Sulphur Springs is a geothermal field on the island of

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

. It is located to the southwest in the district of Soufriere, a name given by the French meaning 'sulphur mine', because of the proximity of the town to the site. It is the most popular tourist destination in Saint Lucia, with approximately 200,000 annual patrons to the park, and is known as 'the world's only drive-in volcano'.

Mine

A sulphur mine was operated by Bennett and Wood from 1836 until 1840. Maximum production occurred in 1836, with 540 tons of sulphur exported.

Activity

The Sulphur Springs emerged from a weak spot in the crust of the enormous collapsed crater creating an upheaval of lava approximately 300,00 years ago. The most recent volcanic eruption from the Sulphur Springs, recorded as a minor explosion, occurred in 1766.

Springs

The water located at the center of the springs boils at roughly 212

Fahrenheit The Fahrenheit scale () is a scale of temperature, temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the German-Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accou ...

(100

Celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius temperature scale "Celsius temperature scale, also called centigrade temperature scale, scale based on 0 ° for the melting point of water and 100 ° for the boiling point ...

) creating large plumes of steam. The water coming out of the spring is blackened by a chemical reaction between the high content of

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

and

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

. The spring water also contains large deposits of

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

, iron oxide,

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The ...

lead,

calcium oxide Calcium oxide (formula: Ca O), commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline, crystalline solid at room temperature. The broadly used term '' lime'' connotes calcium-containing ...

, and

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

. Sulphur still billows from the cracks in the caldera. There are also active boiling mud pits around the area.

Tourist attraction

The Sulphur Springs are a popular

tourist destination A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beau ...

in St Lucia due to their ability for tourists to literally drive up to the edge of the springs. Up until the mid-1990s, tourists were able to walk right up to the end of the tar-colored pits. Following an accident where a local tour guide named Gabriel fell through the crust into a pit and received second degree burns from just above his waist, the formation of what is now known as Gabriel's Hole has restricted viewing to a platform a few hundred feet away. A couple of hundred yards downstream from the springs, the water temperature is still hot (around 110 Fahrenheit or 45 Celsius), but cool enough for tourists to enter and give themselves a

mud bath A mud bath is a therapeutic spa treatment that involves soaking in a bath of warm mud, often in a natural hot spring or geothermal pool. Mud baths have been used for centuries as a way to promote health and relaxation, and are still popular t ...

. These mud baths are believed by some to have medicinal properties and are used by some tourists and locals for said reasons.

References

{{Reflist Geography of Saint Lucia