EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Volcanic Mud Pools

Volcanic Mud Pools
Rotorua, New Zealand

Explanation:  Watch your step among these boiling cauldrons of volcanically-heated mud!  This is the stuff of hobbits and Middle Earth.  

We are in the town of Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand.  The scent of sulfur permeates the town.  Amidst geothermal geysers are these bubbling volcanic vents, all part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone.  

Believe it or not, we are actually in the middle of a golf course, and these mud pools form what must be one of the worst hazards for any golf game.  

This volcanic region is immensely active similar to Yellowstone National Park in the U.S., and El Tatio Geysers of the Atacama Desert region of northern Chile.  

Studies (Brock and Brock 1971, Mountain et al. 2003) of the mud pools and hot springs of this region found that they are inhabited by incredibly thermophyllic (heat-loving) extremophiles (organisms that live in extreme environments) ... particularly, blue-green algae and bacteria.  The algae included Mastigocladus laminosus, and Phormidium or Synechococcus sp., and the bacteria were found in neutral and alkaline pH pools but not in the more acidic pools. 

Other studies (Boothroyd 2009) found characteristic vegetation communities associated with the geothermal fields, including invertebrates and algae, but these were in the more clear-water hot springs.

       Check out this short video I made of the bubbling cauldrons:

And watch where you step!

Information:
     Boothroyd, I.K.G.  2009.  Ecological characteristics and management of geothermal systems of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand.  Geothermics 38(1):200-209.
     Brock, T.D. and M.L. Brock.  1971.  Microbiological studies of thermal habitats of the central volcanic region, North Island, New Zealand.  New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 5(2):233-258.  
     Mountain, B.W., L.G. Benning, and J.A. Boerema.  2003.  Experimental studies on New Zealand hot spring sinters: rates of growth and textural development.  Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 40(11):1643-1667.