Minerva Spring is centrally located within the Lower Terrace group at Mammoth Hot Springs and is easily accessible along the trails through the area. This spring is a favorite place not only because of the wide range of bright colors but also for its ornate travertine formations. Since records were first kept here, in the 1890's, this spring has gone through a series of active and inactive periods. Early in this century, it was completely dry for several years. By the 1950s, Minerva was reported to be very active and extremely beautiful. During some periods of extremely high activity the boardwalk trails have been buried under new travertine deposits. In the 1970's activity increased at some of the other springs in the lower terrace creating cyanobacteria mats that now rivel those at Minerva Spring.
The pictures available below, represented by thumbnails, show some of the structure to be seen at Minerva Spring in the early 1980's.
All photographs are by Stephen E. Strom and are covered by copyright. © 1995
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