Feb., 1919] Nitrogen Content of Volcanic Ash 



217 



only the normal amount of nitrogenous products in the air, 

 but also any gaseous nitrogen products of the eruption. The 

 small total nitrogen content of the ash precludes any pos- 

 sibility of the vegetation securing its nitrogen supply by any 

 conceivable decomposition of the volcanic detritus. The 

 material deposited by the Katmai Crater came from the igneous 

 complex, and probably does not contain any of the sedimentaries 

 of the region through which the volcanics extrude. Sandstones 

 of this period, according to Stewart and Peterson^ contain as 



TABLE II. 

 Nitrogen Content of Ash from Various Locations. 



(1) Wind blown ash, water saturated, on top of 



snow bank 



(2) Wind blown ash, behind Camp IV, Observation 



Mountain 



(3) Caked top layer ash on Observation Moun- 



tain, north of Camp IV 



(4) Moist ash, similar to (3) 



(5) Ash one foot beneath (4) 



(6) Sample similar to (3) 



(7) Sample similar to (3) 



(8) Ash along spring stream in which algae were 



growing, Observation Mountain 



(9) Ash four inches beneath (8) 



(10) Ash, Katmai Mud Flow, Katmai Volcano 



(11) Top layer ash, Katmai Volcano 



Parts Nitrogen per 100,000 



NH., 



none 



none 



0.004 

 0.004 



none 

 none 

 none 



0.002 

 0.004 



none 

 trace 



NO2 



none 



none 



none 



0.0004 



none 



none 



none 



0.00004 



none 

 0.00004 



Total N. 



none 

 0.80 



high as 65.5 parts per million of nitric nitrogen alone. The total 

 nitrogen content of the Katmai volcanic ash is but 0.05 parts 

 per million. 



Table II contains observations made on surface samples of 

 ash taken from the immediate neighborhood of the Volcano. 

 Little or no ammonia and nitrous nitrogen were found. Algae 

 were observed growing in the ash at the base of Observation 

 Mountain where a small spring arose. Determinations (8) and 

 (9) relate to this ash. The complete absence of nitrogen from 

 the sample of the Katmai Mud Flow is comparable to that of 

 the volcanic ash included in Table I, for the Katmai Mud Flow is 



^Stewart, Robt. and Peterson, Wm. The Nitric Nitrogen Content in the 

 Country Rock. Utah Agriculture College Experiment Station, Bull. 134. June, 

 1914. 



