This is one of the more interestingly shaped national parks
This photo is of two balanced rocks in Hot Springs National Park. I took this photo while on the Sunset Trail on the north side of the park. This is one of the more interestingly shaped national parks. It is doughnut shaped and encircles part of the town of Hot Springs. The Sunset Trail brings you to West Mountain and North Mountain.
As my brother and I hiked this trail, we started by putting cars at either end of the trail. After making it to West Mountain, we were able to see back towards the trees where our other car was parked. We noticed that there was smoke from a fire coming from nearby our car. It was too far to tell exactly where the fire was, but we were somewhat concerned. We found out later that they were doing a controlled and prescribed burn of twenty acres about a mile from where our car was parked.
Upon completing the west half of the Sunset Trail, we enjoyed some nice gulps of water from one of the many natural springs that percolate their way through the town. When I think of hot springs, I know I tend to think of geysers and volcanic heated water. That’s now how it works at Hot Springs National Park. There’s just the right balance of rock types and fractures within those rocks for the water to travel to great depths within the Earth. This heats the water up before it is then forced to the surface. The water tends to reach the surface at 143 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the time it took the water to first begin its descent into the Earth and to resurface, more than 4,000 years have passed! The water will have travelled 2,000 to 8,000 feet below the surface. This descent is thanks to the porous Bigfork Chert and Arkansas Novaculite. Novaculite is a sedimentary rock. It’s typically white, gray, or black. Novaculite is made mostly of silica. It also goes by Arkansas Stone. Chert is another type of sedimentary rock made primarily of silica, but it also contains microcrystalline quartz. It’s a hard, yet brittle rock. Bigfork Chert can be found in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
There’s just the right balance of rock types and fractures within those rocks for the water to travel to great depths within the Earth
Did you know?
- More than 600,000 gallons of water are provided to the public each day in Hot Springs National Park!
- There are 47 capped spring boxes that the park protects to safely distribute the water of the hot springs.
- The balanced rock is likely made of Arkansas Novaculite.
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