India has around 106 national parks that cover an area of over 40,000 sq.km. Did you know that the first national park in the world was established on March 1, 1872 in the U.S.A. and covers an area of 8,104 sq.km?
The Yellowstone National Park lies in northwest Wyoming and extends into the states of Montana and Idaho. The park is rich in wildlife with 67 species of mammals, 322 species of birds, 16 species of fish, over 1,100 species of native plants, more than 200 species of exotic plants and over 400 species of thermophiles (heat loving bacteria).
The park features the Yellowstone caldera, one of the largest super volcanoes in the world, with over 10,000 thermal features and more than 500 geysers, including ‘Old Faithful’. Old Faithful is a geyser that regularly throws out Columns of boiling water at intervals of 60 to 90 minutes. It was first discovered in 1870.
Yellowstone is situated in a region that has been volcanically active for tens of millions of years. Tectonic movement of the North American Plate has thinned the Earth’s crust in the area, forming a hot spot – a place where a dome of magma, or molten rock, comes close to the surface. This builds up pressure which causes the geysers to erupt.
Picture Credit : Google
