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Hot springs in the protected area of Rupite, southwestern Bulgaria

A hot spring is a spring whose water is hot. NO SHIT SHERLOCKThere are hot springs all over the earth, on every continent and even in the oceans. The groundwater emerging from hot springs is heated by geothermal processes.

Definitions

There is, unfortunately, no universally accepted definition of a hot spring. For example, one can find the phrase hot spring defined as

any geothermal spring^[1]
a spring with water temperatures above its surroundings^[2]
a natural spring with water temperature above body temperature (normally between 36.5°C and 37.5°C, that is, between 97.8°F and 99.5°F ) ^[3]
a natural spring with warm water above body temperature^[4]
a thermal spring with water warmer than 98°F (36.7°C)^[5] ^[6]^[7]
a natural spring of water greater than 70°F (21.1°C) (synonymous with thermal spring) ^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]
a natural discharge of groundwater with elevated temperatures^[12]
a type of thermal spring in which hot water is brought to the surface. The water temperature of a hot spring is usually 6.5ºC (11.7°F) or more above mean air temperature. ^[13]^[14] Note that by this definition, "thermal spring" is not synomous with the term "hot spring".
a spring whose hot water is brought to the surface (synonymous with a thermal spring). The water temperature of the spring is usually 15°F (8°C)^[15] or more above the mean air temperature.^[16]
a spring with water above the core human body temperature (36.7°C or 98.06°F).^[17]
a spring with water above average ambient ground temperature^[18], a definition favored by some.
a spring with water temperatures above 50°C (122°F)^[19]

The related term "warm spring" is defined as a spring with water temperature less than a hot spring by many sources, although Pentecost et al (2003)^[20] suggest that the phrase "warm spring" is not useful and should be avoided. The US NOAA Geophysical Data Center defines a "warm spring" as a spring with water between 20°C and 50°C (between 68°F and 122°F).

Sources of heat

The water issuing from a hot spring is heated by geothermal heat, i.e., heat from the Earth's interior. In general, the temperature of rocks within the earth increases with depth. The rate of temperature increase with depth is known as the geothermal gradient. If water percolates deeply enough into the crust, it will be heated as it comes into contact with hot rocks. The water from hot springs in non-volcanic areas is heated in this manner.

In volcanic zones such as Yellowstone National Park, water may be heated by coming into contact with magma (molten rock). The high temperature gradient near magma may cause water to be heated enough that it boils or becomes superheated. If the water becomes so hot 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. If the water is mixed with mud and clay, it is called a mud pot.

Note that hot springs in volcanic areas are often at or near the boiling point. People have been seriously burned and even killed by accidentally or intentionally entering these springs.

Warm springs are sometimes the result of hot and cold springs mixing but may also occur outside of volcanic areas, such as Warm Springs, Georgia (frequented for its therapeutic effects by paraplegic U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who built the Little White House there).

Flow rates

Hot springs range in flow rate from the tiniest "seeps" to veritable rivers of hot water. Sometimes there is enough pressure that the water shoots upward in a geyser, or fountain.

A very low flow rate hot spring fed the closed resort, Fales Hot Ditch, which is north of Bridgeport, California. There is a huge subterranean lake below Tonopah, Arizona, which provides natural hot mineral waters to several hot springs. These hot springs were used by the seven or more hot spring spas that once operated in Tonopah. The ruins of two such spas are still visible in Tonopah.

High flow hot springs

See main article on Hot spring properties.

There are many claims in the literature about the flow rates of hot springs. Some of the hot springs with high flow rates and high claimed flow rates^[21] include:

The combined flow of the 47 hot springs in Hot Springs, Arkansas is 35 liters/second.
The Hay-Yo-Kay Hot Springs in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico has a flow of 99 liters/second.
Lava Hot Springs in Idaho has a flow of 130 liters/second.
Glenwood Springs in Colorado has a flow of 143 liters/second.
Elizabeth Springs in western Queensland, Australia might have had a flow of 158 liters/second in the late 1800s, but now has a flow of about 5 liters/second
Deildartunguhver in Iceland has a flow of 180 liters/second.
The hot springs of Brazil's Caldas Novas ("Hot River" in Portuguese) are tapped by 86 wells, from which 333 liters/second are pumped for 14 hours per day. This corresponds to a peak average flow rate of 3.88 liters/second per well.
The 2850 hot springs of Beppu in Japan are the highest flow hot spring complex in Japan. Together the Beppu hot springs produce about 1592 liters/second, or corresponding to an average hot spring flow of 0.56 liters/second.
The 303 hot springs of Kokonoe in Japan produce 1028 liters/second, which gives the average hot spring a flow of 3.39 liters/second.
The Oita Prefecture has 4,762 hot springs, with a total flow of 4437 liters/second, so the average hot spring of 0.93 liters/second.
The highest flow rate hot spring in Japan is the Tamagawa Hot Spring in Akita Prefecture, which has a flow rate of 150 liters/second. The Tamagawa Hot Spring feeds a 3 meter wide stream with a temperature of 98 degrees C.
There are at least three hot springs in the Nage region 8 km southwest of Bajawa City in Indonesia that collectively produce more than 453.6 liters/second.
There are another three large hot springs (Mengeruda, Wae Bana and Piga) 18km northeast of Bajawa City, Indonesia that together produce more than 450 liters/second of hot water.
The Dalhousie Springs complex in Australia had a peak total flow of more than 23,000 liters/second in 1915, giving the average spring in the complex an output of more than 325 liters/second. This has been reduced now to a peak total fow of 17,370 liters/second so the average spring has a peak output of about 250 liters/second.^[22]

