An
oasis
An oasis is a region where the groundwater table intersects the land surface, in a desert.
In this instance, this oasis is also a hot spring. The heat comes from the groundwater circulating close to a magma chamber at depth (there are several volcanoes in the Lake Mead area, and Basin and Range in general, that have erupted in the last few million years, and their sources - magma chambers, where rock is molten - take a long time to cool and crystallize completely).
Most of the critters in this pool are exotics, or non-native species (including the friendly turtle).
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