. This super-heated water pours and steams out onto the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, where it deposits the limestone that forms the rims of the many pools that make up these terraces. As formations grow, water may flow in different directions, creating a sort of "living sculpture".