Hot springs are sites where groundwater emerges at the Earth’s surface (or on the seafloor). Hot spring water has to be higher in temperature than the human body (an admittedly arbitrary definition): over 98° Fahrenheit or over 37° Celsius. Geysers are hot springs that episodically erupt columns of water. The highest concentration of geysers and hot springs anywhere is at the Yellowstone Hotspot Volcano (northwestern Wyoming, USA).
Turbulent Pool is in the northern part of the Mud Volcano Group, just west of the Yellowstone River & south of Hayden Valley (the pool is at 44º 37’ 41.94” North latitude, 110º 26’ 00.49” West longitude). It is often misidentified as Sulfur Cauldron, which sits immediately southeast of Turbulent Pool. The water of both features is strongly acidic with H2SO4 (sulfuric acid). Water samples taken from Turbulent Pool in 2006 and 2007 by the United States Geological Survey were about 59º Celsius and had a pH of 1.89 and 1.99, respectively. The sulfuric acid forms by oxidation of volcanic hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) and by thermoacidophile microbial activity.
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