Fresh Water Found by Boring in Granite, &c. 89 



bicolor, 27th ; Urmator imber, 28th ; Bonasa umbellus, 28th ; 

 Hali(£ctus leucocephalus, 29th ; Arden herodias, 29th ; Grus atneri- 

 cana, 29th ; Trochiliis colubris, 30th. 



FRESH WATER FOUND BY BORING IN GRANITE 

 AND OTHER HARD CRYSTALLINE ROCKS. 



Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., President of the Royal 

 Geographical Society of London, draws attention* to a remark- 

 able discovery recently made by Baron Nordenskjold, viz : — 

 that fresh water will be found by boring through hard crystal- 

 ine rocks to a depth of from 30 to 35 metres, i c, from 100 to 

 120 feet. 



The practical utility of this fart becomes very apparent in 

 a country like Canada, where A.rchaean rocks are so extensively 

 developed, and especially so on islands or isolated areas where 

 fresh water does not readily flow at the surface. 



As early as 1867, in his "Sketch ot the Geology of Spitz- 

 bergen Island," Stockholm, Baron Nordenskjold gave the results 

 of a series of observations from borings in rocks of Carboniferous 

 Age capped by others of Tertiary Age, the latter being quite 

 folded and disturbed, the former having alternating bands of 

 plutonic rocks interstratified with them. In attempting to 

 account for the crumpling of the Tertiary rocks by means of an 

 almost imperceptible but nevertheless continually operating 

 force, he points out that differences of temperature at different 

 times of the year are sufficient to cause dislocation of the strata, 

 and " it should not surprise us," he goes on to say, " to find even 

 the newest formations greatly folded, while older formations in 

 the vicinity may be quite undisturbed." These facts taken into 

 consideration with the general occurrence of cracks and fissures in 

 all rock formations, he argued that in all solid rocks at an in- 

 significant depth below the surface a horizontal crack would 

 generally exist. 



A series of borings was carried on in Scandinavia under the 

 Baron's supervision, with results that have more than fully justi- 

 fied the hypothesis and stand he took, and warranted the expen- 

 diture of moneys in boring in the hard solid granite rocks on 

 isolated areas and islands off the coast of Norway, leading to 

 the discovery of fresh water at depths from 30 to 35 metres from 

 the surface. 



He had ascertained on enquiry, that the water and springs 

 from mines and openings below or near the sea coast, was fresh 

 rather than salt or brackish. 



*The Geographical Journal, Vol. X, pp. 465.469, Nov., 1897. 



