Saratoga Springs:

Where does this very carbonated and

Highly saline water come from?

Abstract

Saratoga Springs is in east central New York and lies in the lowlands of the Adirondack foothills. This region consists of Paleozoic sediments that run along northeast trending faults. All of the springs line up on the east side of the Saratoga Springs- McGregor fault zone. In the late 1800’s the springs were thought to have healing powers, which drove Saratoga Springs, NY to be a popular city. The springs have been studied for about a hundred years by several researchers to find the origin of the spring water. Some of the proposed hypotheses for the high carbon dioxide include mantle degassing along faults, degassing of igneous melts, and from a deep sedimentary basin. Sources for the high salinity includes migrating brines to a fault zone and from deep sedimentary brines. There are many proposed hypotheses, but none of them can justify all of the geochemical variations in the spring water.

Figure 1: Location of the springs (Putnam, 1985).

Figure 2: Water composition of freshwater,

Saratoga Springs, and seawater

(Hollocher, et al., 2002)

Figure 3: Possible source for high salinity and

carbon dioxide in Saratoga Springs

(Hollocher, et al., 2002)

Outline

I. Introduction to Saratoga Springs, NY

A. Location

B. History

C. Geology of region

II. About the Springs

A. Unifying Characteristics

B. Hathorn 3

1. Water Composition

2. Water Evaluation

III. Hypotheses for Origin of Spring Water

A. Source of Carbon Dioxide

B. Sources of Salinity

C. Summary

References

Davis, S.N., Cecil, L.D., Zreda, M., and Moysey, S., 2001 Chlorine- 36, bromide,

and the origin of spring water: Chemical Geology, v.179, p.3-16.

Davis, S.N. and Davis, A.G., 1997, Saratoga Springs and early

hydrogeochemistry in the United States: Ground Water, v.35, p. 347- 357.

Hollocher, K., Quintin, L., and Ruscitto, D., 2002, Geochemistry and source of

the Saratoga Springs: Guidebook for fieldtrips in New York and Vermont,

p. C11.1- C11.15.

Putnam, G.W. and Young, J.R., 1985, The bubbles revisited: the geology and

geochemistry of “Saratoga” mineral waters: Northeastern Geology, v.7, p.1-25.

Siegel, D., 1996, Natural bubbling brew: the carbonated springs of Saratoga:

Geotimes, v.41, p.20-23.