Natural spring water

Natural spring water

A spring may be the result of karst topography, where surface water has infiltrated the Earth’s surface and become part of the area groundwater.

The groundwater then travels through a network of cracks and fissures — openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves. The water eventually emerges from below the surface in the form of a karst spring.

The forcing of the spring to the surface can be the result of a confined aquifer, in which the recharge area of the spring water table rests at a higher elevation than the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources creates artesian wells. This is possible even where the outlet is at the bottom of a 300-foot-deep cave: the cave acts like a hose for the higher recharge area to exit through the lower opening.

Non-artesian springs may simply flow from a higher elevation through the earth to a lower elevation and exit as a spring, using the ground like a drainage pipe. Still other springs result from pressure from an underground source, in the form of volcanic activity — which can produce water at elevated temperature, such as a hot spring.

The action of groundwater continually dissolves permeable bedrock such as limestone and dolomite, creating vast cave systems.