Dissolution and Deposition of Lime 1зу î^atnral "Waters. 



The tension of carbonic acid in Danish freshwaters. 



In a country with a temperate climate and a fertile soil 

 the influence of organic life upon the tension of carbonic acid 

 n freshwater becomes overwhelming, and the other factors are 

 often masked. 



Interwoven, as they are, with the roots and mycelia of 

 plants, constantly burrowed by earthworms and other animals, 

 full of organic remains on which the countless myriads of 

 bacteria can prey, the upper strata of the ground are the 

 source of an abundant production of carbonic acid. The 

 numerous analyses of the atmosphere of the soil give ample 

 evidence of this factM- 



The rainwater oozing through the ground and moistening 

 particle after particle of earth readily takes up the carbonic acid 

 formed and becomes completely saturated with it at the tension 

 existing. But as a consequence the water acquires strong 

 dissolving powers, and every grain of lime or alkaline silicate, 

 met with, is attacked. 



At a certain depth, variable according to the nature of the 

 soil, organic life decreases and thereupon almost totally ceases, 

 and from this point downwards the tension of carbonic acid 

 cannot increase further. It may become stationary or it may 

 decrease according to the properties of the soil. 



Sachsse: LehrbiicJi der Affrikulfnrcheinie. Leipzig 1888, pp. 142 — 146. 



