PROBLEM OF THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN ARTESIAN BASIN. 169 



regarded as being fed with "juvenile waters," for instance 

 in the Pyrenees, Aix-la-Ohapelle, Plombieres, Vichy and 

 Maizieres; indeed the element helium, which is charac- 

 teristic of many thermal springs, has been pretty generally 

 taken to indicate a plutonic source of supply. 



On the other hand, quite curious indeed is the discovery 

 that the natural inflammable gas from the Upper Carboni- 

 ferous gas-field of south-eastern Kansas, 1 contains with 

 hardly an exception, some nitrogen and helium. The 

 amount of the latter element is roughly proportional to the 

 former, and an example from Dexter consisted of CEL 

 14*85%, N 82*70%, and He 1*84%. In North Dakota 2 a huge 

 blower of nearly pure nitrogen was struck in a shallow 

 gas-field. 



It would be of extreme scientific interest if complete 

 analyses of the gases from the Great Basin could be made, 

 including some taken from different levels in the same bore; 

 from analogy the discovery of argon, helium and neon 

 would seem not at all unlikely. 



Free carbon dioxide characterises the waters in the 

 Ooonamble district of New South Wales, and has been inci- 

 dentally noticed in Queensland as well, e.g., Bando (Govt.), 

 the Mount Browne Springs on the Flinders and the shallow 

 bore on the Central Railway in the small Jurassic basin of 

 Stanwell near Rockhampton. 



The gas would readily be overlooked in the presence of 

 methane or nitrogen, while under other circumstances its 

 existence might remain unsuspected owing to its solubility; 

 «ven at the high temperatures prevalent, a water could 

 retain from 3/4ths to l/6th of its volume of the gas at 

 atmospheric pressure. 



1 U.S.A. Geol. Surv. Mineral Resources, 1913, 1463. 

 2 U.S.A. Geol. Surv. Mineral Resources, 1908, u, p. 343. 



