On an average day nearly 303 million US gallons (1,150,000 m³) of water issue from Big Spring in Missouri at a rate of 469 cubic feet per second (13.3 m³/s).

A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground. Thus, a spring is a site where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.

Formation[link]

Sunrise at Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge

A natural spring on Mackinac Island in Michigan.

A spring may be the result of karst topography where surface water has infiltrated the Earth's surface (recharge area), becoming 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 that of the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources are artesian wells. This is possible even if the outlet is in the form of a 300-foot-deep (91 m) cave. In this case the cave is used like a hose by the higher elevated recharge area of groundwater to exit through the lower elevation opening.

Non-artesian springs may simply flow from a higher elevation through the earth to a lower elevation and exit in the form of a spring, using the ground like a drainage pipe.

Still other springs are the result of pressure from an underground source in the earth, in the form of volcanic activity. The result can be water at elevated temperature such as a hot spring.

The action of the groundwater continually dissolves permeable bedrock such as limestone and dolomite creating vast cave systems.^[1]

Types of spring outlets[link]

• Seepage or filtration spring. The term seep refers to springs with small flow rates in which the source water has filtered into permeable earth.
• Fracture springs, discharge from faults, joints, or fissures in the earth, in which springs have followed a natural course of voids or weaknesses in the bedrock.
• Tubular springs are essentially water dissolved and created underground channels, basically cave systems.

Flow[link]

Spring discharge, or resurgence, is determined by the spring's recharge basin. Factors that affect the recharge include the size of the area in which groundwater is captured, the amount of precipitation, the size of capture points, and the size of the spring outlet. Water may leak into the underground system from many sources including permeable earth, sinkholes, and losing streams. In some cases entire creeks seemingly disappear as the water sinks into the ground via the stream bed. Grand Gulf State Park in Missouri is an example of an entire creek vanishing into the groundwater system. The water emerges nine miles (14 km) away, forming some of the discharge of Mammoth Spring in Arkansas. Human activity may also affect a spring's discharge-withdraw of groundwater reduces the water pressure in an aquifer, decreasing the volume of flow. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/sw

Classification[link]

Fontaine de Vaucluse or Spring of Vaucluse in France discharges about 470 million US gallons (1,800,000 m³) of water per day at a rate of 727 cubic feet (21 m³) per second.

Springs are often classified by the volume of the water they discharge. The largest springs are called "first-magnitude," defined as springs that discharge water at a rate of at least 2800 liters or 100 cubic feet (2.8 m³) of water per second. Some locations contain many first-magnitude springs, such as Florida where there are at least 27 known to be that size; the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, which contain (10^[2][3] known of first-magnitude); and 11^[4] more in the Thousand Springs area along the Snake River in Idaho. The scale for spring flow is as follows:

Water content[link]

Pruess Lake is spring-fed in the arid Snake Valley (Great Basin)

Minerals become dissolved in the water as it moves through the underground rocks. This may give the water flavour and even carbon dioxide bubbles, depending on the nature of the geology through which it passes. This is why spring water is often bottled and sold as mineral water, although the term is often the subject of deceptive advertising. Springs that contain significant amounts of minerals are sometimes called 'mineral springs'. Springs that contain large amounts of dissolved sodium salts, mostly sodium carbonate, are called 'soda springs'. Many resorts have developed around mineral springs and are known as spa towns.

Water from springs are usually clear. However some springs may be coloured by the minerals that are dissolved in the water. Iron and tannins often give spring water an orange colour.^[1]

A stream carrying the outflow of a spring to a nearby primary stream is called a spring branch or run. Groundwater tends to maintain a relatively long-term average temperature of its aquifer; so flow from a spring may be cooler than a summer day, but remain unfrozen in the winter. The cool water of a spring and its branch may harbour species such as certain trout that are otherwise ill-suited to a warmer local climate.

Historic uses[link]

Springs have been used for a variety of human needs including drinking water, powering of mills, and navigation, and more recently some have been used for electricity generation.

Trout fishing on Maramec Spring in Missouri.

Sacred springs[link]

Main article: Holy well.

A sacred spring, or holy well, is a small body of water emerging from underground and revered either in a pagan or a Christian context, often both. The lore and mythology of ancient Greece was replete with sacred and storied springs—notably, the Corycian, Pierian and Castalian. In medieval Europe, holy wells were frequently pagan sacred sites that later became Christianized. The term "holy well" is commonly employed to refer to any water source of limited size (i.e. not a lake or river, but including pools and natural springs and seeps), which has some significance in the folklore of the local area. This can take the form of a particular name, an associated legend, the attribution of healing qualities to the water through the numinous presence of its guardian spirit or Christian saint, or a ceremony or ritual centred on the well site. In Christian legend, the spring water is often said to have been made to flow by the action of a saint, a familiar theme especially in the hagiography of Celtic saints.

Modern uses[link]

Present-day uses include recreational activities, such as trout-fishing, swimming, and floating. The water is also used for livestock and fish hatcheries.

This section requires expansion.

