Grand Prismatic Spring is Yellowstone's largest hot spring, about 110 m across, famous for the rings of blue, green, yellow and orange that circle its deep-blue center. Toggle the color rings to see the microbial pigment banding against a plain clear-water blue, and the runoff-channel marker to see where hot overflow cascades down the surrounding mineral terrace.
Published figures: diameter about 110 m (370 ft); depth about 50 m (160 ft) at its deepest point; the third-largest hot spring in the world after Boiling Lake, Dominica, and Frying Pan Lake, New Zealand; water temperature near the center about 70 C (160 F); location Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA.
Drag to orbit and scroll or pinch to zoom. Everything renders on your device with WebGL.
Grand Prismatic Spring 3D Explorer
This browser explorer shows Grand Prismatic Spring as a top-down color map: a deep-blue center too hot for most life, ringed by bands of green, yellow and orange microbial mat, sitting on a mineral terrace at Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
The rings of color are living mats of heat-loving microbes (thermophiles), mostly pigmented cyanobacteria, that grow in different temperature zones around the pool. Near the center the water runs close to 70 C, too hot for most pigmented organisms, so it looks deep blue from clear-water scattering alone. Moving outward and cooler, different microbial communities take over, painting green, yellow, orange and rust-red bands. The National Park Service notes the colors even shift with the season, running more orange in summer and greener in winter as the mix of pigments changes. Hot overflow constantly spills over the rim and cascades down runoff channels cut into the surrounding sinter terrace, carrying more of the same colorful mats with it. The spring was named and first documented by the 1871 Hayden Geological Survey.
- Toggle color rings to see the microbial banding against a plain clear-water blue
- Toggle the runoff-channel marker to see where hot overflow cascades down the terrace
- Read diameter, depth, and ranking among the world's hot springs in the panel
- Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
| Figure | Published value |
|---|---|
| Diameter | about 110 m (370 ft) |
| Depth | about 50 m (160 ft) at its deepest point |
| World ranking | third-largest hot spring on Earth, after Boiling Lake, Dominica, and Frying Pan Lake, New Zealand |
| Center water temperature | about 70 C (160 F) |
| Color source | pigmented thermophilic microbial mats, banded by temperature zone, shifting with the season |
| Location | Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA |
| Documented | named by the 1871 Hayden Geological Survey |
For another place shaped by heat below the surface, see the Mount Vesuvius 3D Explorer, or for another near-perfect natural circle with its own color banding, the Great Blue Hole 3D Explorer.
Everything renders on your device with WebGL. The 3D engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is cached.
This is an educational approximation - the terrace slope, channel placement, and color-ring proportions are schematic teaching cues, not a survey-grade thermal map.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is Grand Prismatic Spring?
About 110 m (370 ft) across, and about 50 m (160 ft) deep at its deepest point - the third-largest hot spring in the world.
What causes the rainbow colors?
Rings of heat-loving microbes (thermophiles), mostly pigmented cyanobacteria, that grow in different temperature zones around the pool. Each zone's dominant microbial community produces a different color band.
Why is the center blue instead of colored?
The center runs close to 70 C, too hot for most of the pigmented microbes that color the outer rings. What is left is just clear, deep water scattering light blue.
Do the colors really change with the season?
Yes. The National Park Service notes the mats run more orange in summer and greener in winter, as the balance of pigments in the microbial communities shifts.
Where is Grand Prismatic Spring?
At Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA. It was named and first documented by the 1871 Hayden Geological Survey.
Is this a scientific thermal model?
No. It is an educational explorer using published figures - the terrace slope, channel placement, and color-ring proportions are schematic teaching cues, not a survey-grade thermal map.