Kuantzuling Hot Spring Landscape

This is a landscape consisting of a hot spring associated with oil and gas fields. It is located in the northern foothills of the Kuantzuling Range approximately 8 km east of Baihe Town in Tainan County, Taiwan. The spring flows along the valley in the upper course of Baishiu Creek 2 km northeast of Zhentou Hill. The spring has two sources: (1) water that flows from the fissures in the bedrock; the springs are located west of the Central Mountain Range, which contains marine facies muddy sandstone layers; and (2) water that flows from oil and gas fields, which is greyish black and collected in a square pool. Natural gas is associated with the spring water that flows from the cracks in the rock, and it can be lit to form a one-foot-tall flame, creating a scenery of ‘Merged Water and Fire’. The spring water has a temperature of 84 °C with a salt concentration of approximately 10 g/L, and the highest concentration can exceed 20 g/L. The hot water is moderately alkaline (pH 8.2) and is a...