The most mysterious stream in the world, always stops flowing every 15 minutes

Located just east of the town of Afton, at the foot of a rocky mountain in Wyoming, USA, Intermittent Spring is considered one of the world's most mysterious natural wonders, stopping every 15 minutes.

From an opening in the cliff, a large amount of water flowed down to form a beautiful small stream. However then the stream became dry in about 15 minutes. This cycle will be repeated.

Intermittent Spring

It is known that this process has been repeated for hundreds of years. On average, each day, the strange stream only flows for about 12 hours, which is half the time compared to other streams in nature. The water here is crystal clear and cold as ice.

In nature, there are also some other streams with similar phenomena, such as Ebbing & Flowing in Tennessee (USA) with a flow time of nearly 3 hours and Gihon Spring near the ancient city of Jerusalem, Israel.

Although the reason for the discontinuous flow is not completely understood, scientists have come up with a pretty convincing hypothesis to explain this mystery.

They believe that the rhythm of the stream depends on the siphon effect, through which it will flow and stop at certain intervals. This effect is applied in everyday life such as sinks, sinks, lavabo.

Basically, water flows continuously into an underground cave but must pass through a narrow crevice whose highest point is above the surface of the stream.

When the water level reaches that high point, it creates a siphon effect. Water is sucked out of the cave and forms the flow of a stream.

However, after the flow is reduced, the water level will drop to help air flow in and cut off the flow. When the water rises, the flow is restored again.

Professor Kip Solomon, a hydrologist at the University of Utah, said: 'We cannot think of another explanation at this time. The gas content in spring water has now been tested at the University of Utah. The data shows that the water has come into contact with the underground air. This further confirms the explanation of the siphon theory.'

Afton Stream was accidentally discovered by a logger while working in the area. While fetching fresh water, he noticed that a relatively large branch of a stream suddenly stopped flowing and started again a few minutes later.

The rhythmic flow of this particular stream in Wyoming only occurs continuously from late summer to autumn, when the water table is low. So take note if you plan to explore this enigmatic natural wonder.