Canadian Island's Historic Hot Springs Dry Up After Earthquake 97
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."
Not the first time this happens... (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Not the first time this happens... (Score:4)
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And the midwest (tornados), and the west coast (earthquakes), and the Great Lakes area (floods), and the southwest (drought)....
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Not sure about the US but Ontario doesn't allow building new buildings in the flood plain around the great lakes (or anywhere for that matter). I'm pretty sure once one is destroyed you can't rebuild it unless 1 wall is structurally sound then it becomes a renovation not a rebuild... stupid but reasonable. Also if you mortgage a building in a flood plain the banks will require you to have flood insurance.
Re:Not the first time this happens... (Score:4, Funny)
Not sure about the US but Ontario doesn't allow building new buildings in the flood plain around the great lakes (or anywhere for that matter).
In the US, flood plains are called "trailer parks."
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Really? I thought trailer parks were called Tornado Catchers
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And the midwest (tornados), and the west coast (earthquakes), and the Great Lakes area (floods), and the southwest (drought)....
Sounds like God has got it in for you.
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Well, to be honest, lots of them watch porn on their iPhones at church every Sunday...
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I don't have a problem with people living in bad areas. I just have a problem paying for their lifestyle.
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or the banks of the mississippi or red river or west coast earthquake zones and brush fire areas near the rockies and desert southwest, etc., etc.
or anywhere really that people live in communities and want to rebuild and expect their government that they pay taxes to to help
i know, what a crazy concept
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Re:Not the first time this happens... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not the first time this happens... (Score:5, Interesting)
"I used to live in Pacifica California..."
Just south of there, at Rancho Del Oso (a portion of Big Basin State Park), there is a spring that a pioneering family built their homestead around. That spring almost completely stopped flowing after the Loma Prieta earthquake, while further down the coast near the epicenter in the Forest of Nisene Marks some long dry springs started flowing again.
If you cut the flow in one place, it will flow somewhere else--or build up pressure until something blows.
I wonder if there are new hot springs somewhere in Haida Gwaii.
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not surprising (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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New Madrid (Score:2)
hears your challenge, and accepts your offer to bust your pipes
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oh here in Iowa you will have too much competition for that, in the winter when the temps wallow in the double digits below 0 (F)
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here in nyc we have once a century hurricanes that happen every year now
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here in nyc we have once a century hurricanes that happen every year now
The century has been devalued.
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yeah but its a bull market on hurricanes
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yeah but its a bull market on hurricanes
Death down, taxes up, botheration and bull unchangd in heavy trading.
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Well, excepting areas of long-lasting sustained volcanism, resurgent calderas like Yellowstone for example, which has been active for over a million years now in basically the same spot. On an individual basis springs probably come and go, how long they stay active is an interesting question; it's been looked into I'm sure.
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Hot springs are not a case of 'water flowing uphill'. Water under high pressure is heated due to a raised geothermal gradient (maybe due to magmatic intrustion or other volcanic processes). This heat increases the pressure further until the rock above fractures and cracks propagate upward to the surface. Then you're in business for a hot spring that can be continuously fed by the way the water table is setup, especially if there is an aquifer nearby. Earthquakes cause shifts in the water table and proba
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Sure it's not GMO crops or teenage pregnancy?
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Don't feed the troll.
The GP makes a pretty strong case for why we shouldn't have government programs to take care of the mentally deficient and provide them with internet access. Eventually some of those morons find their way off Facebook and end up here.
Haida Pool Service (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Quick, who can we blame? (Score:2)
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?
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This is in Canada. So it's typical we would blame the Federal Conservatives, Harper, and his oil-pleasing cronies.
Personally I blame the various unions and the inefficient healthcare sector with their monumental waste.
Re:Quick, who can we blame? (Score:4, Funny)
The thing is, if you blame Harper and the Conservatives for something - they are likely guilty of it :P
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The thing is, if you blame Harper and the Conservatives for something - they are likely guilty of it :P
After receiving a (seismic v2) encoded message from God, the Conservatives went and drained these springs to convince the public. The need to privatize our hot springs is most pressing! Sell before they loose too much value! http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Parks+Canada+privatize+springs/7196294/story.html [calgaryherald.com]
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Move to the USA. You'll be able to bitch twice as much about healthcare on a per-dollar, per-capita basis.
