Thermal Springs
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- The crater has been an important laboratory for the study of primitive life forms.
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- On cool mornings the warm waters of Loowit Falls steamed.
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- The thermal waters exit the crater breach at Loowit Falls.
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- Downstream gradients allowed microbiologists to study how primitive life forms respond to changing conditions.
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- As thermal waters flowed downstream they created interesting gradients of temperature, nutrients and oxygen.
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- Extreme thermal microbes seen here through a scanning electron microscope.
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- High temperature algae thrived in the thermal springs.
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- Crater hot springs were home to primitive organisms typically found in deep ocean thermal vents.
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- The hot water was rich in dissolved minerals and low in oxygen.
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- Gullys eroded in the crater floor exposed high-temperature thermal springs.
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- The crater provided a rich laboratory for microbiologists.
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- Dissolved minerals and organics were much higher (left beaker) in thermal ponds than blast zone lakes.
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- Thermal ponds were filled with bacteria and algae and bubbled with methane and hydrogen sulfide.
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- Some of the ponds remained hot for months due to hot fragmented rock in the deposits.
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- The massive debris avalanche filled the valley north of the volcano creating numerous small ponds and wetlands.
