Iron Bacteria and I Relish Shallow River
June 21, 2012
Except for earlier this week we’ve had very little rain lately, and that means that the water level in the Vermilion River is low. I’ve been able to walk across to the other side and wander up and down stream to places I don’t often get to see. This summer is predicted to be dry in northern Ohio, so I’m looking forward to many more river crossings. Here are some recent photographs of Leptothrix discophora films and the flocculates of other iron bacteria, which like the slow-moving shallow water as much as I do.
Romancing Reality 
Beautifull abstractions from the natural world. Very nice!
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June 21, 2012 at 10:56 PM
Thanks, Ken. As you may have gathered, these iron bacteria are my little obsession. OK, big obsession.
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June 22, 2012 at 4:02 PM
Beautiful abstracts! Great eye!
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June 22, 2012 at 1:15 AM
Thank you, UnsouthernBelle!
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June 22, 2012 at 4:03 PM
You’re welcome and thanks for visiting my blog.
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June 22, 2012 at 8:44 PM
Some amazing colours, Linda. Can we donate some rain to you? We are experiencing a monsoon over here!
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June 24, 2012 at 1:02 PM
Thanks, but I’ll pass on the offer of rain, Andy. I took some of my favorite photographs at the Vermilion River during the drought of 2002, so I always love the dry spells, especially because then I can see more of the river bed and wade in and across the river. Nevertheless, I’ll wish for your monsoons to be over soon.
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June 24, 2012 at 1:45 PM
Very cool Linda. Obsession can be a great motivator!
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June 25, 2012 at 6:01 PM
Oh, how I agree, Art!
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June 25, 2012 at 7:05 PM
gorgeous pictures . i love the swirls of color. I see this occasionally just never knew what it was. thought it was more decomposing of leaves or something of that nature:)
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July 11, 2014 at 6:46 AM
When I first saw the prismatic films on the water and the bits of orange deposit on the riverbed, I was puzzled, too, afraid it was pollution of some kind. Searching the Internet, I found an expert on this stuff, and she told me what was going on. My book about the iron bacteria will be out soon, and I’ll announce it on the blog when it’s available.
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July 11, 2014 at 6:56 AM
congratulations on your book:) I have a fairly large pond and in the sludge around the one edge is always lovely blend of colors, blues/rust hues etc….New York (Holland) i love unique colors:)
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July 11, 2014 at 7:16 AM