Spring waters

The element is not found free in nature, but occurs as orthoboric acid usually found in certain volcanic spring waters and as borates in boron and colemantie. Ulexite, another boron mineral, is interesting as it is nature s own version of "fiber optics."... 

Twenty isotopes are known. Radon-22, from radium, has a half-life of 3.823 days and is an alpha emitter Radon-220, emanating naturally from thorium and called thoron, has a half-life of 55.6 s and is also an alpha emitter. Radon-219 emanates from actinium and is called actinon. It has a half-life of 3.96 s and is also an alpha emitter. It is estimated that every square mile of soil to a depth of 6 inches contains about 1 g of radium, which releases radon in tiny amounts into the atmosphere. Radon is present in some spring waters, such as those at Hot Springs, Arkansas. 

It can be found in animal tissues (1), in vegetables and fmit (2,3), or in spring water (4), and has also been identified in meteorites (5). It is formed in alcohohc fermentation (6) and in the chemical and biochemical oxidation of fats. Succinic acid is present in amber (7) Succinuni) and can be obtained by distillation, by which method it was first isolated by Georgius Agricola in 1550. 

Cesium, first discovered by Bunsen and Kirchoff ia 1860 while examining spring water, was the first element discovered spectroscopically (1). The name, comes from the Latin caesius, sky blue, and refers to the characteristic blue spectral lines of the element. Cesium salts were not successfully reduced to metal until 1881. Electrolysis of the molten chloride did not yield cesium metal under the same conditions that led to the reduction of the other alkaU metal chlorides. 

Sauer-blei, n. lead chromate, -bleiche,/, sour bleaching, -briihe, /. (Tech.) sour liquor, acid liquor, -brunnen, m. acidulous spring water,... 

The spring water issuing through fissures in the hills, which are only masses of coal, is so impregnated with bituminous and sulphurous particles as to be frequently nauseous to the taste and prejudicial to the health. (T. M. Morris, 1803, in Mac-Kenthum, 1969)... 

Fig. 2.13. (A) Temperature dependence of pH in Japanese thermal waters. Lines indicate the temperature dependence of pH when pH is buffered by the K-feldspar-K-mica-quartz (or chalcedony at less than 200°C) assemblage at a Na + K concentration of 0.1 and 0.01 mol/kg H2O. Symbols are as in Fig. 2.11. (B) Temperature dependence of pH of Icelandic thermal waters. Large circles indicate well discharges. Small dots represent hot spring waters (Chiba, 1991).

Chemical analytical data on the hot spring waters are given in Table 2.5 (Aoki and Thompson, 1990). Gold is precipitating from H2S-rich, diluted chloride and neutral hot springs (Aoki, 1992b). 

Chemical composition of some typical hot spring waters at Osorezan (concentration in ppm Aoki, 1992b)... 

The Arima hot spring waters are classified into three types (1) Na-Ca-Cl type brine which is high in salinity and CO2 and medium to low in temperature (2) highly saline Na-Ca-Cl-type water of high temperature and low CO2 concentration and (3) dilute and C02-rich water of low temperature (Table 2.8). 

The total amount of discharged hot spring water is 50,000 ton/day, indicating a huge geothermal system (Taguchi et al., 1988). 

The hot spring waters are divided into sulfate-rich steam heated water, chloride-rich deep-water, bicarbonate-dominated water and their intermediate types. 

Fournier, R.O. and Truesdell, A.H. (1970) Chemical indicators of subsurface temperatures applied to hot spring waters of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A. Geothermics, 2, 529-535. 

Koga, A. (1961) Gold distribution in the hot springs water in Beppu. J. Chem. Soc. Japan, 82, 1476-1478 (in Japanese). 

Simmer 1 cup of fresh or 1/2 cup dried elderberries in 3 cups of spring water add 1/8 tsp. powdered cloves, 1/4 tsp. powdered cinnamon and 1 inch of fresh chopped ginger root. Mash the berries with the water and spices and simmer at a low boil for 1/2 hour. Strain. Return the liquid to the cooking pot and... 

I) Radon Contents in Spring Water, J. Jap. Assoc. Phys. Med. 

II) Determination of Radon Contents in the Air of Radioactive Spa Areas, and Excretion of Radon in Expiratory Air after using Spring Water, J. Jap. Assoc. Phys. Med. Balneol. Climatol. 45 49-67 (1982). 

Fig. 23.6. Calculated saturation indices (log Q/K) of aluminum-bearing minerals plotted versus temperature for a hot spring water from Gjogur, Hveravik, Iceland. Lines for most of the minerals are not labeled, due to space limitations. Sampling temperature is 72 °C and predicted equilibrium temperature (arrow) is about 80 °C. Clinoptilolite (zeolite) minerals are the most supersaturated minerals below this temperature and saponite (smectite clay) minerals are the most supersaturated above it.

Fig. 23.7. Calculated saturation indices (log Q/K) of silica minerals for Gjogur hot spring water. Chalcedony is approximately in equilibrium at 80 °C, but quartz is supersaturated at this temperature.

We choose as a first example the evaporation of spring water from the Sierra Nevada mountains of California and Nevada, USA, as modeled by Garrels and Mackenzie (1967). Their hand calculation, the first reaction path traced in geochemistry (see Chapter 1), provided the inspiration for Helgeson s (1968 and later) development of computerized methods for reaction modeling. 

Table 24.1. Mean composition of spring water from the Sierra Nevada, California and Nevada, USA (Garrels and Mackenzie, 1967)...

Fig. 24.1. Volumes of minerals (amorphous silica, calcite, and sepiolite) precipitated during a reaction model simulating at 25 °C the evaporation of Sierra Nevada spring water in equilibrium with atmospheric C02, plotted against the concentration factor. For example, a concentration factor of x 100 means that of the original 1 kg of water, 10 grams remain.

Fig. 24.2. Calculated effects of evaporation at 25 °C on the chemistry of Sierra Nevada spring water. Top figures show how pH and ionic strength vary over the reaction path in Figure 24.1 bottom figure shows variation in the fluid s bulk composition.

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