THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



DECEMBER, 1905. 



FRESH-WATEK SPRINGS IN THE OCEAN. 



By Professor C. H. HITCHCOCK, 



DARTMOUTH COLLEGE. 



rr>HE ancient Creeks tell of a river of the Peloponnesus called 

 -*- Alpheus, rising in Mt. Stymphalus, flowing through Arcadia 

 and Elis, and then making its way beneath the Mediterranean as far 

 as Sicily, where it united with the fountain Arethusa near Syracuse. 

 It was the love of a swain for a nymph which led to this movement, 

 and this emotion seems to have been able to prevent the commingling 

 of the two kinds of water where ordinarily a mixture would result. 

 What has been narrated in fable seems to be true to-day in the ex- 

 istence of boiling fresh-water springs rising up persistently in the briny 

 deep off certain shores in the Hawaiian and West India islands and 

 elsewhere. So little is known about them that I venture to present 

 a few facts that have fallen under my observation, in the hope that 

 this slight contribution to hydrology may interest others and lead to 

 important results. 



The suggestion of this conclusion came from the combination of 

 facts ascertained in different parts of the world. First of all was a 

 study of artesian wells upon the island of Oahu.* This island has an 

 area of about 600 square miles, an irregular four-sided figure with an 

 extreme diametral line of 4G miles. Figure 1 represents Oahu and a 

 few of its more general topographical features. The land rises to two 

 mountainous ranges about 13 miles apart, parallel to each other. The 

 Kaala or Waianae Mountains, 21 miles long, lie on the southwest 

 side, with a culmination of 4,030 feet. The Koolau Mountains on the 

 northeast side culminate in Konahuinui, 3,105 feet high, and a length 

 of 37 miles; and the two parts are known as Koolauloa and Koolaupoko. 



* ' Geology of Oahu,' Bulletin Geol. Soc. America. Vol. XI., p. 25. 

 vol. lxvii. — 43. 



