St Lucia Volcano Sulphur Springs

Today you are visiting the Sulphur Springs Park, in the picturesque town of Soufriere. The ground on which you are standing feels strong and firm but underneath is a scolding sieving world that is revealed only where there are geological faults or cracks in the earths surface.

The St Lucia Volcano “Sulphur Springs” is such a fault; the hot waters, steam and gases that escape to the surface here are evidence of powerful forces at work in the bowels of the earth. Whether you have come here by sea or by road it is impossible not to be captivated by the spectacular beauty of the mountains and valleys.

The tranquility of this place belies the fact that the forces that shaped it are still very much alive. At Sulphur Springs Park you are in the middle of a dormant volcano. The island of St. Lucia and most of the island’s of the Caribbean were formed by episodic volcanic events that took place millions of years ago.

Let us look at the globe on which we live, in the center there is a solid core, then, a liquid core called the mantel and then a thin crust of tectonic plates. The continents and oceans seat on these plates which move relative to each other. When the Atlantic plate pushed under the Caribbean plate, the islands of the Caribbean were formed.

The frictional heat and temperature at the depths caused the rocks to melt and rise forming first, undersea volcanoes and then, above sea volcanoes.

The volcano here is name Soufriere, like the nearby town, the first capital of St. Lucia. Sometimes a volcano or volcanoes collapse after an eruption, forming large depressions with steep sides called calderas. Sulphur Springs Park seats in a caldera that Is twelve kilometers square, this caldera is between 32,000 and 39,000 years old but its rocks are mere youngsters compared to the Pitons for which St. Lucia is famous.

The Gros and Petit Piton were formed about two-hundred fifty thousand years ago (250,000). The pitons are molten rock or magma that did not erupt as a volcano but instead pushed to the surface as a plug or dome and kept growing almost straight up.

There are many lava domes in the area, as your tour guide to show you the Terre Blanche-Dome just to the east of the Sulphur Springs. Scientist and engineers have used the heat from the earth’s depths to produce electricity. Attempts have and are being made to tap into this enormous local energy source. Hot water and steam will be brought to the surface through a bore hole many hundreds of meters deep. At the surface a steam turbine will produce electricity; the excess colder liquids will then be injected into another bore hole so as not to contaminate the surface environment.

The natural beauty of Sulphur Springs Park must be preserved. The hot water, steam and gases that you will see on your visit to the Sulphur Springs come up along the geological fault. At the bottom of this fault, 600 to 800 meters deep, lies a zone in which most of this water has been driven off by boiling.

Below this, at 2 or more kilometers deep is the old hot volcanic rock. The St. Lucia Volcano has been dormant for over two hundred years; however, sometime in the future the forces from below will again dramatically change St Lucia. Fortunately, earth scientist can monitor and predict with some warning any major eminent volcanic event.

It is reassuring to know these men and women keep a continuous watch for signs of increase local earthquake activity and any bulging or rising of the surface, while you enjoy the lush and unusual vistas in this unique park.

COME SEE WHAT'S GOING ON AT REAL ST. LUCIA TOURS!