'Spring that breathes': World's largest rhythmic spring in US leaves scientists stunned

One of the world’s most mysterious natural wonders, a ‘periodic’ intermittent spring located near Afton, Wyoming, in the United States, has been the element of surprise for the globetrotters for centuries. Flowing from the Swift Creek canyon in Star Valley during the months of August to May, the unusual spring flows at the speed of 100 cubic feet per second with bubbling crystal clear and ice-cold water.

It has “strange flow cycles” that rhythm on and off at several regular, predictable intervals. The Wyoming spring swells and subsides gradually, occasionally coming to a standstill for nearly 15-20 minutes. It is termed as world’s largest ‘rhythmic spring’. 

According to Odditycentral, the spring has a huge quantity of water at its originating mountain that juts out from a gigantic hole. As it flows downward, the water gushes in a continuous flow, forming a large creek. It then settles quietly and stops flowing for the next 15 minutes. This rhythm is witnessed every 15 to 18 minutes, wherein the spring flows and comes to a halt in a noticeable pattern. 

[Credit: Twitter/@4tomdavis]

The Siphon effect

Scientists believe that it is perhaps due to the Siphon effect that the water flows and stops at intervals. However, the clear reason for this phenomenon has not been entirely understood. It could be that the spring running from the underground cavern is passing through a cavern into a thin tube located at a high point, right above the spring’s exit. It is at this point that the Siphon effect is being created. The water is sucked back and the air rushes to enter the tube, cutting the flow of the spring until the level of the water in the underground cavern rises again.

“We can’t think of an explanation at the moment,” Professor Kip Solomon, a hydrologist at the University of Utah, was quoted by OddityCentral as saying. 

He adds that the spring water’s gas content has been inspected at the University of Utah and it was found that the water may have been exposed to the air at the exit surface, which in turn supports Siphon theory. There is, in fact, an extremely small number of such springs in the world, namely Gihon Spring in Jerusalem, Dhor Barahi near Pohara in Nepal, Gyechon in South Korea, Fontaine de Fontestorbes in France, and Igla in Slovenia. However, the Spring in Afton is the world’s largest.