80 PEOCEEDIXGS OF THE SAIXT LOUIS MEETI>sG 



NOTES ON THE SEPARATION OF SALT FROM SALINE WATER AND MUD 



BY E. M. KINDLE 



iAl)st7'act) 



Tlie paper described a series of experiments showing (1) the facility with 

 which salt escapes from vessels holding saline aqueous solutions during the 

 evaporation of the water; (2) the influence of temperature in controlling the 

 size of salt crystals; (3) the contrast in texture exhibited by fine-grained sedi- 

 ments formed in saline and fresh waters; (4) the different types of mud-crack 

 developed in saline and non-saline calcareous mud. 



The geological significance of some of the facts illustrated by the experi- 

 ments was brought out by a discussion of the phenomena observed on the salt 

 plains in the Northwest Territory. The bearing of the experiments on the 

 theories relating to the origin of salt lakes and salt domes was also considered. 

 Mud-cracks in limestone were described, which correspond in certain peculiar 

 features to the two types developed experimentally in calcareous sediments. 



Eead in full from manuscript, by Dr. M. E. Wilson, in the absence of 

 the author. 



ADDITIONAL NOTE ON MONKS MOUND 

 BY A. E. CROOK 



{Abstract) 



Monks Mound, which lies about six miles east of the place of the 1917-1918 

 Geological Society of America meeting, in scholarly as well as in popular litera- 

 ture, has quite generally been described as of human origin.^ As pointed out 

 in former papers before the Geological Society of America,^ inquiry along 

 lithological and physiographical lines makes evident that this and the 70 

 other mounds in the region are but remnants of the glacial materials which 

 formerlj' filled the valley. Since presenting that paper opportunity of making 

 further investigation has been afforded. The samples of earth constituting the 

 mound secured for the former studies were obtained by sinking 25 holes with 

 a post-hole digger in the north or most abrupt face of the ground. Recently ad- 

 ditional samples were secured by sinking a hole with an earth augur from the 

 top down 25 feet and on the east side for 15 feet farther. Earth from the tops 

 and sides of several other mounds was taken and all of these materials were 

 compared. The result shows general similarity of materials in all the different 

 mounds at similar levels and a change in the soil of Monks Mound when pro- 

 ceeding from the top to lower layers — a condition which would not be likely 

 to exist if "Mound-builders" built these mounds, which are scattered over sev- 

 eral square miles. It is reasonable to doubt that the so-called Mound-builders, 

 or Indians, ever did build mounds of any considerable size. The burden of 

 proof should rest with archeologists, who make the claims that elevations 



1 See Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Smithsonian Contributions 

 to Knowledge, American Bureau of Ethnology, Encyclopedia Britannica. etcetera. 

 - Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 26, no. 1, 1915, p. 74, map. 



