Hot Springs
A warm spring or hot spring is a place where warm or hot groundwater issues from the ground on a regular basis for at least a predictable part of the year, and is significantly above the ambient ground temperature (which is usually around 55~57°F or 13~14°C in the eastern United States). The water is heated by geothermal heat, or heat generated from the interior of the Earth. This occurs in various "hot spots", where magma or other mantle material is close to the surface. If the water becomes so heated that it builds steam pressure and erupts in a jet above the surface of the Earth, it is called a geyser; if the water only reaches the surface in the form of steam, it is called a fumarole; and if the water is mixed with mud and clay, it is called a mud pot.
Warm springs are sometimes the result of hot and cold springs mixing but may also occur outside of geothermal areas, such as Warm Springs, Georgia (frequented for its therapeutic effects by polio-stricken U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who built the Little White House there). Because heated water can hold more dissolved solids and gases, warm and especially hot springs also often have a very high mineral content, containing everything from simple calcium to lithium, and even radium. Because of both the folklore and the proven medical value some of these springs have, they are often popular tourist destinations, and locations for rehabilitation clinics for those with disabilities.
The countries most famous for hot springs are Iceland and New Zealand. The onsen plays a notable role in Japanese culture.
North American hot springs
Throughout the western United states (Alaska included) and western Canada are located thousands of hot springs, many of which were created between 20 and 45 million years ago as a result of violent volcanic activity. They range in size from the tiniest seeps to near geysers, such as Fales Hot Ditch north of Bridgeport, California to subterranean lakes such as the one below Tonopah, Arizona, heated by an ancient dormant volcano located approximately 3,000 feet underground. This enormous water source, supplied by water flowing from the north, has been underground more than 1,000 years and is thus sterile when it reaches the surface. The capacity is huge; at one time it was supplying more than 10,000,000 gallons per day for local irrigation needs, as well as providing natural mineral waters to the seven or more hot spring spas that once operated in Tonopah. The ruins of two such spas are still visible.
First Nations and hot springs
Most likely for a few millennia the water flowed forth from the ground by itself, leading the Native Americans to name the area Tonopah, meaning "Hot Water Under The Bush". The Native Americans revered the hot springs as a sacred healing place. Though there are no Indian ruins in the immediate vicinity of the hot springs, the presence of grain grinding mortar holes, pottery shards, and other artifacts not far west are a clear indication that nomadic hunter-gatherers frequented the area for many years. Every major hot spring in North America, as well as those in South America, has some record of use by Native Americans, some for over 10,000 years.
Additionally, hundreds of very high quality arrowheads have been found at or near existing springs, indicating that Tonopah was a popular hunting ground. This abundance of artifacts is indicative of the importance of the springs to prehistoric peoples.
It is likely that ceremonial offerings were made to the springs to appease the gods. According to Native American legend, hot springs are sacred places of emergence from Mother Earth, a sipapu or vent in the earth which allowed creatures from other worlds to surface on this plane of existence, rising up with the hot waters. Due to their religious perceptions of hot springs, Indians showed great reverence for these natural shrines and always used them in a complete state of nudity. If opposing tribes, even those at war, arrived at the same spring, all conflict ceased because they believed they were walking on sacred ground. Conversations were in hushed tones or, more often, didn't take place at all.
At least four United States national parks feature hot springs:
Other hot or warm springs are located in:
Tonopah, Arizona
See also
Further reading
- Marjorie Gersh-Young. Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Southwest: Jayson Loam's Original Guide. Aqua Thermal Access, 2004. ISBN 1-890880-05-1.
- Marjorie Gersh-Young. Hot Springs & Hot Pools Of The Northwest: Aqua Thermal Access, 2003. ISBN 1-890880-04-3.
- G. J Woodsworth. Hot springs of Western Canada: a complete guide. West Vancouver: Gordon Soules Book Publishers. 1999. ISBN 0-919574-03-3.
- Clay Thompson "Tonopah: It's Water Under The Bush", the "Arizona Republic" newspaper, 1-12-03, p. B12.