Therapeutic uses

Because heated water can hold more dissolved solids, 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. ^[23] ^[24]

Infections from hot springs

Unfortunately, hot springs can create ideal conditions to spread infections. For example:

the naegleria fowler amoeba lives in warm waters and soils worldwide and can be a cause of meningitis.^[25]^[26] Several deaths have been attributed to this amoeba, which enters the brain through the nasal passages.^[27]^[28]

Acanthamoeba also can spread through hot springs, according to the US Centers for Disease Control.^[29]

Legionella bacteria have been spread through hot springs.^[30]^[31]

There is some suggestion that a bather was infected by the herpes simplex virus in his toe from a hot spring in Japan.^[32]

There are viruses that have been collected from even very extreme environments in hot springs, like a hot spring with a temperature of 87 to 93°C and an incredibly acidic pH of 1.5 in Pozzuoli, Italy. These viruses were observed to infect cells in the laboratory.^[33]

Hot springs parks

It is common to create parks around hot springs. Hot Springs National Park, in Hot Springs, Arkansas was the first national park to gain federal protection in the US.^[34] There are at least seven United States national parks that feature hot springs:

Of course, there are parks in other countries that include hot springs as well, including:

Shikotsu-Toya National Park in Hokkaidō, Japan
Yangmingshan National Park in Taiwan
Banff National Park and Jasper National Park in Canada
Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique

Hot springs around the world

There are hot springs on all continents and in many countries around the world. Countries that are renowned for their hot springs include Iceland, New Zealand, Chile and Japan, but there are interesting and unique hot springs in many other places as well:

The town of Spa, Belgium is the origin of the word "spa" and features springs with water temperatures of 32 degrees C. Casanova visited Spa in 1783 looking for business opportunities but was disappointed.^[35]
There are more than 275 hot springs registered in Chile including South America's largest hot spring source in Liquiñe^{[citation needed]}.
Ikaria, Greece features a radioactive hot water spring that has been used since the fourth century BCE.
There are numerous hot springs in Greenland, such as in Uunartoq. There are over 2000 hot springs just on Disko Island, which has an area only 0.4% of that of Greenland.
The Geysir hot springs in Iceland are the source of the word "geyser".
Iceland has many other famous hot springs, including the one feeding the Blue Lagoon spa in Grindavík, Iceland, and Europe's highest flow rate hot spring Deildartunguhver. Deildartunguhver's water emerges at 97 degrees C and is piped many miles to heat neighboring towns.
Shiretoko National Park in Hokkaidō, Japan has a hot springs waterfall called Kamuiwakkayu-no-taki
Northwest Spitsbergen National Park, Spitsbergen at 80°N, contains two of earth's most northerly hot springs.
There are many geothermal springs in the UK, but the thermal springs found in the town of Bath produce the highest temperature geothermal water in the UK. The Bath hot springs are only true hot springs in the UK, by some definitions.
Being located in the "Pacific Ring of Fire", Japan is in a volcanic region, and is home to many hot springs. The onsen (a Japanese word for "hot spring") plays a notable role in Japanese culture. Visiting an onsen is a quintessential Japanese experience and is a popular tourist activity.
Chutsen Chugang Hot Springs are located on the grounds of the Zhoto Terdrom / Tidro Nunnery, at an altitude of 4400 meters in Maldrogongkar / Mozhugongka County, Lhasa, Tibet. Buddhist nuns and the "hot spring snake" both live near this set of high altitude hot springs.
There are even hot springs in Antarctica, such as the one on Deception Island.
Champaign Hot Springs is a shallow submarine geothermal spring system along the coast of the island of Dominica, Lesser Antilles.^[36]

