Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to William O. George.
Data are presented to show the relationship of changes in gravity and fluctuations in artesian pressure, and atmospheric pressure, as shown by simultaneous measurements. Computed tide‐producing forces are also shown. The curves are generally conformable.
Ground water in many parts of Texas contains nitrate in excess of 20 ppm (parts per million) as NO 3 . About 3,000 of the 20,000 nitrate determinations made of water from wells in Texas showed more than 20 ppm of nitrate . The public water supplies of 27 Texas towns and cities contained more than 50 ppm of nitrate . Recent medical research indicates that methemoglobinemia or infant cyanosis (“blue babies”) may be caused by nitrate in water used in formula mixtures. Most of the high nitrate in ground water is found in wells less than 200 ft deep and mainly in water from late Tertiary and Quaternary formations; however, high nitrate was found in water from all kinds of rocks of all ages. The presence of high nitrate in ground water appears to be unrelated to rainfall, geography, or cultivation. A hypothesis of bacterial origin of the high nitrate is supported by strong evidence but is weakened by the presence of the correspondingly high content of associated salts. The disappearance of nitrate at depth presents additional problems.
I was an employee of the Texas State Board of Water Engineers in charge of the Fort Stockton field office at the time that the data for this paper were gathered. Since I have done both extensive and detailed ground‐water work in the Fort Stockton area, including the setting and maintaining of the water‐stage recorder at the Gonzales well, I believe I can add some pertinent hydrologic remarks about this paper. The authors state that the principal water‐bearing formation is a limestone. This opinion is not shared by myself and most likely the majority of other geologists in this area. Adkins [1927] favored the basal Cretaceous sands as the principal source of water to Comanche Springs. I believe that the most extensive and the principal water‐bearing formation is a sand and sandstone. The crevices and channels reported in wells and exposed at the springs are only a localized condition resulting from structural weakness and solution caused by a high water surface. The piezometric surface in sand and crevice wells is essentially identical; this suggests that there exists but one principal aquifer in this area. W.N. White, former District Geologist in Texas for the U.S. Geological Survey, in a personal communication to me in 1948, reported Comanche Springs to be the most reliable springs in Texas. This reliable flow strongly supports the concept of a sand aquifer, whose catchment area, or source, is of vast and varied extent, and a great distance from its outlet.