White Dome Geyser
Encyclopedia
White Dome Geyser is a geyser
located in the Lower Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park
in the United States
.
White Dome is a conspicuous cone-type geyser located only a few feet from Firehole Lake Drive, and accordingly, seen by many visitors to the park as they wait for eruptions of nearby Great Fountain Geyser
. Its 12-foot-high geyserite
cone is one of the largest in the park. Its eruptions are unpredictable, but generally occur with intervals ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. Intervals between 20 and 35 minutes are most common. Eruptions typically last 2 to 3 minutes and reach heights of about 30 feet (9.1 m), the maximum height being attained early in the eruption. As usual for cone-type geysers, the play is continuous for most of the eruption's duration, and begins and concludes with a brief steam phase intermixed with liquid spray.
Although it is overshadowed in eruptive height and power by Great Fountain Geyser, White Dome Geyser is a significant feature that was used as an emblem by the old Yellowstone Library and Museum Association, now the Yellowstone Association. The thermophilic
bacterium Thermus aquaticus
, important because it produces an enzyme
used in polymerase chain reaction
laboratory procedures central to modern molecular biology
, was first isolated from Mushroom Pool, a non-eruptive hot spring
a few hundred feet from White Dome Geyser.
White Dome is the largest member of the "White Dome Group," a cluster of features bisected by Firehole Lake Drive that includes at least six other geysers as well as several non-eruptive springs. Gemini Geyser and Crack Geyser, across Firehole Lake Drive from White Dome, also erupt comparatively frequently, and can be observed from the parking area for White Dome, while the other members of the White Dome Group erupt only rarely, are difficult to see from the road, or both.
Geyser
A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb...
located in the Lower Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
White Dome is a conspicuous cone-type geyser located only a few feet from Firehole Lake Drive, and accordingly, seen by many visitors to the park as they wait for eruptions of nearby Great Fountain Geyser
Great Fountain Geyser
The Great Fountain Geyser is a fountain-type geyser located in the Firehole Lake area of Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. It is the only predicted geyser in the Lower Geyser Basin.-Eruption:...
. Its 12-foot-high geyserite
Geyserite
Geyserite is a form of opaline silica that is often found around hot springs and geysers. Botryoidal geyserite is known as fiorite. It is sometimes referred to as sinter.-References:*...
cone is one of the largest in the park. Its eruptions are unpredictable, but generally occur with intervals ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. Intervals between 20 and 35 minutes are most common. Eruptions typically last 2 to 3 minutes and reach heights of about 30 feet (9.1 m), the maximum height being attained early in the eruption. As usual for cone-type geysers, the play is continuous for most of the eruption's duration, and begins and concludes with a brief steam phase intermixed with liquid spray.
Although it is overshadowed in eruptive height and power by Great Fountain Geyser, White Dome Geyser is a significant feature that was used as an emblem by the old Yellowstone Library and Museum Association, now the Yellowstone Association. The thermophilic
Thermophile
A thermophile is an organism — a type of extremophile — that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between 45 and 122 °C . Many thermophiles are archaea...
bacterium Thermus aquaticus
Thermus aquaticus
Thermus aquaticus is a species of bacterium that can tolerate high temperatures, one of several thermophilic bacteria that belong to the Deinococcus-Thermus group...
, important because it produces an enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
used in polymerase chain reaction
Polymerase chain reaction
The polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....
laboratory procedures central to modern molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
, was first isolated from Mushroom Pool, a non-eruptive hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
a few hundred feet from White Dome Geyser.
White Dome is the largest member of the "White Dome Group," a cluster of features bisected by Firehole Lake Drive that includes at least six other geysers as well as several non-eruptive springs. Gemini Geyser and Crack Geyser, across Firehole Lake Drive from White Dome, also erupt comparatively frequently, and can be observed from the parking area for White Dome, while the other members of the White Dome Group erupt only rarely, are difficult to see from the road, or both.