Slashdot Mirror
Canadian Island's Historic Hot Springs Dry Up After Earthquake
theshowmecanuck writes with this snippet from Canada's National Post: "Days after the remote B.C. archipelago of Haida Gwaii emerged virtually unscathed from Canada's second-strongest earthquake, locals discovered that the shifting earth had mysteriously switched off a centuries-old hot spring considered sacred by the Haida. ... A Parks Canada inspection party set out to investigate and stepped ashore to find that the island's three main hot spring pools, which once bubbled with water as warm as 77 Celsius, were bone dry. "Not even a small puddle," said Mr. Gladstone. Surrounding rocks, once warm to the touch, were cold." The earthquake measured 7.7 on the Richter scale."
I live in Chile, one of the most earthquake-prone countries. Near my city there used to be a rather popular hot spring pools place *in the Andes Mountains* (not in a close-by valley), called "Baños Morales" ("Morales' [Thermal] Baths"). An earthquake in the '50s shifted plates and the hot springs completely dried up. The place still exists, but it's been abandoned.
"Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
- Sledge Hammer
was going to happen eventually. Springs of any sort (hot or otherwise) are a bit of a fluke, it just takes nature awhile to correct them. Water's not supposed to flow uphill ;)
Hot springs are going to be forming in volcanic active areas anyway, and those are going to be messing up the plates in their area, making earthquakes (even if only small ones) more common. So hot springs themselves should be considered very temporary by their very nature and design. A lot more temporary than say, a cold spring. We have a few of those here in Iowa, and I don't see an earthquake busting their pipes anytime soon out here.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
This is what your fossil fuels have wrought.
Big Oil Strikes Again Mr Bond!
We need to drill huge holes, lay the walls with concrete so the water will flow again, all in the name of preserving nature. How dare the earthquake take a historic hot springs from us, when we know better how to preserve nature and not interfere by interfering...
To hell with studies, facts and proof that earth during multiple periods of time was much hotter than it is today, we KNOW that this CHANGE of temperatures is OUR fault and that its BAD. That's why we have to allocate billions of resources to right the wrong we're doing by interfering even more.
You should always call a professional to service your pool to avoid natural disasters. Why, only last week God tried to snake the drains on the sacred Haida hot springs, causing a 7.7 magnitude earthquake and completely draining the pools. Don't let this happen to you! Call Haida Pool Service to get the job done right! Proudly serving limbo and all 9 circles since 6000 BC.
If we're quick about it we can get the headlines to blame this on global warming! Perhaps we can blame it on Obama instead, that way we can blame both the left and the right?
"The warriors poured brown salt into the sea from giant canoes, hoping to make chíin return.
The raven , yáahl, was angered and dropped a stone into the water from hig in the sky.
The ground shook like thunder and all the gifts of Jáadaa Gántl were taken away."
I wonder if fracking would work to open the hot springs back up? After all a hot spring is nothing more than a place where cracks in the earth allow heat from below to travel farther up than normal towards the surface. If you were to gently frack the site you could create new channels and allow the heat to once more come back up close enough to heat the water.
It would be an interesting experiment to say the least. If successful it could save the local economy.
God is angry at Stephen Harper
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
Punishment for selling out to the ocean fertilization nut? Maybe the gods are not so crazy...
I joke, but I bet at least one hippie's gonna blame it.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
hears your challenge, and accepts your offer to bust your pipes
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I wonder what the chances are that this will cause pressure to build up underground and eventually explode.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
I have to say that I had not heard of this island, its people, this hot spring, or this earthquake before.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Perhaps this is how the Mayan end of times starts ;-)
Obviously this was the White man's fault and caused by global warming! Quick, send out a press release! Never miss an opportunity to blame the power elite!
People seem to forget that the earth is an extremely dynamic environment, where climate changes, geography changes, environment changes, life changes.
Change is neither good nor bad and should be expected. It is natural.
People seem to forget there are fossils of tropical plants in the high arctic -- I don't seem to remember if man was around with major civilization at that time. I also seem to remember the location of major cities were under 1 km of ice 13,000 years ago -- so receding glaciers is a bad thing?
Problem is we have climate scientists trying to model climate with 150 years worth of data -- considering the planet is 4.5 billion years that is the equivalent of trying to model the history of the planet with one data point -- it is highly inaccurate.
The praries were once an inland sea thousands of years ago -- so should we be engineering this to prevent it?
Man should be going with the flow and compensate for a changing planet. Only an idiot thinks it can be prevented and only an arrogant idiot thinks it is mainly man made.
My two cents
...that heated water will find another path to the surface?
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the obvious truth that the earthquake was caused by the HAARP project.
It's all a plot to disrupt the huge tourist industry based on the hot springs.
Perhaps the dried up springs is all the Mayans were trying to warn us about. They (the springs) were pretty popular.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley