August 13, 2011
A week ago Friday I went to a branch of the Vermilion River, traveling in the opposite direction from the way I walk to the main channel. I spent a little time looking at the river and the new bridge being built over it. Turning toward home I saw a small rusty branching trail of water (a seep) heading downhill toward the river. I’m including a photo of a section of the seep so you can get an idea of what I first saw. The rustiness was my clue that iron bacteria were present. Whether you can see the iridescent Leptothrix discophora film depends in part on the direction of the sun relative to your eyes, so I walked around to the other side of the little rivulets and faced the sun to see if I could detect any biofilm. I was stunned. In the middle of the rivulets were ribbons an inch or so wide of L. discophora more brilliant than most films I have encountered. The last four photographs are two pairs of images. One of the pair shows a cropped close-up of the most startling color and one shows the wider context.
Romancing Reality 