Wilderness landscape photography of colorful travertine deposits surrounding a dead pine tree at Palette Spring in Yellowstone National Park

The travertine deposits surrounding Palette Spring in the Mammoth Hots Springs area of Yellowstone National Park frame a long-expired pine in exquisite color of almost alien beauty. Partly molten magma is never far beneath the surface of Yellowstone, and it drives water flowing underground to the surface. As it emerges, carbonates and calcium come together to create these otherworldly travertine terraces of violet, indigo and ochre.