跟进：黄石国家公园热泉垃圾量创纪录：地质团队截至 10 月初已清理逾 2.3 万件垃圾与自然物，老忠实泉与中途间歇泉盆地为重灾区
黄石消息：据《纽约邮报》援引《国家地理》报道，黄石国家公园地质团队截至 10 月初已从间歇泉、温泉、栈道及周边区域清理逾 2.3 万件垃圾与自然物，创下该团队垃圾清理量的纪录年份。
除纸张与塑料碎屑外，地质团队还捡回约 1.07 万块石块与树枝、360 多顶帽子以及大量相机镜头盖、发圈与安抚奶嘴；其他奇特物品包括 5 只 AirPods、3 枚达美航空徽章与 1 张 Uno 纸牌，另有牙套保持器与橡皮鸭等。黄石国家公园地质团队负责这项清理工作，团队成员接受过安全穿越热液地貌的培训。
据国家公园管理局数据，2025 年黄石接待游客逾 470 万人次；游客量大时，碎屑尤其容易在老忠实泉与中途间歇泉盆地等客流密集区堆积。黄石国家公园地质团队物理科学技术员玛杰里·普赖斯告诉《国家地理》，多数垃圾可能是被风吹落而非有意丢弃：“我们相信，其中大多数是意外造成的。”
据黄石火山观测站介绍，任何外来物都可能损害热液地貌：堵塞供水、污染水体或阻塞径流通道；即便是石块与树枝这类自然物也需要清除，因为它们同样会造成堵塞。微塑料中的化学物质还可能进入水中，影响赋予温泉独特颜色的微生物。报道还提到，著名的牵牛花池在 20 世纪因游客抛入的垃圾与外来物而变色：抛入物降低了水温，使橙黄色细菌得以生长，改变了泉水原本清澈的蓝色外观；工作人员从 20 世纪 50 年代起称该池为“垃圾桶”。园方曾在 20 世纪 70 年代部分排干牵牛花池以清除碎屑，但泉水原本的蓝色并未完全恢复。
Yellowstone's Thermal Pools See Record Trash Haul: Geology Team Has Collected More Than 23,000 Pieces of Trash and Natural Items by Early October; Old Faithful and Midway Geyser Basin Hardest Hit
YELLOWSTONE — A team at Yellowstone National Park has collected over 23,000 pieces of trash and natural items from geysers, hot springs, boardwalks and surrounding areas as of early October, a record-setting year for the team's trash collection, the New York Post reported, citing National Geographic. Aside from paper and plastic debris, the Yellowstone Geology Program retrieved roughly 10,700 rocks and sticks, more than 360 hats and plenty of camera lens caps, hair ties and pacifiers. Other quirky finds included five AirPods, three Delta flight pins and a singular Uno card, as well as dental retainers and rubber ducks.
The park's geology team manages the collection and is trained in safe hydrothermal navigation practices, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. In 2025, Yellowstone welcomed over 4.7 million visitors, according to the National Park Service; with such a large volume of people, debris builds up especially in high-traffic areas like Old Faithful and the Midway Geyser Basin. "We believe that most of those are accidental," Margery Price, a physical science technician with the Yellowstone National Park Geology Program, told National Geographic, referring to garbage possibly deposited unintentionally and swept away by strong winds.
According to the observatory, any foreign material can harm a hydrothermal feature, either by clogging the water supply, polluting the water or blocking its runoff channel; even natural materials like rocks and sticks need to be removed because they can cause clogging. Chemicals from microplastics can enter the water and affect the microbes that give the pools their distinctive hues. The report also noted that the famous Morning Glory Pool changed color in the 20th century due to trash and foreign items tossed in by visitors: the debris cooled the water temperature and allowed orange and yellow-colored bacteria to grow, altering the spring's clear blue appearance. Staff called the pool the "garbage can" beginning in the 1950s, according to the observatory. Park rangers partially drained Morning Glory in the 1970s to extract debris, but its original color did not fully return.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：黄石国家公园老忠实泉一带的地热区（资料图）。照片：Dietmar Rabich，CC BY-SA 4.0，经维基共享资源。 / The geothermal area around Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park (file photo). Photo: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
