Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1919-09-13

ceptional economic and scientific im- portance. Although the wells drilled by the Hope Natural Gas Co. and the Peoples Natural Gas Co. have not yet
 reached the goal sought-a depth of 5000 feet-they have, nevertheless, come within 421 feet of the goal, and incidentally they have established the
 fact that no valuable deposits of oil exist in the immediate vicinity of the
 wells at depths somewhat greater than 1000 feet.
 Whats in the Interior of the Earth ?
 The materials and the conditions in
 the interior of the earth have long
 been favorite subject of speculation
 among scientific men. According to
 the modern mathematical theory of
 the propagation of earthquake waves
 through the earth the outer rocky
 shell of the earth, which is about two
 and one-half times as heavy as water,
 extends to a depth of less than 1000
 miles. Inside of this, shell is some
 material, probably metallic, which is Ciidth liNC iiCoNy @o water. Estimates of the temperature
 at the center of this nucleus range from 5000 deg. to 180,OO deg. F., but these figures have little or no value, for mathematicians have not yet found the law of the distribution of temperature from the surface to the center of the earth. The temperature evidently increases with the depth, a fact again confirmd by an elaborate series of observations of temperature made in each of the three deep wells, the Geary, the Golf, and the Lake, by c. E. Van Orstrand, of the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior. In each of these wells the temperature at depth of 100 feet is about 55 deg. F. and gradually rises with increase in depth, reaching 142.O deg. F. in the Geary we'll at depth of 6,1OO feet, 1893 deg. F. in the Golf we'll at depth of 7,310 feet, and 168.6 deg. F. in the Lake we'll at a depth of 7,500 feet. The observation at a depth of 7,50O feet in! the Lake well was made at the deepest point yet reached by any observer.
 Unexplained Enormous Heat.
 The source of the enormous quantity of heat stored in the interior of the earth is not known. Some writers think this heat is due to the disinte- grafton of radium in the rocks, others think that the earth is a cooling globe, radiating heat developed during con- densation> from the original nebula, and others think that it is due to va rious causes, such as radioactivity, chemical reactions, impacts from me- teorites, or condensation from nebu- iouS material.
 Some Interesting Results of Deep
 Drilling. Nn The strata of lime, slate, and sand penetrated ,by these deep wells were originally sediments deposited from ocean water. A bed of ocean water was actually found in the Geary we'll lat a depth of 6,26O feet. Dr. I. c. White, States geologist of West Vir- ginia, with whom the United States Geological Survey is, cooperating in these investigations, is of the opinion that this water is a fossil ocean, i'm prisoned since mid-Palezoic time. In- teresting evidence in regard to the geologic history of the formations was obtained by, Charles Butts, of the. United States Geological Survey, who identified a number of fossils from depths sof 7,187 to 1855 feet in the Golf well. The material from the Lake well has not yet been fully ex- amined. It may be possible by exam ming the fossils to determine the geo. logic ages and horizons of the beds penetrated and \so to estimate the depth at which the Clinton sand should lie beneath the bottom of this well. The well probably does not pass through more than one-half the total of sediments in this region.