References

^ MSN Encarta definition of hot spring
^ Miriam-Webster Online dictionary definition of hot spring
^ Wordsmyth definition of hot spring
^ American Heritage dictionary, fourth edition (2000) definition of hot spring
^ Infoplease definition of hot spring
^ Note that the temperatures given in the infoplease and Random House Unabridged Dictionary definitions are actually not accurate.
^ Wordnet 2.0 definition of hot spring
^ Interlingua Online dictionary definition of hot spring
^ Rhymezone definition of hot spring
^ Lookwayup definition of hot spring
^ Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, article on hot spring
^ Physical Geology, 6th Edition, Don L. Leet, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1982
^ A thermal spring is defined as a spring that brings warm or hot water to the surface. by Physical Geology, 6th Edition, Don L. Leet, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1982 and Leet states that there are two types of thermal springs; hot springs and warm springs.
^ Actually, 15°F is 8.3°C
^ Lake and water glossary defintion of hot spring
^ What is a hot spring?, Allan Pentecost, B. Jones, and R.W. Renaut Can. J. Earth Sci./Rev. can. sci. Terre 40(11): 1443-1446 (2003) provides a critical discussion of the definition of a hot spring.
^ For example, ambient ground temperature is usually around 55–57°F (13–14°C) in the eastern United States
^ US NOAA Geophysical Data Center definition
^ What is a hot spring?, Allan Pentecost, B. Jones, and R.W. Renaut Can. J. Earth Sci./Rev. can. sci. Terre 40(11): 1443-1446 (2003) provides a critical discussion of the definition of a hot spring.
^ It should be noted that there are many more very high flow nonthermal springs than geothermal springs. For example, there are 33 recognized "magnitude one springs" (having a flow in excess of 2800 liters/second) in Florida alone. Silver Springs, Florida has a flow of more than 23000 liters/second.
^ Desert Springs of Great Australian Arterial Basin, W. F. Ponder, Conference Proceedings. Spring-fed Wetlands: Important Scientific and Cultural Resources of the Intermountain Region, 2002.
^ The web site of the Roosevelt rehabilitation clinic in Warm Springs, Georgia
^ Web site of rehabilitation clinics in Central Texas created because of a geothermal spring
^ emedicine article on naegleria
^ Occurrence and Distribution of Naegleria Species in Thermal Waters in Japan, Shinji Izumiyama, Kenji Yagita, Reiko Furushima-Shimogawara, Tokiko Asakura, Tatsuya Karasudani, Takuro Endo, The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology Vol. 50 Issue s1 Page 514 July 2003
^ Primary amebic meningoencephalitis due to Naegleria fowleri: An autopsy case in Japan, Yasuo Sugita, Teruhiko Fujii, Itsurou Hayashi, Takachika Aoki, Toshirou Yokoyama, Minoru Morimatsu, Toshihide Fukuma & Yoshiaki Takamiya, Pathology International, Volume 49 Page 468 - May 1999
^ Southern New Mexico web site article about some local hot springs, including a warning about Naegleria fowler
^ CDC description of acanthomoeba
^ Molecular determination of infection source of a sporadic Legionella pneumonia case associated with a hot spring bath, H. Miyamoto, S. Jitsurong, R. Shiota, K. Maruta, S. Yoshida, E. Yabuuchi, Microbiol Immunol., 41(3):197-202, 1997.
^ An outbreak of legionellosis in a new facility of hot spring Bath in Hiuga City, Eiko Yabauuchi, Kunio Agata, Kansenshogaku zasshi (Kansenshogaku zasshi), ISSN 0387-5911, vol. 78, no2, pp. 90-98, 2004.
^ Indolent herpetic whitlow of the toe in an elderly patient with diabetic neuropathy, Maki Ozawa, Tomoyuki Ohtani, and Hachiro Tagami, Dermatology Online Journal 10 (1): 16, 2004.
^ Viral Diversity in Hot Springs of Pozzuoli, Italy, and Characterization of a Unique Archaeal Virus, Acidianus Bottle-Shaped Virus, from a New Family, the Ampullaviridae, Monika Häring, Reinhard Rachel, Xu Peng, Roger A. Garrett, and David Prangishvili1, J. Virol., 79(15): 9904–9911, August 2005.
^ Congress established the Hot Springs Reservation in 1832, granting federal protection of the thermal waters and giving Hot Springs the honor of being the first “national park” to be designated for such government protection. Yellowstone National Park was made the first formal US national park in 1872. Hot Springs National Park was formally created on March 4, 1921.
^ Spa: Belgium's healthy-living retreat, Gareth Bourne and Sarah Hajibagheri, The Independent, November 3 2006
^ Geochemistry of Champagne Hot Springs shallow hydrothermal vent field and associated sediments, Dominica, Lesser Antilles, Kevin T. McCarthy, Thomas Pichler, Roy E. Price, Chemical Geology 224, pages 55– 68, 2005

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 [[Image:Kozhuh-Ngruev.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Hot springs in the protected area of [[Rupite]], southwestern [[Bulgaria]]]]
 [[Image:Yangmingshan Taiwan hot springs.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Hot springs in [[Yangmingshan]], [[Taiwan]]]]
-A '''hot spring''' is a [[Spring (hydrosphere)|spring]] whose water is hot. There are hot springs all over the earth, on every continent and even in the oceans. The [[groundwater]] emerging from hot springs is heated by [[geothermal]] processes.
+A '''hot spring''' is a [[Spring (hydrosphere)|spring]] whose water is hot. NO SHIT SHERLOCKThere are hot springs all over the earth, on every continent and even in the oceans. The [[groundwater]] emerging from hot springs is heated by [[geothermal]] processes.
 ==Definitions==