72 



THE BALTON SEA. 

 Table 24. 



Total ■olids (dried at 110° C.) 



Plus HtO of occlusion and hydration 



Sodium 



Potassium 



Calcium 



Magnesium 



Aluminium 



Iron 



Manganese, none any year. 



Zinc, none any 3'ear 



Lead, none any year 



Copper 



Lithium 



Chlorine (CI) 



Sulphuric acid (SO4) 



Carbonic acid (COj) 



Silicic (SiO>) , 



Phosphoric (POi) , 



Nitric (NOi) 



Nitrous (NOi) 



Oxygen consumed 



Boric acid 



June 3, 

 1907 



364.80 

 111.05 

 2.20 

 0.95 

 6.43 

 0.030 

 0.005 



trace 



169.75 

 47.60 

 6.58 

 1.41 

 0.009 

 0.18 



none 

 0.003 



May 25, 

 1908 



437.20 

 134.26 

 2.78 

 11.87 

 7.63 

 0.3S 

 0.006 



0.013 

 204.05 

 56.74 

 7.66 

 1.43 

 O.OU 

 0.20 

 trace 



0.059 

 trace 



June 8, 

 1909 



519.40 

 160.33 

 3.24 

 13.70 

 8.96 

 0.62 

 0.010 



trace 



0.017 

 240.90 

 65.87 

 7.34 

 1.59 

 0.01 

 none 

 0.0006 

 0.068 



June 3, 

 1910 



603 80 



189.28 



3.53 



13.67 



9.84 



0.040 



.008 



trace 



.021 

 280.93 

 76.36 

 6.38 

 1.55 

 .013 

 none 

 none 



.045 

 trace 



June 3, 

 1911 



718.0 

 227.81 

 3.81 

 16.62 

 11 . 6.S 

 0.089 

 0.036 



trace 



0.025 

 339.42 

 91.67 



5.78 



1.83 

 trace 

 none 

 none 



0.063 

 trace 



A critical examination of the substances present in the Salton Sea waters <ioes not 

 indicate that they are active in disintegrating the cell walls of woody tissues or necessarily 

 cause even a breaking down of the tissues in herbaceous plants. However, the sulphates 

 present in the water have a very definite relationship to certain bacteriological processes 

 supposed to accomplish decomposition of cortical portions of woody stems. 



No analyses were made with reference to the gaseous contents of the Salton Sea 

 water, but it contains manifestly an abundance of ojrxgen, inasmuch as large numbers of 

 fish were present during the summer of 1912. The water has a specific gravity of 1.001. 

 It is clear and quite free from sediment and may show an osmotic pressure of 5.5 atmos- 

 pheres. The currents of the water are largely confined to those produced by the wind, 

 since there is no outlet to the basin. A review of the physical facts indicates that the 

 decomposition of vegetable tissue immersed in the water, even though some of the woods 

 were covered for five years, could not be attributed to the action of non-biological agents. 

 This conclusion was supported by the laboratory tests conducted with fresh woody tissues 

 of Prosopis glandulosa, Prosopis pubescens, and Larrea tridentata, which remained absolutely 

 intact during the eight months of submergence in steriUzed Salton Sea water. 



Biologically considered, the submerged condition of all of the herbaceous and woody 

 plants would be, of course, fatal to those organisms within a short time and would re- 

 move them, therefore, entirely from the question of resistance to the physico-chemical fac- 

 tors of the Salton Sea. On the other hand, the temperature, the light, the gas-content, 

 and the food supply were extremely favorable for the development of a rich bacterial 

 flora. This was demonstrated by the fact that there were several thousand bacteria per 

 cubic centimeter of water when first collected from the Salton Sea. These organisms were 

 represented by several species, some of which were found to have a definite relation to the 

 change in the chemical composition of the water and to the decomposing processes under- 

 gone by dead, submerged organisms. Inasmuch as the plankton did not seem to enter 

 into this study all reference to that biological phase of the Salton Sea was omitted. 



The specific investigations of this problem were directed (1) to an anatomical study 

 of the species submerged from one to five years, and (2) to a bacteriological study of con- 

 siderable quantities of the water itself and of processes undergone by fresh woods sub- 

 merged in containers filled with Salton Sea water and maintained at room temperature 

 in the Botanical Laboratory. The investigations concluded with an anatomical investi- 

 gation of the fresh woods which had been kept under control in the laboratory during the 

 months that the bacteriological experiments were carried forward. 