Notable springs[link]

Europe:

• Aachtopf, Germany
• Castalian Spring, Delphi, Greece
• Fontaine de Vaucluse, France
• Pierian Spring, Pieria, Greece
• Sachsenbrunnen, Bad Harzburg, Germany
• Spring of Juturna, Roman Forum, Rome, Italy

Asia:

• Baotu Spring, Jinan, Shandong, China ("City of Springs")

Western Asia:

• Gihon Spring, Jerusalem, Israel

North America:

• Berkeley Springs, West Virginia
• Bennett Spring, Missouri
• Big Spring, Missouri
• Blue Spring, Florida
• Giant Springs, Montana
• Greer Spring, Missouri
• Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
• Maramec Spring, Missouri
• Niagara Springs, Idaho
• Poland Spring, Maine
• Kitch-iti-kipi, Michigan
• Rainbow Springs, Florida
• Saratoga Springs, New York
• Silver Springs, Florida
• Wakulla Springs, Florida
• Warm Springs, Georgia
• Wekiwa Springs, Florida

South America:

• São Lourenço, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Oceania:

• Te Waikoropupu Springs, New Zealand

See also[link]

Water portal

References[link]

Citations[link]

Further reading[link]

• LaMoreaux, Philip E., & Tanner, Judy T, ed. (2001), Springs and bottled water of the world: Ancient history, source, occurrence, quality and use, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 3-540-61841-4, http://books.google.com/books?id=sjEoBmfUka0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=springs+bottled&hl=en&ei=SOU8TPT6M4HEvQPgxbHtDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false, retrieved 13 July 2010 
• Springs of Missouri, Vineyard and Feder, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey in cooperation with U.S. Geological Survey and Missouri Department of Conservation, 1982
• Cohen, Stan (Revised 1981 edition), Springs of the Virginias: A Pictorial History, Charleston, West Virginia: Quarrier Press.

External links[link]

• "The Science of Springs"
• "What Is A Spring?"
• List of First-Magnitude springs in Florida
• Technical and educational material on mineral springs and mineral water in Victoria
• "Database of Historically Documented Springs and Springflow Measurements in Texas"
• "Historic water quality data for selected springs in Texas"
• The Water Cycle: Springs USGS
• Find a spring

v t e Rivers, streams and springs Rivers Alluvial river Braided river Blackwater river Channel (geography) Channel pattern Channel types Confluence Distributary Drainage basin Subterranean river River bifurcation River ecosystem River source Tributary more... Streams Arroyo (creek) Burn Chalk stream Coulee Current (stream) Gill (stream) Stream Stream bed Stream channel Stream gradient Stream pool Perennial stream Winterbourne (stream) more... Springs Geyser Sacred spring Hot spring Mineral spring Rhythmic spring Spring Spring horizon more... Sedimentary processes and erosion Abrasion (geology) Anabranch Aggradation Armor (hydrology) Bed load Bed material load Granular flow Debris flow Deposition (geology) Dissolved load Downcutting Erosion Headward erosion Knickpoint Palaeochannel Progradation Retrogradation Saltation (geology) Secondary flow Sediment transport Suspended load Wash load Water gap Fluvial landforms Ait Alluvial fan Antecedent drainage stream Avulsion (river) Bank (geography) Bar (river morphology) Bayou Billabong Canyon Chine Cut bank Estuary Fluvial terrace Gulch Gully Glen Meander scar Mouth bar Oxbow lake Riffle-pool sequence Point bar Ravine Rill River island Rock-cut basin Sedimentary basin Sedimentary structures Strath Thalweg River valley Wadi Fluvial flow Helicoidal flow International Scale of River Difficulty Meander Plunge pool Rapid Riffle Shoal Waterfall Whitewater Surface runoff Agricultural wastewater treatment Effluent First flush Urban runoff Wastewater Floods and stormwater 100-year flood Crevasse splay Flash flood Flood Flood barrier Flood control Flood forecasting Flood-meadow Floodplain Flood pulse concept Flooded grasslands and savannas Storm Water Management Model Return period River measurement and modelling Baer's law Baseflow Bradshaw model Discharge (hydrology) Drainage density Exner equation Groundwater model Hack's law Hjulström curve Hydrograph Hydrological modelling Hydrological transport model Infiltration (hydrology) Main stem Playfair's Law Relief ratio River continuum concept Rouse number Runoff curve number Runoff model (reservoir) Stream gauge Universal Soil Loss Equation WAFLEX Wetted perimeter Volumetric flow rate River engineering Aqueduct Balancing lake Canal Check dam Dam Drop structure Daylighting (streams) Detention basin Erosion control Fish ladder Floodplain restoration Flume Infiltration basin Leat Levee Retention basin Revetment Riparian zone restoration Stream restoration Weir River sports Canyoning Rafting River surfing Riverboarding Whitewater canoeing Whitewater kayaking Whitewater slalom Other topics Aquifer Aquatic toxicology Body of water Limnology Riparian zone River civilization River cruise Surface water World Rivers Day Lists of rivers Rivers by continent Rivers by length Rivers by discharge rate Drainage basins Whitewater rivers Flash floods River name etymologies

Look up spring in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Spring(s) may refer to:

