I was watching that movie Dante's peak and saw that couple bathing in a hot spring and then there was some kind of volcanic activity and they got boiled alive. Can this really happen at a real hot spring?
Is it possible for lava to come bursting out of a hot spring or for the hot spring to change into a huge volcano?
I know it sounds silly but what really powers these natural hot springs?
2007-09-08 15:12:17 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
By far, the first answer is the best. Lindajune has a good grasp, but she has incorrectly put the guysers of Yellowstone into her answer. These are not hot springs, but a totally different phenomenae altogether.
Hotsprings are formed differently in each case, but surprisingly all of them are formed similarly. The word Hotspring is formed from two words, HOT and SPRING. A spring is a flowing mass of water fed upstream (as it were) by snow melt, rain water, or even by a crack at the bottom of a natural cysterne. The water flows underground through fractures in the rock matrix of a region, surfacing at the point of least resistance. Then, by its years and years of flow, widens its route and creates a permanent pathway from its feed source.
What makes a hotspring HOT, is the passing of the water past a sealed magma chamber somewhere deep underground. Like a radiator, the magma chamber transfers its heat to the water; the water, keeps the chamber wall from melting all the way through, and by this natural heat exchange, the hot spring is maintained. At least until the water stops flowing or the magma chamger moves from over its geo-hotspot.
The temperature of the water is kept relatively constant by the constant flow of the water and the relative proximity of the magma chamber. Murietta, California has a hotsprings located on a private property that is now a Christian retreat. I have been in these hotsprings and the temperature remains very constant.
As Lindajune stated, it is scientifically possible if the magma chamber grows or seismic activity cracks the chamber and water gets into direct contact with the magma. The temperature can turn the water into super heated steam and as it gets closer to the surface condenses into a scalding soup of caustic acid and water because the magmatic gasses dissolve into the superheated steam. This can raise the temperture up just past the 212°F mark and lower the pH to 3.0. Turning an otherwise pleasant and nurturing hotspring into a boilg pit of acid.
Most generally, you would be forewarned from getting in such a spring by the very strong smell of rotten eggs or you wouldnt reach the spring, having been overcome by poison odorless gasses. As for being in the spring when it suddenly turned hot, its possible, but not the acid part....that would take a while to turn that much water into boiling acid...like 3 or 4 days, again, like Dante's Peak turning the lake into acid....
Hope this helps...
2007-09-08 17:34:13 · answer #1 · answered by Tommy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hot springs are powered by geothermal energy (the heat from the Earth's interior). Yellowstone National Park and the geyser Old Faithful and the boiling mud pots in the park show just how powerful that energy can be.
But some hot springs are over areas that are not as hot as in Yellowstone, and so the resulting water is hot but not boiling.
The actual temperature of a hot spring is governed by how much cold fresh water and how much thermal energy come together (like adding cold water to the hot water tap when filling a bathtub).
The movie's idea of a hot spring suddenly becoming deadly is certainly scientifically possible - when magma rises closer to the surface prior to a volcanic eruption it can raise the temperature of the land and any water in the area.
2007-09-08 15:20:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are are hot springs that come out in a cold river in California and you need to find an area where the hot and cold water mix, because the hot water is so hot it can kill you. I think several people have been killed when they were scalded by the hot water. The water is heated by by hot rock, possibly by a nearby magma chamber.
2007-09-08 15:51:32 · answer #3 · answered by pegminer 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
lava powers hot springs. But its unlikely that lava will come rushing out.
2007-09-08 15:20:44 · answer #4 · answered by Eddie 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I remember that movie! I think it is actually possible, but im not sure.
2007-09-08 15:21:44 · answer #5 · answered by Mary 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