Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water , water that contains dissolved minerals . Salts , sulfur compounds , and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage underground. In this they are unlike sweet springs , which produce soft water with no noticeable dissolved gasses. The dissolved minerals may alter the water's taste. Mineral water obtained from mineral springs, and the precipitated salts such as Epsom salt have long been important commercial products.
6-529: Fuquay Mineral Spring is a historic mineral spring located at Fuquay-Varina , Wake County, North Carolina . The spring was discovered in the 1850s, and, from 1900 to 1930, thousands of people visited the spring to drink the mineral water reputed to cure kidney and intestinal ailments. The spring is covered by a gazebo and reached by a small footbridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. This article about
12-545: A property in Wake County, North Carolina on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mineral spring Some mineral springs may contain significant amounts of harmful dissolved minerals, such as arsenic , and should not be drunk. Sulfur springs smell of rotten eggs due to hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), which is hazardous and sometimes deadly . It
18-450: Is a gas, and it usually enters the body when it is breathed in. The quantities ingested in drinking water are much lower and are not considered likely to cause harm, but few studies on long-term, low-level exposure have been done, as of 2003 . The water of mineral springs is sometimes claimed to have therapeutic value. Mineral spas are resorts that have developed around mineral springs, where (often wealthy) patrons would repair to "take
24-430: The chemical composition of the water produced and according to the medicinal benefits supposedly accruing from each: Types of sedimentary rock – usually limestone ( calcium carbonate ) – are sometimes formed by the evaporation , or rapid precipitation , of minerals from spring water as it emerges, especially at the mouths of hot mineral springs. In cold mineral springs, the rapid precipitation of minerals results from
30-542: The reduction of acidity when the CO 2 gas bubbles out. (These mineral deposits can also be found in dried lakebeds.) Spectacular formations, including terraces, stalactites , stalagmites and 'frozen waterfalls' can result (see, for example, Mammoth Hot Springs ). One light-colored porous calcite of this type is known as travertine and has been used extensively in Italy and elsewhere as building material. Travertine can have
36-600: The waters" — meaning that they would drink (see hydrotherapy and water cure ) or bathe in (see balneotherapy ) the mineral water. Historical mineral springs were often outfitted with elaborate stone-works — including artificial pools, retaining walls , colonnades , and roofs — sometimes in the form of fanciful "Greek temples", gazebos , or pagodas . Others were entirely enclosed within spring houses . For many centuries, in Europe, North America, and elsewhere, commercial proponents of mineral springs classified them according to
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