The Naturally Carbonated Springs
Near Manitou Springs, Colorado
The magic of Manitou Springs comes out of the ground already fizzing. These are naturally carbonated mineral springs, and the science behind them is genuinely remarkable. Beneath your feet lie thick layers of ancient limestone, riddled with caves and water-filled caverns, part of the same rock that forms the nearby Cave of the Winds.
Slightly acidic rainwater seeps down through cracks and joints in that limestone over thousands of years. As the water dissolves the rock, it produces carbonic acid, which gives the water its effervescence. But that is only part of it.
Scientists studying helium isotopes in the water believe some of the carbon dioxide rises from deep in the Earth's mantle, migrating upward along faults such as the Ute Pass Fault. Those faults act like plumbing, forcing the pressurized, gas-charged water back up to the surface. That is why the springs bubble on their own.
Native peoples believed the fizzing was the living breath of the Great Spirit. The geologists tell a different story, of deep water, dissolved stone, and gas from the mantle. Both are looking at the same wonder rising out of the same rock.
