The Gibbon Geyser Basin along the Gibbon River consists of the Chocolate Pots, Sylvan Springs, Artist Paint Pots, Geyser Creek, Gibbon Hill and Monument Basin. Each group is small but unique and different in size, shape and color. The Chocolate Pots are the most unusual group. They consist of a small collection of dark-brown cones colored by sinter containing more than 50% iron oxide.

Sylvan Springs Group, located along the western edge of Gibbon Meadows, contains many small acidic hot springs, including Evening Primrose Spring. Evening Primrose was popular at the turn of the century. It was a deep crystalline spring similar to Morning Glory Pool. However, its pH changed from alkaline to acidic. A sulfur-loving bacterium covered the surface and changed 'As appearance. It is now considered one of Yellowstone's "ugliest" pools. Artist Paint Pots bubble and boil in colors of gray and pink. There are also several small constant geysers in the group. Monument Geyser Basin is unique in that tree trunk-like cones stand upright in a barren and desolate basin.

CHOCOLATE POTS
Temperature 130°F The Chocolate Pots are colorful and unusual formations located along the Gibbon River and the road between Elk Park and Gibbon Meadows. They are unique for their rich, dark-brown, chocolate color. The three to four-feet-high cones have green, yellow, brown and orange streaks formed by warm, water loving bacteria and algae. Mineral oxides are responsible for the dark-brown color. Iron, aluminum, nickel and manganese oxides compose nearly 60% of the pots, with silica composing an additional 17%.

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ARTIST PAINT POTS
Temperature 185°F The Artist Paint Pots are the most popular feature of the Gibbon Geyser Basin. They are isolated in the lodgepole forest at the end of a half mile hike. The group was named after the pastel multicolored mud pots. Iron oxides have tinted white mud various colors of pastel beige, pink and slate. The thickness of the mud varies from season to season. In the spring and fall the mud pots are thin and soupy, and the mud bubbles and boils. By late summer the mud pots thicken and may hurl hot mud 10-15 feet high. Mud cones will also form when the mud is thick only to dissolve into mud pots when excess moisture is present.

MONUMENT GEYSER  
Temperature 194°F Interval none, Duration steady. Height 1-3 feet. P.W. Morris named this feature in 1878 for its cylindrical cone. Monument Geyser, also called Thermos Bottle, is a ten feet tall cone formed in a thermos bottle shape with a small diameter. It is a steady geyser, but it ejects very little water from the vent. It emits a constant, low hissing sound. Because of its height and age, Monument Geyser is in the process of sealing its vent with internal deposits of sinter. Several nearby cones have already sealed their vents and have become extinct geysers.