JOURNAL 



OF THE 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Vol. io JULY 19, 1920 No. 13 



GEOCHEMISTRY.- — Analysis of a brine from the Ligonier well 

 in Pennsylvania. C. H. KidwELL, Water Laboratory, U. S. 

 Geological Survey. (Communicated by C. 'E. Van Orst- 

 rand.)^ 



By the courtesy of Mr. J, B. Tonkin, Vice President of the 

 Peoples Natural Gas Company, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 

 a sample of a brine obtained at a depth of 6,184 feet in the 

 Ligonier well was furnished to the U. S. Geological Survey for 

 analysis. The Ligonier well, the Peoples Natural Gas Com- 

 pany's well No. 1588, is located less than one mile northwest of 

 Longbridge, Pa., in Westmoreland County, between Loyalhanna 

 Creek and the Lincoln Highway. It is the fifth deepest well 

 in the world at this time and drilling is to be continued. With 

 one exception, which will be considered later, no other analyses 

 of ground water from this depth are available. Collection of the 

 sample was made February 20, 1920. A half million cubic-foot 

 flow of gas was encountered in the well at a depth of 6,822 feet. 

 Results of an analysis of the water are given in table i. 



Reference to the table of reacting values (table 2), in which the 

 values of the radicals are arranged in order of descending magni- 

 tude, shows that practically all the constituents of the brine are 

 present in the form of chlorides, and although the fallacies of 

 hypothetical combinations of the constituents of a water con- 

 taining several different acidic radicles are too well established 

 to warrant making hypothetical combinations as a general rule, 

 in this case it happens that if the chloride were distributed among 



' Published by permission of the Director, U. S. Geological Survey. Received 

 May 8, 1920. 



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