36 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM | 



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the b©dy of artesian waters which have their head at some distance j 



from the Saratoga fault where they are collected. Professor Kemp^ ' 



who has made a special study of the springs is inclined to the opinion ■ 



that the gas is essentially an igneous emanation, produced through | 



the cooling of a magma at depth. The gas might be occluded in I 



the molten material, as seems to be the condition in the gaseous ) 



emissions from active volcanoes, or on the other hand might be set J 



free from limestones by heat or a chemical reaction induced by I 



the deep-seated igneous magma. Another explanation which has j 



been frequently advanced by other students of the problem is that ! 



the gas is produced in the superficial zone by the action of a free \ 



acid, like sulphuric acid, upon the Paleozoic limestones which \ 



directly underlie the surface. The acid, it is thought, may be I 



derived by oxidation of pyrite in the accompanying shales. As ; 



against this interpretation there is no evidence of a sufficient supply ; 



of free acid to cause the decomposition of limestone on a scale ; 



demanded by the quantities of carbon dioxide present, or of the ; 



resultant calcium sulphate of which quantities would be left behind j 



as gypsum, since the amount of dissolved sulphates in the waters ! 



is small. No doubt the solvent properties of the carbon dioxide ; 



is responsible for much of the saline matter carried by the waters. : 



The relative amount of carbon dioxide in the Saratoga waters '' 



varies considerably in the individual wells. As many as five or ■ 



six volumes are reported to have been present in some of the best | 



wells drilled by the gas companies whose properties were situated ! 

 to the south of the village and at Geysers. The general average 



may be taken at two or three volumes. At atmospheric pressure i 



water is able to retain one volume of the gas, but its solvent power \ 



greatly increases with pressure, which accounts for the presence of j 



so large quantities in some of the naturally stored waters that | 



are under hydrostatic load. As the water comes to the surface 1 

 and pressure is released the gas is evolved and causes the lively 



boiling noticed in the Saratoga waters as they issue from the wells. ; 



In the most active period of the carbonic gas industry, in the j 



four years immediately preceding 1908, when the further production \ 



was enjoined by law, there were five gas collecting plants that ! 



employed . about thirty wells altogether for the purpose. The : 



product ranged from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 pounds a year. Piunps : 



were used to bring the water to the surface where the gas was j 



separated and conducted through a pipe to the gas holders for i 



storage previous to liquifying and charging into cyhnders. j 



1 The Mineral Springs of Saratoga. N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 159, 1912, ,| 



