ABSTRACTS 



Authors of scientific papers are requested to see that abstracts, preferably 

 prepared and signed by themselves, are forwarded promptly to the editors. 

 The abstracts should conform in length and general style to those appearing in 

 this issue. 



GUOLOGY. —Geothermal data of the United States. N. H. Darton. 

 U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 701. Pp. 97, pi. i, figs. 3. 1920. 

 A compilation, by States, of all available data on observations of 

 temperatures below the surface of the earth. Several hundred of 

 these were taken by the writer and his associates with the Darton 

 maximum self-registering thermometer, a slight modification of that 

 used by William Hallock. The geologic relations of the wells in each 

 State are discussed. In most wells that penetrate sedimentary rocks 

 not greatly disturbed, there seems to be no distinct relation between 

 the formation penetrated and geothermal gradient. A striking ex- 

 ception is the Des Moines well in Iowa which shows a sudden change 

 from a rate of increase of i ° in 75 feet above the Devonian to i ° in 

 272 feet below the top of it. The Comstock Lode, Nevada, is noted 

 as a well-known instance of the influence of hot volcanic material 

 below the surface in raising the geothermal gradient. In the State 

 of Washington heat from old lava flows is assumed to be the cause of 

 unusually hot flows of water from wells. Unusually low gradients 

 in the Northern Peninsula of Michigan have been ascribed to the 

 proximity of Lake Superior. By means of a map it is shown that in 

 South Dakota the temperature gradient increases very regularly with 

 the depth below the surface of the granite and quartzite bedrock floor 

 on which the Upper Cretaceous was deposited. 



M. I. Goldman. 



GEOLOGY. — Oil in the Warm Springs and Hamilton domes near 

 Thermopolis, Wyoming. A. J. ColuER. U. S. Geol. Survey 

 Bull. 711-D. Pp. 13 (61-73), pis. 4, fig. I. 1920. 



The Warm Springs domes are two high places on the east end of the 

 Thermopolis anticline and the Hamilton dome is a short distance 

 west of its west end. The Thermopolis anticline is a well-known and 

 well-marked arch of the rocks extending about 22 miles northwest 



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