Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-10-28
RADIOACTIVITY OF PARK WA.
TIERS.
Report of Tests Conducted for United
States GeoIooicaI Survey

/
States Geological Survey.
Since the discov4g of radium and
its allied elementsy With their remark
able property of continuously emapat-
ing heat, a new factor has entered in
to the speculations of scientists re
garding the causes of local manifes-
tations of heat in the earth's crust.
Thermal springs and geysers are I'M
dergoing new scrutiny in order TO
determine whether their waters con
tain greater quantities of radium than
ordinary waters from underground
sources. The United States Geological
Survey has just published, as Bulle-
| tin 395, a report under the title "Ra-
diOactivity of the Thermal Waters of
Yellowstone National Park" by Her
man Schlundt and Richard B. Moore.
giving the results of recent tests The
experiments were conducted chiefly
from the chemists point Of view, and
in this bulletin the discussion that
follows the tables of cumulative re-
suits is limited to pointing out the
more important characteristics and
relations Of the data, and comparing
them with data Of Tadioactivity in
other regions Of hydrothermal activ-
ity. The authors have indicated a
possible application of some of the
results to a geologic Question-tne
age of some of the spring deposits;
but no systematic attempt has been
made to relate the facts of radioactiv-
ity to the photography Of the region
or to the geology of the park.
Typical spring waters from all the
principal basins of thermal activity
were tested, and wherever gases were
evolved from a spring these also were
tested for their radioactive proper
ties. Many solids also, consisting of
spring deposits, water residues, and
rock samples, were examined quaint
tatively for the radium content. The
determinations were all made by the
electrical method, the apparatus ana
procedure for which are briefly des-
cribed.
The results show that'th mderly-
ing rock in the park contains radium
and, in some localities thorium, in sur
ficient quantities to make the waters
and gases decidedly radioactive. No
tests were made to determine the pres
ence Of helium, which is a constituent
of the gas escaping from several of
the more active European springs.
An interesting application of the
results is made by the authors in an
of Of 10 Of oil
spring deposits in the park by COM
parisOn of their radioactivity with that
Of the most recent deposits A given
quantity of radium, separated from
its parent uranium, loses, according to
recent determinations, one-half its ac-
tivity in 1900 years. On this basis
the age of certain deposits that are
overlain by glacial powders is deter
mined to be about 10000 years.
The problem is suggested, To what
extent has the radium caused the
continued hydrOthermal activity in
Yellowstone Park, by affecting the
rate of cooling Of the rocks? No cal
culatiOns were attempted in this di-
rection, owing to lack of data regard
| the volume of water discharged by
the springs. From all cOnsidera-
lions, however, the authors conclude
that no more than / per cent of the
heat required for hydrothermal action
can be ascribed to the radium content
/ Of the rock.
Bulletin 395 may be obtained free
by writing to tie director of the U. S.
geological survey, Washington, D. c.