Smith's Spring - Natural Springs on Waymarking.com

A spring is a component of the hydrosphere, namely any natural occurrence where water flows to the surface of the earth from below the surface. Thus it is where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.
A spring may be the result of karst topography, (visit link) here surface water has infiltrated the Earth's surface (recharge area), becoming part of the area groundwater. The groundwater then travels though a network of cracks and fissures - openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves. The water eventually emerges from below the surface, in the form of a spring.
The forcing of the spring to the surface can be the result of a confined aquifer in which the recharge area of the spring water table rests at a higher elevation than that of the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources are artesian wells.

Non-artesian springs may simply flow from a higher elevation through the earth to a lower elevation and exit in the form of a spring, using the ground like a drainage pipe.

Still other springs are the result of pressure from an underground source in the earth, in the form of volcanic activity. The result can be water at elevated temperature such as a hot spring.

The action of the groundwater continually dissolves permeable bedrock such as limestone and dolomite creating vast cave systems. This spring is located in a region known as the Copper Creek Karst, which is a large region of SW Virginia. A Karst is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks including limestone, dolomite and gypsum. It is characterized by sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage systems. Nearly all surface karst features are formed by internal drainage, subsidence, and collapse triggered by the development of underlying caves. Rainwater becomes acidic as it comes in contact with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the soil. As it drains into fractures in the rock, the water begins to dissolve away the rock creating a network of passages. Over time, water flowing through the network continues to erode and enlarge the passages; this allows the plumbing system to transport increasingly larger amounts of water. This process of dissolution leads to the development of the caves, sinkholes, springs, and sinking streams typical of a karst landscape. While this area is covered with rich loomy soil in the Copper Creek Valley, local wells drilled near Creek level around 1300 feet elevation average 235-400 feet deep and are high in limestone content, and average a flow of 8-15 gallons per minute. The first 35-40 feet of the underlying stone in this area is shale. Where this spring is located is in a mountain gap along Beecher Branch that decends at around 1600 feet elevation from near Gate City along Manville road, and into Copper Creek.

Types of spring outlets.

Seepage or filtration spring. The term seep refers to springs with small flow rates in which the source water has filtered into permeable earth.

Fracture springs, discharge from faults, joints, or fissures in the earth, in which springs have followed a natural course of voids or weaknesses in the bedrock.

Tubular springs are essentially water dissolved and create underground channels, basically cave systems.

Spring flow

The scale for spring flow is as follows:

Magnitude Flow (ft³/s, gal/min, pint/min) Flow (L/s)
1st Magnitude > 100 ft³/s 2800 L/s
2nd Magnitude 10 to 100 ft³/s 280 to 2800 L/s
3rd Magnitude 1 to 10 ft³/s 28 to 280 L/s
4th Magnitude 100 US gal/min to 1 ft³/s (448 US gal/min) 6.3 to 28 L/s
5th Magnitude 10 to 100 gal/min 0.63 to 6.3 L/s
6th Magnitude 1 to 10 gal/min 63 to 630 mL/s
7th Magnitude 1 pint to 1 gal/min 8 to 63 mL/s
8th Magnitude Less than 1 pint/min 8 mL/s
0 Magnitude no flow (sites of past/historic flow)

Smith's Spring is a 6th magnitude spring. Local history is that this spring box was used by locals to hide their Moonshine in to keep it cold. It required a few men to retreive the Shine, the heavy concrete lid has a handle to lift it up while another person removed the stash. I know this to be fact and not just folk-lore, grand paw almost lost his hand when two of his friends accidently dropped the lid. Spring is accessable from the highway at a pull-over site.

Public or Private Land?: Private Public Land Fees?: None Private Land access?: The spring is on public right of way and used by the local community as a drinking water source.

Visit Instructions:
Please post an original picture of the springs no GPS necessary along with your observations of the spring. What wildlife you saw if any and the condition of the springs. Water level was high, low. The area was clean, trashy ect. Any other knowledge or experiences you have had with this paticular spring that would help document it's history.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   12/30/2019 Manville Possum visited it