The well-known Sulphur Springs in Saint Lucia is the hottest and most active geothermal area in the Lesser Antilles – also known as “The Caribbean’s Only Drive-In Volcano.” The park is approximately 45 hectares. A walk through the crater takes you past pools and hot springs bubbling and belching with sulfur-laden steam. Just outside the Springs, you can bathe in the warm sulphuric pools, reputed for their soothing effects. The Sulphur Springs forms part of the story of the creation of the entire Caribbean basin.
The main area of Sulphur Springs comprises numerous hot springs, bubbling mud pools, and fumaroles (steam vents) in an area of strongly hydrothermally altered clay-rich rock approximately 200 m x 100 m in size. Many fumaroles have temperatures 100°C or hotter, and temperatures of up to 172°C have been recorded.
Geothermal systems such as Sulphur Springs form when rainwater seeps into the ground where it is heated by hot rock. The hot water becomes buoyant, and rises back to the surface along cracks. In some places, the water is heated so much that it rises as steam. The heat source for the Sulphur Springs geothermal system is probably the cooling magma body responsible for the young volcanism of the Soufrière Volcanic Centre.
Address: Sulphur Springs Access Road Soufriere, St. Lucia
Coordinates: 33.968270, -96.042610
