254 EEPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The Taurus Spring or Geyser is almost ^circular, measuring 6 by 7 

 feet. It has an ornamental border raised a few inches above the gen- 

 eral surface. This border is brown and orange colored on top, chang- 

 ing into blackish-gray, and finally deep black below. The water as 

 viewed from above is inky-hued, with a slight greenish tinge. The 

 spring is situated on a mound, and is surrounded by pools which are 

 pinkish, and have islands of white and also grayish depressions. The 

 main outlet is to the westward, and is bordered by a white-capped 

 edge, overrun by pinkish streaks broken with greenish and saffron 

 lines at the edge. The water flows over terraces as it proceeds, which 

 have broad belts of olive green with golden browns, and patches where 

 dark browns predominate, and border lines of pink, salmon, and white. 

 The east outlet is creamy f'ed, with light olive-green and yellowish 

 pools. Outside of the spring the prevailing tint of the deposits is 

 white, with blue and brown grays. These notes will give a faint idea 

 of the coloring surrounding the springs of this geyser basin. The flow 

 from the spring is small in amount, and is through the western outlet 

 into Shoshone Creek. The spring is one that is constantly boiling. 

 The temperature at the surface was 196°. At a depth of 3 feet below the 

 surface the temperature increased to 197°. At 6 feet it was 202°, and at 

 8^ feet 204°. 



Marble Cliff Spring (Plate XXXI) measures about 11 by 23 feet, and 

 has a narrow, shallow basin on three sides, which break off by cliff-like 

 masses into the deep portions of the spring, in which the water has a 

 deep indigo tint. The surface temperature was 163° F., and at the 

 depth of 8 feet it was 166° F., the air being at 64° F. The spring is per- 

 fectly quiet. 



The Impenetrable Spring^ near the Union Geyser, is 10 by 14 feet, 

 and has a depth of 19^ feet. The surface of the water is about 8 feet 

 below the top of the deposit on the south and west sides. Next to the 

 Union Geyser the deposit appears to have been washed away, and the 

 rim here rises only from 2 to 5 feet above the level of the water. 

 Professor Bradley, in 1872, considered this spring with the cones of the 

 Union Geyser as occupying the mouth of an old and once powerful 

 geyser, and thought it possible that it might still spont. We saw, how- 

 ever, no evidence while we were in the basin, nor did it show any sym- 

 pathy with the eruptions of the Union Geyser. This corresponds also 

 with the observations of Professor Bradley. There are three points 

 of ebullition, but the boiling is not violent, and at times the spring is 

 perfectly quiet. In the walls of this spring the laminated character of 

 the siliceous deposit is well shown. Some of them contain nodules of 

 harder deposit, which is almost opalized. The temperature, both at the 

 surface and at a depth of 5 feet, was 196° F. 



Kitchen Spring. — This spring was so named from the fact that during 

 our stay in the Shoshone Geyser Basin it was utilized almost every day 

 by our cook. The spring has two openings, in which the water is con- 

 stantly boiling. The largest measured about 18 inches in diameter — 

 just large enough to allow a kettle to be sunk in it. 



Springs No. 18 and No. 20 were among the handsomest in the group, 

 the water in the former having a yellowish-green tint, and in the latter 

 deep-blue. There is a large pool of standing water surrounding No. 20, 

 and on this a number of grasshoppers were found that had been coated 

 with the deposit and preserved in form. 



The table of the group preceding this description gives all the re- 



