The four springs at Ein Gedi, from south to north, are these:

1. On the south edge of the oasis is the Arugot River (Nahal Arugot),

supplied by Ein ("spring of") Arugot.

2. On a spur to the north of the Arugot River is Ein Gedi, the "spring of the goat."

3. A few hundred yards to its north is Ein Shulamit.

4. West of Ein Shulamit and a bit to its north is Ein David, which creates the waterfall that we usually visit on the short hike.

The source of the springs is rain that falls on the central mountain range near Hebron. The rainwater seeps through the limestone until it encounters a layer of waterproof clay or marl. Then it slides between the layers down toward the rift valley. On reaching a rip in the surface of the earth, namely the cliff that borders the Dead Sea, the water gushes out of the rock in the form of springs.

The four springs, taken together, put out about 3 million cubic meters of water annually. (1 cubic meter = 1000 liters.) For the sake of comparison, the springs at Dan put out 250 million cubic meters annually, about an eighth of Israel's water consumption.