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.