Underwater spring

 

Video: It is rare that I think that a posting would have been improved by the inclusion of a video clip. I am usually more concerned with stopping motion than showing it. However today, a movie  clip would have helped the communication. Alas, I do not have one.

In mid-August, two springs appeared on the bed of Kokanee Creek (at ~400 metres from the mouth). They persisted until early September, when they disappeared. In mid-October, one spring reappeared. 

Visually, the springs were a churning mass of a lighter shade of sand upwelling from below which then spreading sideways.

On September 1st, Gary Munro waded out and took temperature measurements. Thrusting the thermometer deep into the upwelling fluid, he got a reading of 7 °C. At the time the water flowing in the creek was 11 °C.

This suggests that the source of the spring water was not elsewhere on the creek, but possibly ground water from off the mountainside. But, who knows?

One of the springs on the bed of Kokanee Creek in mid-August.

Churning sand rises from the bed of the creek in mid October. 

 

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One Response to Underwater spring

  1. Tina Wynecoop, north of Spokane says:

    Sure looks like quicksand! Be careful.
    Alistair, in places, along our Little Spokane River, it is colder in summer than winter because it is fed by an aquifer flowing underground from Idaho into Eastern Washington.

    Thank you for posting your spoonbill crow photo. I enjoyed the laugh that it prompted.

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