Spring (hydrology)
A spring is a point at which water flows from an aquifer to the Earth's surface. It is a component of the hydrosphere.
Contents
1 Formation
1.1 Types
2 Flow
2.1 Classification
3 Water content
4 Uses
4.1 Sacred springs
5 Notable springs
6 See also
7 References
7.1 Citations
7.2 Further reading
8 External links
Formation
A spring may be the result of karst topography where surface water has infiltrated the Earth's surface (recharge area), becoming part of the area groundwater. The groundwater then travels through a network of cracks and fissures—openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves. The water eventually emerges from below the surface, in the form of a karst spring.
The forcing of the spring to the surface can be the result of a confined aquifer in which the recharge area of the spring water table rests at a higher elevation than that of the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources are artesian wells. This is possible even if the outlet is in the form of a 300-foot-deep (91 m) cave. In this case the cave is used like a hose by the higher elevated recharge area of groundwater to exit through the lower elevation opening.
Non-artesian springs may simply flow from a higher elevation through the earth to a lower elevation and exit in the form of a spring, using the ground like a drainage pipe.
Still other springs are the result of pressure from an underground source in the earth, in the form of volcanic activity. The result can be water at elevated temperature such as a hot spring.
The action of the groundwater continually dissolves permeable bedrock such as limestone and dolomite, creating vast cave systems.[1]
Types
Seepage or filtration spring. The term seep refers to springs with small flow rates in which the source water has filtered through permeable earth.- Fracture springs, discharge from faults, joints, or fissures in the earth, in which springs have followed a natural course of voids or weaknesses in the bedrock.
- Tubular springs, in which the water flows from underground caverns.
Flow
Spring discharge, or resurgence, is determined by the spring's recharge basin. Factors that affect the recharge include the size of the area in which groundwater is captured, the amount of precipitation, the size of capture points, and the size of the spring outlet. Water may leak into the underground system from many sources including permeable earth, sinkholes, and losing streams. In some cases entire creeks seemingly disappear as the water sinks into the ground via the stream bed. Grand Gulf State Park in Missouri is an example of an entire creek vanishing into the groundwater system. The water emerges 9 miles (14 km) away, forming some of the discharge of Mammoth Spring in Arkansas. Human activity may also affect a spring's discharge—withdrawal of groundwater reduces the water pressure in an aquifer, decreasing the volume of flow.[2]
Classification
Springs are often classified by the volume of the water they discharge. The largest springs are called "first-magnitude", defined as springs that discharge water at a rate of at least 2800 liters or 100 cubic feet (2.8 m3) of water per second. Some locations contain many first-magnitude springs, such as Florida where there are at least 27 known to be that size; the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, which contain 10[3][4] known of first-magnitude; and 11[5] more in the Thousand Springs area along the Snake River in Idaho. The scale for spring flow is as follows:
Magnitude | Flow (ft3/s, gal/min, pint/min) | Flow (L/s) |
---|---|---|
1st magnitude | > 100 ft3/s | 2800 L/s |
2nd magnitude | 10 to 100 ft3/s | 280 to 2800 L/s |
3rd magnitude | 1 to 10 ft3/s | 28 to 280 L/s |
4th magnitude | 100 US gal/min to 1 ft3/s (448 US gal/min) | 6.3 to 28 L/s |
5th magnitude | 10 to 100 gal/min | 0.63 to 6.3 L/s |
6th magnitude | 1 to 10 gal/min | 63 to 630 mL/s |
7th magnitude | 2 pint to 1 gal/min | 8 to 63 mL/s |
8th magnitude | Less than 1 pint/min | 8 mL/s |
0 magnitude | no flow (sites of past/historic flow) |
Water content
Minerals become dissolved in the water as it moves through the underground rocks. This may give the water flavor and even carbon dioxide bubbles, depending on the nature of the geology through which it passes. This is why spring water is often bottled and sold as mineral water, although the term is often the subject of deceptive advertising. Springs that contain significant amounts of minerals are sometimes called 'mineral springs'. (Springs without such mineral content, meanwhile, are sometimes distinguished as 'sweet springs'.) Springs that contain large amounts of dissolved sodium salts, mostly sodium carbonate, are called 'soda springs'. Many resorts have developed around mineral springs and are known as spa towns.
Water from springs is usually clear. However some springs may be colored by the minerals that are dissolved in the water. For instance, water heavy with iron or tannins will have an orange color.[1]
In parts of the United States a stream carrying the outflow of a spring to a nearby primary stream may be called a spring branch or run. Groundwater tends to maintain a relatively long-term average temperature of its aquifer; so flow from a spring may be cooler than a summer day, but remain unfrozen in the winter. The cool water of a spring and its branch may harbor species such as certain trout that are otherwise ill-suited to a warmer local climate.
