Jime 17, 1918 



Inorganic Composition of a Peat 



607 



areas where extraneous sand or calcium carbonate contaminate the 

 material. 



The samples used in this investigation are representative of about 12 

 taken from widely separated areas and can be looked upon as being 

 typical of the peat deposit in the Everglades. Sample i was taken 9 

 miles from Lake Okeechobee near the North New River Canal at a depth 

 of o to 60 inches. No. la is the subsoil of No. i, its depth being 60 to 120 

 inches. Sample 2 was taken 20 miles from Lake Okeechobee, a few miles 

 from the North New River Canal, at a depth of o to 25 inches, while No. 2a, 

 its subsoil, represents the depth from 25 to 82 inches. 



Analyses of this peat were made by practically the same methods used 

 in the case of the ash of the saw grass. The results obtained are presented 

 in Table IL 



Table II. — Composition of Everglades peat 



Constituent. 



Percentage of dry material. 



Peat la 



(subsoil 



of i). 



Peat 2a 



(subsoil 



of 2) a 



Silica 



Iron oxid and alumina 



Lime 



Magnesia 



Soda 



Potash 



Phosphoric acid 



Nitrogen , 



Total ash 



2. 04 

 .60 



2. 74 



■44 

 .19 

 .06 

 •IS 

 3-84 



3.02 

 I. 12 



4. 27 

 .70 



•25 

 .06 



.07 

 2-75 



o This sample contained a small amount of extraneous sand. 



COMPARISON OF PEAT AND SAW-GRASS ANALYSES 



In comparing a soil with its parent substance in order to determine the 

 amount of the various constituents removed during the transformation 

 it must be assumed that one of the elements present was not removed 

 at all, or at any rate to a slight extent only. Thus, Merrill ^ compares a 

 granite rock with its resultant clay and assumes that the alumina content 

 was unaltered, while Penrose ^ in comparing a limestone with its resultant 

 clay assumes that no silica was lost during the change. In the present 

 instance the silica was used as the basis of calculation, because it is 

 undoubtedly the most stable constituent present under the conditions 

 of peat formation — that is, continual submersion in water. Table III 

 shows the relationship between the peat and the saw grass when the 

 latter is calculated to the same silica content. 



1 MEKRILI,, G. p. weathering of micaceous gneiss in ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VIRGINIA. In Bu'. 



Geol. Soc. Amer. , v. 8, p. i6o. 1S97. 



2 Penrose, R. A. F. manganese; its uses, ores, and deposits. Ann. Rpt. Geol. Surv^ey Ark- 

 1890, V. I, p. 179. 1891. 



