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Quake off B.C. coast shuts down flow to idyllic hot springs in Gwaii Haanas National Park

In a province renowned for its beauty, Gwaii Haanas National Park is one of its most beautiful places. And Hot Spring Island is a jewel in its crown.

But the hot springs that gave the island its name are gone, shut off by the powerful earthquake and aftershocks that rattled Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) off the northern B.C. coast last weekend.

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The springs' three main pools, ranging in temperature from 31 to 76 degrees C (89-140 Fahrenheit), were used by the native Haida for centuries because of the mineralized waters' supposed healing properties.

Local residents and kayaking tourists were also given access under the eyes of Haida watchmen who ensured only a few people at a time used the pools, which are sacred to the Haida.

Gazing out over the Pacific Ocean while basking in the hot water was like being in God's own infinity pool.

But sometime after the 7.7-magnitude quake hit offshore Saturday, followed by aftershocks (including a 4.0 less than a kilometre from the island) that ranged up to 6.2, the shifting ground cut off flow to the springs.

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According to the National Post, people first noticed the familiar cloud of steam over Hot Spring Island had disappeared.

Parks Canada sent out a team to inspect the site and found the pools were bone dry, said Ernie Gladstone, a field unit superintendent for Gwaii Haanas.

"Not even a small puddle," he told the Post, noting even the stones were cold.

Tassilo Goetz Hanisch, who owns a lodge on a nearby island, noticed Tuesday the waters had gone.

"Normally, you could hear water bubbling but there was nothing to be heard," Hanisch told the Post. "It's just dried up, green mud."

The quake shut off several smaller pools around the island. The hot water's flow also sustained "thermal meadows" of unique plant and animal life on the island, which is expected to disappear, the Post said.

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Gladstone said the loss of the hot springs is serious.

"It is a very significant site to the Haida, it is used to rejuvenate in the water and is a very rich site for seafood harvesting," he told the Northern View.

"It is also a highlight for many people who come to Haida Gwaii and travel in Gwaii Haanas.

"We're currently having discussions with the Geological Survey of Canada to see if this is a short-term or long term thing."

It's common for earthquakes to change the pattern of groundwater flow, though exactly how it happens isn't well understood, geophysicist Elizabeth Hearn told the Northern View.

"It is possible that the strong shaking caused small cracks to form, increasing the permeability of the rock and causing a drop in the water pressure in the hydrothermal system's source as hot water flowed into the surrounding rock," she said via email.

"In your case the hot spring shut off, but that might be because spring flow increased elsewhere, reducing the pressure in the hot spring reservoir."

Some Haida Gwaii residents told CBC News the hot springs have disappeared in the past after an earthquake, only to reappear a couple of years later.

Seismologist Michael Bostock of the University of British Columbia told CBC News once the underlying plates start grinding again, stresses in the fault line are likely to build up in the same location. He's not certain the springs will return but "it seems like a good bet, given the way things have behaved in the past."