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Jewels of the Ozarks- Springs

© Renie Burghardt

In the summer, my favorite destinations are the numerous spots in the area, where beautiful Ozark jewels can be found. These jewels are not mined and made into baubles to adorn various parts of humans. These jewels of natural springs adorn the dark green hollows of the Ozark hills, with their basins of aqua blue water, delivering billions of gallons of clear, cold water to our numerous streams.

At a natural spring, water flows out of the ground under its own volition. Sometimes, springs can be seeps, like at Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, where the water flows out of the soil with a soft splash. Sometimes, they can be a gravity flow, charging out of an underground stream beneath an underwater bluff, with a roar. Big Spring is of this type of spring. Each spring has its own unique sound.

The water in springs always comes from close-by. When it rains, some of the rainwater runs off into surface streams, some goes into the ground, where it is stored and released by springs. Spring flow is always higher after a rain, and this is known as surge flow. Stored water that is released more slowly is known as base flow. The base flow is what keeps springs flowing even during draughts.

Ozark springs are a special ecosystem, with stable, year-round temperatures and distinctive water chemistry, providing a unique environment for plants and animals not usually found in the river. Plants and animals that require cool (less than 70 degree F) constant water temperature with high oxygen levels are permanent residents in springs. Some of these are water snails, amphipods, isopods, crawfish, salamanders, sculpin (an Ozark fish) and beaver. But during the hot weather, many other animals enjoy relief in the cooler water of the spring. Like the little goldfinch, taking a drink, in the photo below. Of course, people have been drawn from the earliest times, to these Ozark springs, for their dependable water source, as a camping spot, power source, and for their soothing natural beauty.

There are more than 38 animal species found only in these springs, and several aquatic invertebrates live in only two Ozark springs. Because the small, delicate ecosystem of springs is more sensitive to disturbances, one has to tread lightly around them. So fishing, wading and swimming are prohibited.

Big Spring, in Van Buren, Carter County, Missouri, is the nations largest spring, with an average daily flow of 288 million gallons. But during peak flow, it produces over 800 million gallons per day! Native people used to refer to it as the "spring that roars," and it does indeed! The first white man to report on it was Pocahontas Randolph, a distant cousin of Thomas Jefferson, in 1803.