282 J. 8. Brown — Relation of Sea Water 



likood of the existence of a fracture connecting the well 

 with the sea. There is no apparent reason why cleavage 

 planes dipping toward a well will admit water much more 

 rapidly than a series of connected fractures. It is diffi- 

 cult to evaluate the effect of fresh water fed to a well by 

 fractures. If the supply is considerable and the water 

 is under sufficient pressure sea water will be excluded 

 under conditions that otherwise would readily permit it 

 to enter the well. 



Artesian conditions in New Haven Harbor. — The 

 blanket of mud that forms the most recent deposit on the 

 floor of New Haven Harbor and its tributary tidal 

 marshes acts as an effective impervious stratum and 



Fig. 2. 



Ifew Haven Ifarbor ■ New Haven N. 

 _^-rr ^--W^LULde 



Fig. 2. — Section illustrating artesian conditions in New Haven Harbor. 



excludes the salt water of the harbor and the marshes 

 from the sands of the stratified drift beneath. The main 

 features of the New Haven artesian system are illustrated 

 by figure 2. The sands beneath the mud average 100 to 

 200 feet in thickness and are, at least for the most part, 

 filled with fresh water. The wells of Sperry & Barnes, 

 which are on filled land nearly 1,000 feet south of the 

 original high-tide shore line, draw comparatively fresh 

 water from the sand beneath the fill and the mud. In a 

 test well of Sargent & Co., 660 feet south of the original 

 water front, fresh water was obtained beneath the mud 

 at a depth of 110 feet. The plants of the New Haven Gas 

 Co. and the National Folding Box Co. use wells on the 

 filled-in tidal marshes of Mill River and draw fresh water 

 from sand beneath the mud. Some of these plants yield 

 water very definitely contaminated by sea water, but 

 this condition has resulted from excessive pumping. At 

 all the places mentioned the water was originally drink- 

 able and at present is only slightly brackish. 