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This is in Canada. So it's typical we would blame the Federal Conservatives, Harper, and his oil-pleasing cronies.
That's a load of crap. I live in Australia and it doesn't stop us from blaming America. Why so you think Canadians are so special?
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Heck, why don't we blame sprinkling iron sulphate on the pacific?
This is the Raven's Retribution (Score:5, Interesting)
"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."
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Wish I had mod points, you would get them all. Visited the springs on a Zodiac tour back in 2005. Southern Haida Gwaii is a magical place
Well, now it's a less magical place.
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Wish I had mod points, you would get them all. Visited the springs on a Zodiac tour back in 2005. Southern Haida Gwaii is a magical place
Well, now it's a less magical place.
Vol De Mort.
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Well, now it's a less magical place.
The loss of the Springs doesn't diminish the experience I had on Haida Gwaii in anyway. Was lucky enough to experience a Haida wedding with full dress Haida dancers (Crow [spiritsoft...tcoast.com]). I also got to experience Tow Hill in Naikoon Provincial Park [vancouverisland.com]. The deep sea fishing expedition did not settle well with my inner ear, but I got to play a round of golf [massetbc.com] in one of the most North West [google.ca] regions of Canada.
Fracking (Score:2)
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.
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Not much of a local economy to save. It's it the middle of nowhere. An occasional tourist I suppose, but since there isn't a McDonald's within 100 meters, it can be too significant.
Fracking (injecting sand, soap and other miscellaneous and mysterious chemicals under pressure to open up tiny microfractures) isn't the technique you're looking for. Doesn't have nearly the power needed.
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
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urrrrr.
in, not it
can't not can
INSUFFICIENT CAFFEINE TO CONTINUE. *** EMERGENCY STOP DETECTED. ***
(Note to Slashdot programmers. If you allowed editing this sort of embarrassment wouldn't be necessary. WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO YELL.)
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Always be careful of what you accuse others of, since people can't see the world through themselves all their opinions and advice usually only apply to themselves. Cosmic jokes and everything.
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I really hate how US'ians just inject their world views into every culture
USians? What the smeg is a "USian?"
- A puzzled Canadian who is now down one hotspring
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Drilling a geothermal well would be the easiest solution - the hot water would just be needed to flow naturally rather than piped into a steam turbine/dynamo system.
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Obviously (Score:4, Funny)
God is angry at Stephen Harper
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Just like all Canadians.
Sacredieu (Score:2)
Punishment for selling out to the ocean fertilization nut? Maybe the gods are not so crazy...
Damn global warming! (Score:2)
I joke, but I bet at least one hippie's gonna blame it.
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Most tree-hugging dirt worshippers are smart enough to know that plate techtonics have been around much longer than the current bout of global warming... :)
Chances of building pressure? (Score:2)
I wonder what the chances are that this will cause pressure to build up underground and eventually explode.
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He's probably from Toronto and thinks Canada ends at Sudbury.
And so ends the Mayan calendar (Score:3)
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This is also the same type of dramatic build-up scene you see in the movie 2012, so it must be true.
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Perhaps this is how the Mayan end of times starts ;-)
MEOT
And so ends the end times (Score:2)
Perhaps the dried up springs is all the Mayans were trying to warn us about. They (the springs) were pretty popular.
Blame Time (Score:1)
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!
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PETA will demand a monument to the billions of microbes that died when the pools dried up.
Seriously, there are rare and unusual ecosystems around hot springs. This incident might be a significant loss of biodiversity, unless hot springs are common in the area.
The obvious (Score:1)
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
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Continents shuffled about a bit - at a rate of 5cm/year, one million year allows movement of 5km, a few billion years and anywhere at the equator and poles could get swapped around.
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What are the odds... (Score:3)
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Missing Conspiracy Theory: (Score:2)
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.