Montezuma Well

There are so many writings about this well.  Scientists have not discovered, for example, the origin of the consistently warm water that feeds Montezuma Well.  A current research topic with scientists from Northern Arizona University is trying to decipher where the water is coming from and from what level.  Scientists have noted the flow rate from the Well rarely fluctuates -- but the source deep in the earth's layers remains a mystery.

Its story began 12 million years ago, when the part of the Verde Valley was covered by a large, shallow lake.  Floating plants in this bodyof water caused dissolved calcium carbonate to form minute crystals, which slowly sank to the bottom and accumulated into thick layers of soft limestone rock.
About two million years ago, the lake waters began disappearing.  Underground streams started dissolving softer areas of the underground limestone, and a cavern began to form.  The passage of time and the force of water carved a cavern larger and larger until, about 11,000 years ago, the roof of one of these caverns gradually crumbled, forming Montezuma Well.

Water enters Montezuma Well at a constant 74 degrees F with a flow of over 1,400,000 gallons every day.  As the water passes through the limestone, it collects large amounts of dissolved carbon dioxide -- nearly 100 times more than most natural aquatic environments.

The high levels of CO, make Montezuma Well completely inhospitable to fish, despite the presence of oxygen in the water.  In their absence a community of unique species, each dependent on the others, has evolved.  Four of these species are found nowhere else on the planet?
Algae, small floating plants, manufacture food from light energy and the rich supply of carbon dioxide in the water.
At night, a great feeding frenzy begins among the creatures who have adapted to this harsh aquataic environment.  Amphipods, tiny shrimp-like animals, feed by combing algae through appendages below their mouths.
Leeches, living by day in the bottom sediments of the Well, rise at night and, searching with sensory hairs on their bodie, gulp large quantities of the small amphipods.  Night-swimming water scorpions also make evening meals of the shrimp-like creatures.
With the first light of day, these creatures sink back to the depths of the Well until sunset, and the beginning of another cycle.

It was my pleasure to type this from the article by Rex Vanderford of National Park Service in the free publication, Echoes.

Montezuma Castle



"Sheltered within a cave high on a limestone cliff overlooking Beaver Creek, this five-story, twenty-room pueblo was once home to prehistoric Sinagua people.  Abandoned after A.D. 1400, this imposing cliff dwelling is now preserved at Montezuma Castle National Monument." 

The above writing is from the label of the plastic water battle we bought from there and I have kept for this wonderful occasion.  The occasion being of having given myself a chance to write. 

My cousin, Arpi (I have also friends named Arpy, Arpie and Arpinée), had sent me an email asking me how I am doing.  Instead of writing back, I called her.  For some reason she couldn't hear me and kept asking me repeatedly how I am doing with an urgency in her voice.  I finally told her to read my blog.

I took this picture last week when we visited the Camp Verde area of Arizona, less than 100 miles north of Phoenix.  I had no idea this place existed having had my focus on wanting to visit the Grand Canyon one day.  That's where one starts if one wants to see wonders in this corner of the woods.  Expectation is one thing, wonderful surprise is another.  Oh, what a day it was.  So welcome and needed after a full year of hard work.  It was my mini-vacation and the cold I started battling did not dumpen my joy for being away from the city, out in nature, exploring and discovering.

For some reason, I cannot put another picture here.  See you in Montezuma Well (my next posting).