Uses
Springs have been used for a variety of human needs including drinking water, domestic water supply, irrigation, mills, navigation, and electricity generation. Other modern uses include recreational activities such as fishing, swimming, and floating; therapy; water for livestock; fish hatcheries; and supply for bottled mineral water.
Sacred springs
A sacred spring, or holy well, is a small body of water emerging from underground and revered either in a Christian, pagan or other religious context, sometimes both.[citation needed] The lore and mythology of ancient Greece was replete with sacred and storied springs—notably, the Corycian, Pierian and Castalian. In medieval Europe, holy wells were frequently pagan sacred sites that later became Christianized. The term "holy well" is commonly employed to refer to any water source of limited size (i.e. not a lake or river, but including pools and natural springs and seeps), which has some significance in local folklore. This can take the form of a particular name, an associated legend, the attribution of healing qualities to the water through the numinous presence of its guardian spirit or Christian saint, or a ceremony or ritual centred on the well site. In Christian legend, the spring water is often said to have been made to flow by the action of a saint, a familiar theme especially in the hagiography of Celtic saints.
Notable springs
Asia:
Baotu Spring, Jinan, Shandong, China ("City of Springs")
Gihon Spring, Jerusalem
Wolmyeongdong Spring, South Korea
Al-Hasa Springs, Saudi Arabia
Beitou District, Taiwan
Europe:
Vrelo Bosne, Ilidža, Bosnia
Aachtopf, Germany
- Bath, England
Buxton, England
Harrogate, England
Castalian Spring, Delphi, Greece
Fontaine de Vaucluse, France
Pierian Spring, Pieria, Greece
Sachsenbrunnen, Bad Harzburg, Germany
Spring of Juturna, Roman Forum, Rome, Italy
20-Pipe Well, Altleiningen, Germany
Farmakas, Troodos Mountains, Cyprus
North America:
Ice River Spring, Nunavut, Canada
Bagby Hot Springs, Oregon
Barton Springs, Texas
Berkeley Springs, West Virginia
Bennett Spring, Missouri
- Big Spring, Texas
Big Spring, Missouri
Big Springs, Idaho
Blue Spring, Florida
- Comal Springs, Texas
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
Giant Springs, Montana
- Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Greer Spring, Missouri
- Homosassa Springs, Florida
- Idaho Springs, Colorado
Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
Maramec Spring, Missouri
Montezuma Well, Arizona
Niagara Springs, Idaho
Poland Spring, Maine
Kitch-iti-kipi, Michigan
Little Salt Spring, Florida
- Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia
Rainbow Springs, Florida
San Marcos Springs, Texas
Saratoga Springs, New York
- Saratoga, Wyoming
Silver Springs, Florida
- Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Wakulla Springs, Florida
Warm Springs, Georgia
Wekiwa Springs, Florida
Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida
Ojo Caliente, New Mexico
Oceania:
Te Waikoropupu Springs, New Zealand
South America:
São Lourenço, Minas Gerais, Brazil
See also
- Body of water
- Chalk stream
- Cienega
- Drinking water
- Fountain
- Geyser
- Holy well
- Hot spring
- Intermittent spring
- Karst spring
- Lake
- List of Ozark springs
- List of spa towns
- List of springs in Florida
- Mineral water
- Petroleum seep
- Pond
- Soakage
- Spa towns
- Spring supply
- Source (river or stream)
- Thousand Springs State Park
- Water cycle
- Water well
References
Citations
^ ab "Springs - The Water Cycle, from USGS Water-Science School". ga.water.usgs.gov. Archived from the original on 9 May 2009..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "USGS Surface-Water Data for Missouri". waterdata.usgs.gov.
^ Vineyard and Fender, 1982. p. 12
^ "USGS Surface-Water Data for Missouri". waterdata.usgs.gov.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2009.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
Further reading
LaMoreaux, Philip E.; Tanner, Judy T, eds. (2001), Springs and bottled water of the world: Ancient history, source, occurrence, quality and use, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 3-540-61841-4, retrieved 13 July 2010
Springs of Missouri, Vineyard and Feder, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey in cooperation with U.S. Geological Survey and Missouri Department of Conservation, 1982- Cohen, Stan (Revised 1981 edition), Springs of the Virginias: A Pictorial History, Charleston, West Virginia: Quarrier Press.
External links
Media related to Springs at Wikimedia Commons
- "The Science of Springs"
- "What Is a Spring?"
- The Water Cycle: Springs USGS
- Find a spring