Opinion
Local Knowledge: Snowflake Springs
![Avatar photo](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/outlaw-partners-46x46.jpg)
![Avatar photo](http://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/outlaw-partners-46x46.jpg)
Published
5 months agoon
Posted By
AdminBy Paul Swenson EBS COLUMNIST
A good friend asked me a couple of weeks ago about Snowflake Springs—how it was formed, and where the water comes from.
About 18 miles south from Big Sky on U.S. Highway 191, Snowflake Spring makes its grand reveal just before the Yellowstone National Park boundary. On a cold winter morning it steams and streams down the hillside just across the Gallatin River from the highway. The water that flows out of the hillside has a constant temperature of 54 degrees Fahrenheit, so during our cold winter days it produces quite a bit of steam. This influx of warm water keeps the river ice-free until the cold Taylor Fork contributes to the mix.
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Figure-1.png)
The chemistry of the water coming from the spring shows no surprises. It contains an abundance of calcium ions, carbonate ions, sulfate ions and magnesium ions that one would expect to find from water that courses through limestone. But an interesting ion found is tritium, known as Hydrogen-3. Most hydrogen atoms have just a single proton, but H-3 has two additional neutrons. It’s not rare, but when found and measured it can tell a hydrogeologist the length of time between the water percolating into the ground and it being discharged at the spring. In Snowflake Springs’ case it shows modern recharge. In other words, the water that comes out of the spring has been in the ground for a short time, less than a year.
So how does the water get into the ground and then back to the surface? In normal winters our region usually gets a lot of snow. The water content of the snow usually equates to around 20 inches of water. In the spring and early summer as the snow melts slowly, its water percolates through the soil and loose rock at the surface until it reaches a rock formation that has been fractured by faulting or folding. The photographs show a limestone formation with its bedding horizontal to the north of the spring. The bedding then gets folded to a nearly vertical orientation. The fractures created bybending of a brittle rock like limestone gives the water a path to take. The water then courses down gradient to where it intersects the surface producing a spring.
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Figure-2.png)
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Figure-2.png)
A permeable rock formation such as this limestone, known as the Madison Formation, is called an aquifer. These types of rocks can transport water for long distances.
Snowflake is a small regional example of an aquifer, but there are much larger examples.
For example, in South Dakota the Madison limestone rises from the Great Plains along the flanks of the Black Hills. This is where the recharge area occurs for this aquifer that then carries water for 100 miles or more to central and eastern South Dakota.
Closer to home, Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls springs from the Madison limestone. It carries water underground from the Little Belt mountains, 30 miles to the southeast, all the way to the Missouri River. Using tritium ion analysis of the spring’s water it is calculated that the water takes close to 3,000 years to traverse this distance.
On the way to Snowflake Springs the interior of a fossil spring can be seen in the cliff face to the east of the road. There is a vertical, light-colored band that consists of a vein of calcite crystals. Calcite is calcium carbonate, the major constituent of limestone. It forms when water dissolves limestone then redeposits it somewhere else in the water column. And if the water is hot, like in Yellowstone, the water dissolves a significant amount of limestone then deposits it as travertine in terraces like at Mammoth Hot Springs.
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/oldspring-Large.jpeg)
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/oldspring-Large.jpeg)
So if you want a little spring-time in the middle of winter, take a beautiful short drive up to see Snowflake Springs. The open water produced by the spring attracts a whole host of wildlife and birds. It is not unusual to find moose, elk, or bighorn sheep standing in the spring munching on watercress. There are also ducks, water ouzels (American Dipper), and Bald Eagles that spend the winter here.
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ouzel1.jpeg)
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ouzel1.jpeg)
Paul Swenson has been living in and around the Big Sky area since 1966. He is a retired science teacher, fishing guide, Yellowstone guide and naturalist. Also an artist and photographer, Swenson focuses on the intricacies found in nature.
Upcoming Events
july, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 - July 31Calling all artists and nature enthusiasts! Get
more
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28
EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 – July 31
Calling all artists and nature
enthusiasts! Get your paintbrushes ready for an unforgettable experience at
Paint Under the Big Sky, a thrilling plein air event set against the stunning
backdrop of Big Sky, MT, Chet Huntley’s “The Last Best Place”. Don’t
miss this chance to unleash your creativity and be part of a vibrant artistic community.
What is Paint Under the Big Sky? PUBS is a plein air event for all painters of any ability (over the age of 16). Sponsored by the Big Sky Artist’s Studio & Gallery and the Big Sky Artists Collective, a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster a strong community of artists in the Big Sky area, the paint-out hopes to introduce painters to our extraordinary landscape for an opportunity to create, meet and have fun. Plein air painters record our landscape for generations to come.
Artists are invited to travel to Big
Sky, MT to paint anytime between Jun 1 – 28, and participate in the exhibition
and sale of paintings from June 29 – July 31.
Come join us! We have a great
place to paint and are welcoming and fun!
Don’t miss out!
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 1:00 am - July 31 (Wednesday) 11:55 pm
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and
serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the
Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice to
invigorate your day of adventure ahead. Complimentary. Weather
permitting.
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 7:00 am - August 31 (Saturday) 7:00 am
Location
Montage Big Sky
995 Settlement Trail
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 10 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 19 (Monday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 17 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 26 (Monday) 6:00 pm