PEALE.l 



CLASSIFICATION OF THEEMAL SPRINGS. 



365 



tlieir waters subjected to analysis tliat it is impossible to reduce them 

 as yet to any systematic classification,* Before this can be done a large 

 amount of chemical investigation will have to be made. The field has 

 scarcely been entered upon as yet. 



Krug Yon Nidda, from his study of the Iceland springs, classifies 

 thermal springs as lollows : f 



1. Those that are constantly boiling and bubbling up — permanent 

 thermals. 



2. Those in which ebullition only takes place at particular periods 

 and which are perfectly tranquil in the interval — intermitting thermals. 



3. Those whose surface is always undisturbed. 

 To the second class the geysers belong. 



This classification is a natural one and comes to mind at once in a re- 

 view of the features noted in our own region and in Kew Zealand. 

 Still the diiference between 1 and 2 is apparently only in degree, for if 

 the springs (or at least many of them) noted in the catalogues of Part I 

 of this report as constantly boiling are carefully watched, it will be no- 

 ticed that there are periodical increases in activity, the ebullition be- 

 coming very violent at regular intervals, so that the springs might be 

 called intermittent. Again, in many of the geysers of the Yellowstone 

 Park, notably in the case of the "Union," in the Shoshone Basin, and 

 the Giant and the Castle in the Upper Fire Hole BasiD, there is con- 

 stant ebullition in the intervals between eruptions. In the majority ot 

 the geysers, however, during the period of intermission, the water is 

 perfectly tranquil. It is possible that many of the springs regarded as 

 simply constantly boiling springs may be geysers, as in the case of the 

 "Excelsior Geyser," which was not known as a geyser until 1881, 

 although suspected in 1878 to be so by some members of the survey. 



Still, the classification is a good one and corresponds in the main to 

 that made naturally by the natives in both Iceland and New Zealand 

 when they refer to the hot springs with which they are familiar. Al- 

 though widely separated, not only geographically but in language, curi- 



* Dr. Heizmann (in the Eeport of Reconnaissance of Northwest Wyoming, &c., by 

 Capt. Wni. A. Jones, pp. 305 and 306) proposes the following general classilication for 

 tlie springs of the Park, which I give in tabulated form : 



Class. 



Localities in Yellowstone Na- 

 tional Park. 



Comparable to — 



1. Neutral, and containing car- 

 tonic acid and sulphureted hy- 

 drogen. 



2. Acid and sulphurcted hydro- 

 gen only. 



3. Iron marked 



4. Carhonic acid marked 



5. Carhonic acid and silica 

 marked. 



Turhid Lake, east shore of Yel- 

 lowstone Lake, 8 miles from 

 Orange Creek. 



Opposite head Yellowstone 

 Kiver; Canon (falls;, east side 

 of river; Orange Creek 

 Si)rii)g8, 6 mUes from Orange 

 Creek. 



Pelican Creek, 6 miles from 

 mouth. 



Gardiner's Kiver.. , 



Geyser regions of Fire Hole 

 Kiver. 



Virginia White Sulphur Springs, 

 Aix la Chapello. As to chem- 

 ical composition, to Meiuberg 

 (Lippe Detmol(l). 



Bareges, Gauterets, Bagnols (Lo- 

 z6re). 



To all sulphated chalyheate 



springs except in trmjierature. 

 To Cavlsb.ad in tbcimality and 



effects; in coiistitucuta, to St. 



Galmier (Loire). 

 In constituents and effects, to 



Kockbridgo Springs, Va. 



t See Karsten's Archives, Vol. IX, p. 247 ; also Jameson's Philosophical Journal, Vol. 

 XXII, ijj). 90 aDd2'.iO, and Bischof's Kcscarchcs on Internal Heat of Globe, Vol. I, p. 

 22(5. 



