Other worldly in appearance, dead trees trunks stand in contrast to the sparkling white stone surface at Mammoth Hot Springs. Hot, mineral-rich water has escaped the ground at Mammoth Hot Spring for hundreds of thousands of years. Minerals in the water have built a stone surface across the hill top. In places the steaming water pools and the minerals in the water collects creating terraces. Dry terraces, like those seen here, are left behind when the water finds other outlets and begins to flow another direction. The trees were consumed by the growing stone within the terraces. In the background steam rises from an active wet area in the Hot Springs. Algae, which thrive in hot water and color the newly created stone in other areas dies when it becomes dry. Without the water and algae to color the surface, the recently dried stone becomes a stark white.