Underwater springs

My memory was jogged by another thread, to a day on a clear river - I can't remember which - when I saw a patch of gravel slightly coarse than the rest, and a few of the stones were dancing! Not trundling off downstream, just lifting a bit and settling back down. The only cause I've ever been able to think of for this is the presence of a tiny underwater spring.
This begs several questions!
- Are they common?
- Do they bring oxygenated or deoxygenated water ? And if it depends on which kind of aquifer, how so?
- Cave temperature=beer cellar temp=about 12 celcius; I assume most springs will run at this , but are any warmer ones known? (Bath springs to mind as a likely place...)
- How does one find them?
-Do hydrologists have this info mapped annd squirrelled away somewhere? If so, how do we, the public, get to see?
-I imagine they'd be worth seeking out in the winter, but does anyone know of a spring exerting an influence on fishing in the summer?

The study of Hydrospheres/Spring waters is a vast subject.Flows can be a mere trickle to a full blown torrent and temperatures up to boiling in places like Iceland. [Hot springs]. Some are devoid of oxygen and mineral salts whilst others contain many minerals depending on their source.
One water I fished had a spring with a near constant temperature of 50 F which kept the lake area ice free in winter but almost devoid of fish in summer.
Suggest a google search might throw up all the answers you are looking for

Mike

This may,or may not be of interest to you(and I may well be off track)but we have,around the High Wycombe/Stokenchurch area(and probably elsewhere!)what are known as Swallow(or locally,Swilley)Holes where underground springs,when running high will overflow and form small pond like features or streams particularly.it seems,in wooded areas.

In some areas(around Skirmett nr Henley)water will seep up through the road surface and cause some flooding-in fact one minor road closed because of this......and even in relatively dryish spells the water will bubble up for months at a time and then suddenly stop.

Perhaps if you Google Swallow Holes you may discover if the above is relevant!!

ps None of the above happenings are anywhere near rivers of any consequence BUT a stream runs several miles from a Swilley Hole near Skirmett to Hambleden and then on to the Thames via the Hambleden Valley(totally fishless!).This stream is a delight when running but it can run for years only to stop without warning and be dry for months!!

I have tried to find exactly where the water rises(a fixed spot!)but from what I can see its within a farm...................

Interesting point TC especially as I live in........HW. The Penn Pond which I'm lead to believe is the highest pond in the Chilterns never seems to dry up. Looking good today and we've had very little rain for weeks.
The stream you refer to in Hambleden did have minnows and stickleback way back in the 50 and early 60's At least I think that was the stream I dipped my net as a child in 50's.

Mike

All along the Wear valley there are warm water aquifers, (probably explains why growth rates of the rivers chub and dace taken by the EA show a much greater than average for a northern river)
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One section of the river where I believe these surface is on the river bed where the Wear circles the castle and cathedral in Durham City. Only my theory of course, but this section is mostly deep and very slow moving, but continually produces catches of small (6-8oz) barbel. Although there are other barbel spawning areas these never produce the really small fish found on the cathedral section.

The stream that runs out of the bottom of Malham Cove is reputed to be the coldest in the country. I've overturned stones looking for creepy crawlies in the stream with nil found, but go a hundred yards or so down stream , then it's a different matter, I've seen wild brownies in the stream.
I have fished a few ponds that have been spring fed, all usually full of aquatic life. One in particular was very noticable as the water swelled up where the spring entered the pond.

I think more rivers do this than we might at first imagine.

The most famous Southern river to do it is perhaps the Mole, which apparently got its name from its underground flow.


There is a drain near me that I fished for a whole Summer. I cleared and baited about a mile of it, but the fish all concentrated in a short section that was 5 foot deep. Upstream beyond my section it is 5 inches deep!

Further downstream it goes over a weir and a sluice that once worked a mill. Beyond this point is disappears to just a trickle, with a few pools of deeper water where large fish are sometimes trapped. I don't fish these as it seems unsporting, but my point is that all the water upstream must still be flowing through these shallows....but underground.




The mill was worked by flooding the meadows as a resevoir apparently and in Winter the stream can rise 6 feet overnight and Sea Trout have been seen having come all the way up the Arun before making their way into the Surrey headwaters of some of its feeders.



Sadly, the last few years of sudden torrential rain have seen all the specimen fish washed away downstream and only the trout remain, with a few gudgeon . Time was there were 2lb roach and perch, chub and wild carp.