Abstract
Hot-springs in the Hokuriku District are mostly distributed to the following seven regions. Namely,
(1) The Kurobe Gorge-the Tateyama Mts.
(2) The Southern parts of the Kureha Hill
(3) The Eastern foot of Mount Hodatsu
(4) The foot of Volcano Hakusan
(5) The Enuma Region
(6) The Northern parts of the Noto Peninsula
(7) The Region adjacent to Tojinbo
Many of the hot-springs in these regions likely to occur in volcanic areas. I may chiefly attribute their origin to the igneous intrusions of the Quaternary Period. There is an intimate relation between the many local fault lines of this district and the great tectonic lines of the Japan Island. But hot-springs are mainly due to small faults or large fissures in a local situation. Hot-springs may be due to descending surface waters being heated by coming in contact with hot rock masses below, or by hot magmatic vapors passing into them, and their returning in this heated condition to the surface. Therefore, in ordinary occurences of hot-springs, descending surface waters or ground waters which may be circulated among fissures or faults of subsurface are very important.
The water of fissure springs has been warmed by contact with rocks whose temperature has been raised by mechanical means, such as crushing, or by chemical changes going on within them.
