Springs of Iowa

During the preparation of a book on the caves of Iowa, I was struck by the many beautiful springs I came across.  Here are a few of them.  This gallery will be expanded over time because there are many, many, more!

Big Spring, with a discharge of 15,000 gpm, is the largest spring in Iowa.  It is located on the Turkey River, just west of Elkader, In Clayton County.  The figure below depicts the spring's drainage basin, which covers 100 square miles.  There are no significant industrial or urban contamination sources in the Big Spring basin, making it ideal as a place to study how non-point source pollution from agricultural activities impacts groundwater quality.  The nation's longest running and most detailed record of the relationships between agriculture and water quality comes from Big Spring.  The Iowa DNR operates the Big Spring Hatchery at this location.

Black Hawk Spring & Cave in Crapo Park, Burlington, IA.  Entering the cave, you can crawl for more than a hundred feet through a rock tube before the passage gets too small and the cold water too numbing!  See the oval historical plaque to the left of the entrance, commemorating Chief Black Hawk.

Falling Springs, located on private land northwest of West Union, IA, was a favorite picnic spot in the early days.  It's also the entrance to a cave in the Niagara Escarpment.

Mestad Springs, near Highlandville, IA, is unusual for a spring in karst country in that it arises from a spring pool in the alluvium of the Bear Creek valley, rather than a rock outcrop.

Cold Springs, located on the Nishnabotna River in western Iowa, issues from a Cretaceous sandstone.