© UnknownA series of hot springs on Haida Gwaii — which once bubbled with water as warm as 77 C — has dried up since Saturday’s earthquake.
Canada - Days after the remote B.C. archipelago of Haida Gwaii emerged virtually unscathed from Canada's second-strongest earthquake, locals discovered that the shifting earth had mysteriously switched off a centuries-old hot spring considered sacred by the Haida.
"It's a very culturally significant site - even today Haida people would go down to take advantage of healing properties of the springs," said Ernie Gladstone, a field unit superintendent for Gwaii Haanas National Park, of which Hot Spring Island is a part.
Earlier this week, scattered reports began drifting in that the familiar cloud of steam over the island (known as Gandll K'in Gwaayaay in the Haida language) had disappeared.
A Parks Canada inspection party set out to investigate and stepped ashore to find that the island's three main hot spring pools, which once bubbled with water as warm as 77 Celsius, were bone dry. "Not even a small puddle," said Mr. Gladstone.
Surrounding rocks, once warm to the touch, were cold.