Hot Springs Artesian Basin
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
This one is a geological formation on the record, a thermal aquifer under the Rio Grande floodplain in Sierra County, listed about six miles outside Truth or Consequences. No temperature is given, so nothing here says you can get in the water. The single sample dates to 1939 and shows a heavy load of dissolved minerals, iron among them. Ownership and public access are blank.
The site lies on the river's floodplain at low desert elevation, with a road passing roughly twenty-five yards away. That road goes unnamed here. The climate figures show very little rain and a dusting of snow at most, with mild temperatures through the year. No land unit, no campground and no fee appear anywhere in the entry.
Treat this as a place to read about before a place to soak. The record carries no temperature reading and leaves access blank, and no best-months flag has been set. The single sample is close to ninety years old. Ask locally before wandering onto the floodplain looking for it.
Wikipedia describes the Hot Springs Artesian Basin as a geological formation and thermal water aquifer in the floodplain of the Rio Grande in Sierra County. The rock around and beneath it spans an enormous range of ages, with Precambrian granite and schist at the old end and recent deposits at the young end.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Hot Springs Artesian Basin.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the west.
- Highest ground nearby
- 213 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the west
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 31% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
The water at Hot Springs Artesian Basin contains 2420 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in calcium (may support bone density and joint health), sodium (supports circulation and skin hydration), and chloride (natural antiseptic with skin health benefits).
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