The formation of the hot springs at Bath Spa, UK

Abstract

The hot springs that emerge at 46ºC in the centre of Bath Spa, Somerset are unique in the UK. The four other thermal springs in Britain are also sourced in the Carboniferous Limestone, but they emerge at significantly lower temperatures (20° to 28ºC). Bath is situated in a region of low geothermal gradient (c 20°C/km depth) in a geological setting that seems an unlikely place for hot springs. Why then are these the only hot springs in Britain, and why are they confined to such a small (20 x 80 m) area?The explanation presented here involves a sequence of geological events involving Triassic dissolution and Pleistocene permafrost that is unique to central Bath.92 Stoke Valley Rd.,

The measured shallow temperature field in Britain

“…Such mechanisms could create both high and low temperature anomalies. The most obvious examples of this in Britain are the thermal springs at Bath (Gallois, 2007) and in the Peak District (Brassington, 2007) where groundwater is able to rise relatively rapidly from depth through fractured Carboniferous Limestone.…”

Revisión: Recursos de aguas termales en acuíferos de rocas carbonáticas

“…Many caves and related phenomena can be observed in the "Buda Karst" (Dublyansky 1995;Erőss et al 2008b). Europe's second-largest occurrence of mineral and thermal springs, in Stuttgart, Germany, is also associated with a karst aquifer (Ufrecht 2006a), as are many other thermal springs and spas in Germany (Käss and Käss 2008), Switzerland (Muralt et al 1997), France (Levet et al 2002), Italy (Minissale et al 2002), the UK (Brassington 2007;Gallois 2007), Turkey (Gemici and Filiz 2001), Jordan (Bajjali et al 1997), Tunisia (Inoubli et al 2006), Algeria (Djidi et al 2008), Canada (Allen et al 2006;Van Everdingen 1991), China (Ma et al 2009;Zhou et al 2008) and many other regions of the world.…”

Why Springs Bubble: A Framework for Gas Discharge in Groundwater

“…Thomas Short described Bingham Well in England as producing “large balls or bubbles of heated air” (Thomas , 44). This is not truly a boiling spring since the hottest spring in England is bath at 96 °C at depth (Gallois ). Moorman () gives several accounts of thermal springs, referencing the earlier work of Dr. LeConte's “account of some volcanic springs in the desert of the Colorado in southern California” (LeConte ).…”

“…One of the most famous of thermal springs, Bath, Somerset, England (Cunliffe ) is not a boiling spring as the maximum temperature at depth is 64 to 96 °C (discharge 45 to 46 °C) (Gallois ). The presence of hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) gas bubbles (Edmunds ) makes bath an ebulating spring rather than a boiling spring and therefore classified as Bituminous (V) bubbles.…”

“…The gas phase will achieve equilibrium with the constituents in the magma and can provide a means of identification of the volatile components of the magma through sampling the free gas phase (Ellis 1957;Giggenbach 1980). One of the most famous of thermal springs, Bath, Somerset, England (Cunliffe 1984) is not a boiling spring as the maximum temperature at depth is 64 to 96 • C (discharge 45 to 46 • C) (Gallois 2006). The presence of hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) gas bubbles (Edmunds 2004) makes bath an ebulating spring rather than a boiling spring and therefore classified as Bituminous (V) bubbles.…”