Many persons flock to the Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. to see the great ponds of shimmering, brilliant colors also known as the Grand Prismatic Spring and the Sapphire Pool.

Not all of Yellowstone's famous thermal pools had these prismatic, remarkable colors before, however. Surprisingly, the colors in 1872 weren't the yellow, green and blue tourists see today but instead were originally a deep shade of blue.

Like Us on Facebook

In a new study, scientists used computer simulation to turn back time to examine how other magma heated pools such as Morning Glory looked like before human interference. They also revealed that coins, trash and rocks thrown into the pool caused a partial blockage of the vent and led to lower temperatures that shifted the pool's color patterns.

These prism pattern colors are caused by a massive microbial community that collect in mats thriving in the pool's hot waters at temperatures of 140 to 194 degrees Fahrenheit.

These mats mostly consist of blue green algae along with other bacteria, according to lead author Paul Nugent, a computer engineering researcher from the Montana State University. Different, complex communities cause the pool's various colors since microbes prefer varying temperatures that cause the concentric patterns of yellow, green and orange.

The blue part of the pool signifies deeper depths of the central area.

Researchers based their pool model on each shape and depth of a color along with its temperature. They also reveal that Morning Glory was hotter in the past and not conducive to the survival of the different microbes there today.

This study was published Friday in the journal, Applied Optics.

TagsScientists Recreate Yellowstone Park's Hot Springs Revealing Its True Color, US, yellowstone park, yellowstone hot springs pools, grand prismatic spring, sapphire pool, morning glory pool, what caused the colors of yellowstone pool hot springs, yellowstone park pools hot springs color