Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-11-15
WHY SOME DEEP WELLS
FURNISH SALTY WATER
From the Kansas City Star.

among the many unSolved mysteries
concerning the interior of Mother
Earth few are more fascinating thar
those brought to light by certain sur
prlslng experiences of drillers of deep
wells. says a bulletin of the United
States geological survey. Although
many people are not aware of the fact,
a large proportion of the wells sunk to
depths below 1000 feet encounter large
bodies of salt water, the flow of which
may be so great that the driller remark
that he has struck the Gulf OF Mexico
or some other immense body Of salt
water. The salt water may even flow
up out OF the mouth of the we'll, but
more commonly it rises in the we'll to
a height Of several hundred feet above
the bottom and its supply is so great
mat only a pump of enormous capacity
can keep the well empty. Where does
this salt water come from? 1t is often
assumed that it fills some immense
cavity or system Of crevices, but in fact
unusually porous rock, like sandstone,
IN which the pores, though minute, have
an aggregate volume or capacity OF
millions Of cubic feet.
But one question is 40 sooner an
swered than another one, more diff
cult, arises, and the question now is,
How did this salt water get into tine
porous rock? Has rain water soaked far
down in the earth and found some bed
Of rock salt which 1t dissolved and
thereby became salty; or had the salt
water some source far within the earth
from which it mas arisen TOWARD the
surface; or Is it the water of some
ancient ocean hat filled the pores Of
the sane and mud of it's bed, which in
ges gone by became buried under sand
and mud that gradually accumulated
on the ocean bottom?
The shells Of sea animals found IN
limestones and other hard rocks at the
that the ocean, in some one or several
remote ages, covered a large part OF the
country, n it appears extremely prob
able hat the salt water found in the
deep wells is really fossil sea water en-
tombed in the sands and muds OF for
mer cons and now brought to the sur
face by the drill, which in lnnumerabie
places in this and other countries Is
being sunk to depths Of 1000, 5000 and
1000 feet, and eve down to depths OF
nearly $500 feet, a depth reached by q
very deep we'll which is still being
drilled at a place q little west OF Pitts
burgh.
especially in oil fields, but it has been
struck by the drill at many other
places, as, for example. near Leaven-
worth, Kan, where enormous quantities
of salt water are found at various
depths below the surface.
Although no valuable pools OF Oil OF
gas have been found in that region, nu-
merous beds of coal underlie 1T. In one
boring -Four beds of coal a~ggregatins
over eight feet in thickness and numer'
Gus thinner beds having an addltlona
total thickness of six feet were found
In that region also many outcroppln&
layers Of rock contain remains of ma
rine shells, and the entire region was M
doubt once covered by the sea. Indeed
the geologIst has been able to deciphe:
in the rocks numerous details of tn
record OF the advance and retreat o
the sea and has been able to stabis
the fact that the region was submerge'
at several different times. These am
other geologic features Of the regiol
near L~eavenworth and east Of 1t i
Missouri, including it's mineral re
sources, are described in a folio of tn
Geologic Atlas of the Uuited States jus
issued by the United States Geologic
surve department Of the interior. Thu
folio, the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS foli
ono. 2O6), which was prepared in CO
operation with the Missouri bureau {
geology and mines, contains also geolo
gic maps and numerous other Illus
trations. 1t may be obtained by sendln
25 cents to the director OF the survey.