Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, with parts in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of its most popular attractions. It has more geothermal features than any other location on Earth
The park is situated atop a large active volcano; half of the world’s geothermal features are found here. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions covering hundreds of square miles have created mountains, valleys, canyons, lakes and rivers. Erosion from waterfalls has carved notches into cliffs. The Yellowstone Caldera is one of the largest supervolcanoes on Earth and it last erupted 640,000 years ago. Thermal activity continues at present in several areas of Yellowstone; over 150 natural hydrothermal features have been documented,:39–41 including geysers – which number about 500 (including 101 active geysers).:309–310 This number represents nearly two-thirds of all those found on Earth:15 as well as 10% of all known geysers. While most visitors believe that only “Old Faithful” erupts regularly,:137 numerous other predictable geysers exist; these include Beehive Geyser (the tallest), Castle Geyser (the largest cone), Daisy Geyser (with unusually long intervals between eruptions)
and Grand Prismatic Spring (the widest). On May 7th 2020 during eruption seismic event M 2.9 was recorded 5 km NW Island Park Caldera near West Thumb. Other notable hot springs include Mammoth Hot Springs, Rainbow Point hot spring complex, Riverside Geyser Basin,, NorrisGeyser Basin – home to SteamboatGeyser (the tallest currently-activegeyserin the world), Black Sand Basin hot springs, White DomeGeyserthe second-largesthot springinYellowstoneand ExcelsiorGeYSERone OF THE LARGESTSTroUTINEly eRUPTINGGEYSERSIN THE WORLDwith Intervalsof 3 TO 4 HOURSBETWEENeRUPTIONSAND dURATIONSOf UP TO 8 MINUTES . There are also mudpotsand fumaroles . The farthest north point reachedby roadsinYellowstoneis PebbleCreekat 6185 feet(1888 m) above sea levelwhile summit Lakejust southof thereachiesthe same elevationas PebbleCreekbut lies nearly 400 feet(120 m) lower due to being situated inside a caldera . At 1160 feet(353 m), TroutLake , northwestof JacksonLake ,isthelowestpointreachedby roads while HellroaringCanyon just southof thereachiesthesameelevation butlies nearly 1600feet(488m)lowerduetoitslocationinsideacaldera