10 Spring Types Are Found in Grand Canyon

10 of the 12 types of classified springs found in the world - are found within Grand Canyon National Park. Imagine how vast and complicated the geology of Grand Canyon is - to have this many spring types.

Illustrations and information on this page courtesy of the Museum of Northern Arizona Springs Stewardship Institute. For more detailed information about spring types visit their website: http://www.springstewardship.org/

Watch Hidden Waters, the new video podcast about Grand Canyon's Seeps and Springs.

 

Spring Type	Emergence Setting and Hydrogeology	Grand Canyon Example
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Cave Emergence in a cave in mature to extreme karst with sufficiently large conduits	Roaring Springs
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Fountain Artesian fountain with pressurized CO2 in a confined aquifer	Vulcan’s Bidet
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Gushet Discrete source flow gushes from a cliff wall of a perched, unconfined aquifer	Vasey's Paradise
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Hanging Garden Dripping flow emerges usually horizontally along a geologic contact along a cliff wall of a perched, unconfined aquifer	Showerbath Spring
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Helocrene Emerges from low gradient wetlands; often indistinct or multiple sources seeping from shallow, unconfined aquifers	Fence Garden Spring
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Hillslope Emerges from confined or unconfined aquifers on a hillslope (30-60 degree slope); often indistinct or multiple sources	Robbers Roost
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Hypocrene A buried spring where flow does not reach the surface, typically due to very low discharge and high evaporation or transpiration	70 Mile Mound Spring
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Limnocrene Emergence of confined or unconfined aquifers in pool(s)	Kanabownits Spring
Springer and Stevens (2008)	(Carbonate) mound-form Emerges from a mineralized mound, frequently at magmatic or fault systems	Pumpkin Spring
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Rheocrene Flowing spring, emerges into one or more stream channels	Hermit Creek
Spring Types Not Found Within Grand Canyon National Park
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Exposure Cave, rock shelter fractures, or sinkholes where unconfined aquifer is exposed near the land surface Example: Devil's Hole in Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada
Springer and Stevens (2008)	Geyser Explosive flow of hot water from confined aquifer Example: Riverside Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

 

Illustrations and information on this page courtesy of the Museum of Northern Arizona Springs Stewardship Institute. For more detailed information about spring types visit their website: http://www.springstewardship.org/

When most people think of water at Grand Canyon, they immediately picture the raging Colorado River. The water in that river travels through Grand Canyon like a boater, passing by on a journey elsewhere. Not native to Grand Canyon, the water in the Colorado River travels from distant mountain streams on its way to the Pacific Ocean.

Seeps and springs - the true local water of Grand Canyon - offer significant resources to visitors and wildlife alike. The water from Roaring Springs, for example, provides the park with its entire domestic water supply. And at even the smallest seeps, abundant plant and animal life grows and flourishes. In fact, the ecosystems of seeps and springs represent some of the most complicated, diverse, productive, provocative, and threatened ecosystems on earth.

 

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Learn More

Watch "Hidden Waters" Episode 2 of the Grand Canyon in Depth Video Series.

Visit A Study of Grand Canyon Springs.