• Spring (season), a season of the year
• Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
• Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
• Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a helically-coiled tube
• Springs (tide), in oceanography, the spring tide

Art and entertainment[link]

Art[link]

• Primavera (painting) ("Spring"), a painting by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1482
• Spring (painting), an oil by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
• Spring, a painting by Christopher Williams

Film and television[link]

• Spring (film) (Kevade), a 1969 Estonian film
• The Spring, a 1989 film about the Fountain of Youth
• "Spring" (Pee-wee's Playhouse), an episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse
• Spring (television soap), a Flemish-Belgian television series

Literature[link]

• Spring (Runelords), a character in The Runelords series of fantasy novels by David Farland
• Spring (Kevade), a novel by Oskar Luts; basis for the 1969 film (see below)

Music[link]

Works

• "Spring" (concerto), "La primavera", from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons
• "Spring" (sonata), Violin Sonata No. 5 by Beethoven
• Symphony No. 1 (Schumann) (Spring), by Robert Schumann
• Spring Symphony, a symphony by Benjamin Britten
• In Spring, a symphony by John Knowles Paine
• "Spring" (Rammstein song)

Albums

• Spring (Cyann & Ben album)
• Spring (Finn Coren album)
  • Spring: The Appendix, a follow-up album
• Spring (Jon Foreman EP)
• Spring, an album by Clay Hart
• Spring, an EP by Subtle

Performers

• Spring (band), an English band, or the band's only album
• Spring (American band), a 1970s pop music duo, known outside the U.S. as American Spring
• Spring (Belgian band), a group that performed at Marktrock 2004
• Springs, a Japanese band, formed by Aya Hirano, Yuuki Yoshida, Ayaka Itō

Business, government and education[link]

• Spring!, a brand of bottled water
• Spring Airlines, a Chinese airline
• Spring (store), a Canada-based shoe retailer
• Springs Christian Academy, a private school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
• SPRING Singapore, a governmental department of Singapore

Computing[link]

• Spring (game engine), an open-source RTS engine
• Spring (operating system), an experimental operating system from Sun Microsystems
• SPRING, a GIS and remote-sensing image-processing system with an object-oriented data-model
• Spring Framework, an open-source application-framework for the Java platform

People[link]

• Antoine Frédéric Spring, Belgian physician and botanist
• Dick Spring, Irish businessman and politician
• Dryden Spring, New Zealand businessman
• Howard Spring, Welsh author
• Jack Spring, American baseball pitcher
• Richard Spring, Conservative MP for Suffolk West
• Rudi Spring, German pianist and composer
• Sherwood C. Spring, United States Army officer and astronaut
• Cecil Spring-Rice, British diplomat, Ambassador to the United States from 1912 to 1918
• Spring Baronets of Pakenham
• Spring, Mark Adley, actor who appeared in the 1987 film The Last of England

Places[link]

• Springs, Gauteng, South Africa
• Springs, New York, a part of East Hampton, New York, U.S.
• Springs, Pennsylvania, U.S.
• Spring, Texas, U.S.
• The Springs, California, U.S.
• Şpring, a commune in Alba County, Romania
• The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre, a museum in Hampshire, England

See also[link]

• Spring Creek (disambiguation)
• Spring Lake (disambiguation)
• Spring River (disambiguation)
• Spring Township (disambiguation)
• Springer (disambiguation)
• Springfield (disambiguation)
• Springtime (disambiguation)
• Category:Spring, for articles related to the season
• Category:Springs, for articles related to the water source
• Category:Springs (mechanical), for articles related to the device
• All pages beginning with "Spring"
• Sprung (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Rhian Sheehan is a New Zealand music composer and producer born in Nelson and now based in Wellington.

Sheehan released his first album in 2001 Paradigm Shift^[1], and has since released two albums as well as a compilation of remixes of his work by other New Zealand and international artists. His 2009 album Standing in Silence is a step away from his earlier ‘downbeat’ work into more of a shoegaze and post-rock ambient soundtrack direction. Standing in Silence has been critically acclaimed.^[2]

Sheehan’s work has featured on variety of CD compilations, most notably the multi-platinum selling Cafe del Mar ^[3] CD compilations (vol 10^[4] & 11^[5]). Sheehan has also written music that has appeared regularly on UK BBC television programming, including the top rating Top Gear, as well as The Discovery Channel and the National Geographic channel. His music has also been heard in a variety of TV commercials, movie trailers and short films. In 2009 he composed the soundtrack to the UK's National Space Centre's We Are Astronomers, a 360° Full Dome Film narrated by Doctor Who's David Tennant. In 2009 Sheehan composed the score to the 13 part prime-time TV Drama series The Cult,^[6] (for which he was awarded a Qantas Film & TV Award for best original score) and the Emmy Award winning series Reservoir Hill [1] He predominantly writes music for film and television.^[7]

Album Discography[link]

• Seven Tales of The North Wind - 7 track EP (2011)^[8]
• Standing in Silence (2009)^[9]
• New Zealand Landscapes – Book/CD (2008)
• Music for Nature Documentaries – remix album (2004)^[10]
• Tiny Blue Biosphere (2004)^[11]
• Paradigm Shift (2001)^[12]