106 OIL-FIELD WATERS IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CAL. 
Solubility of certain gaseous hydrocarbons in water. 
[At 20° C.and 760 millimeters pressure, except propane, which is at 17.8° C. and 753 millimeters pressure.) 
Name. 
Formula. 
Volumes 
soluble 
in 100 
volumes 
of water. 
Authority. 
\ 
Methane . 
CH<. 
3.31 
4.72 
6.50 
0 
12.2 
22.1 
Winkler.a 
Do. 
Lebeau. b 
Frankland. c 
Winkler.d 
Von Than.« 
Ethane. 
c 2 h 6 . 
Propane. 
C 3 H 8 . 
Butane. 
C 4 H 1 O. 
Ethylene . 
C 2 H 4 . 
Propylene . t . 
c 3 h 6 . 
a Winkler, L. W., Die Loslichkeit der Gase in Wasser: Deutsche chem. Gesell. Ber., Band 34, pp. 1417- 
1421,1901. 
b Lebeau, Paul, Sur quelques propri6t6s physiques du propane: Compt. Rend., vol. 140, pp. 1454-1456 
1905. 
cFrankland, Edward, Ueber die Isolirung der organischen Radicale: Annalen der Chemie, Band 71, 
p. 171, 1849. (Frankland states that butane is insoluble in water, but it is desirable that this early work 
be checked with the more refined methods now in use.) 
d Winkler, L. W., unpublished data cited by Landolt-Bornstein, Physikalisch-chemische Tabellen 
p. 604, 1905. 
« Von Than, Carl, Der Absorptions coefficient des Propylengases: Annalen der Chemie, Band 123, p 187 
1862. 
Methane and ethane are the predominating constituents of most 
natural gas, and water which has been in contact with gas is therefore 
likely to contain these hydrocarbons in solution. Propane has been 
found in some gas, but propane and butane are more commonly 
associated with light paraffin oil. Ethylene and perhaps propylene 
may occur in natural gas but are not common. 
The hydrocarbons dissolved in the California oil-field waters are 
doubtless chiefly methane and ethane. Their presence in the water 
flooding an oil well is of little value in determining the source of that 
water, as they are rapidly soluble and may be taken up by the water 
while it is being raised to the surface. Their presence in water from 
a wildcat well in which no oil or gas has yet been found might be 
taken merely as a suggestion of the proximity of petroleum, but 
certainly could not be considered conclusive evidence. Methane in 
particular is so widely distributed that its presence in a water has 
little significance; ethane and ethylene are more generally associated 
with petroleum deposits and therefore have somewhat greater diag¬ 
nostic value. The presence of propane would be still more significant, 
but as this hydrocarbon is not common in California oil or gas it 
would seldom be a factor in practical work. 
The more complex hydrocarbon derivatives that are soluble in 
water are chiefly compounds containing oxygen, the commonest of 
which are probably the naphthenic acids. All the waters near the 
oil zone in the San Joaquin Valley fields are alkaline, and the presence 
of organic acids may be determined by acidulating the water. Organic 
acids if present in moderate amounts appear as a milky precipitate, 
but in some waters are present in so large amount that they separate 
out in largo oily globules. Many of the waters near the oil measures 
or in the diatomaceous shale below respond to this reaction. 
