Vertically Gifted Cyclic Mud Pot

A mud pot is an acidic hot spring with too little water to be a clear pool, so microbes convert volcanic hydrogen sulfide into sulfuric acid that dissolves the surrounding rock into clay. Escaping gases then bubble through that clay to create the spattering mud.

It is one of the thermal features inside Yellowstone National Park, which spans northwestern Wyoming and parts of Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone was established in 1872 as the world's first national park and holds one of Earth's greatest concentrations of geysers and mud pots.

Its rhythmic vertical bursts are driven by gas pressure building and releasing through the clay, a geyser-like cycling behavior that is uncommon even among mud pots. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory monitors the park's hydrothermal features because they change as the underlying magma system evolves.

Yellowshire's thermal features are viewed from designated boardwalks and trails, as thin crusts around mud pots and springs can cause severe burns. Features like this one also change or fade over time, so its display today may differ from past behavior.