Temperature and Compositional Characteristics of the Hot Spring Water in Korea

우리나라 온천의 온도 및 성분 특징

We analyzed the temperature and chemical composition of 376 hot springs in Korea. It took about three days for the temperature to stabilize after the pumping test. After the stabilization, in-situ and laboratory analyses of the hot spring water were carried out. The average temperature and TDS were $29.95^{\circ}C$ and 2,071mg/L, respectively. The temperature ranging $25-30^{\circ}C$ were recorded from 70% of hot springs, and $30-35^{\circ}C$ of 15.4%. The maximum temperature was about $78^{\circ}C$. The value of TDS in 79% of the wells was below 1,000 mg/L. 5.5% of the wells, mostly developed near seashore, shows higher values than 10,000mg/L of TDS suggesting the influence of seawater. The hot spring water shows 8.49 of pH representing a weak alkali. For the mineral compositions dissolved in the hot spring in Korea, Na (431 mg/L) and Ca (188 mg/L) are the major cations, and Cl (840 mg/L) and $SO_4$ (213 mg/L) are the major anions.