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 ^OVA SCOTj-^ 
 
 PROVINCE HOUSE 
 
 « 
 
 ■: vi 
 
■ .■ -4 I 
 
 ■I 
 
 NOTES ON NOVA SCOTT A PIT WATERS. 
 
 By EDWIN GILPIN, A.M., F.G.S., rNaPECTOu of Mines. 
 
 The composition, sources, and effects of the hidden springs of the earth 
 are as yet so h'ttle known, and the field for investigation is so wide and 
 varied, that the time has not yet arrived for reliable deductions ; but 
 it may be expected that at some future day the composition of mineral 
 springs and the waters cut by boreholes, &c., may be brought into the 
 service of man, and furnish valuable information about the proximity of 
 mineral deposits and strata. 
 
 So far as the writer is aware, but four analyses have as yet been made 
 of Nova Scotia pit waters. Two of these are of waters from the Pictou 
 coal district, and two from the Cape Breton district j they, however, 
 represent fairly the oharacteristics of the waters of the two districts. 
 
 At the Blockhouse Colliery, Cape Breton, the pit water has a corrosive 
 effect on the ironwork exposed to its action. The following analysis was 
 made in the laboratory of the Canadian Geological Survey, 1872-73 : — 
 
 Sulphate of iron . . 
 
 Iron (aspersalt) .. 
 Iron (asprotosalt) 
 Manganese 
 Aluminium 
 Calcium ... 
 Magnesium 
 
 Potassi ir. 
 
 Sodium 
 
 Silica 
 
 Sulphuric acid 
 Chloric 
 
 Phosphoric acid , . 
 Organic mat^r . . 
 
 SrspENDKD Matter. 
 
 In SotrTioN. 
 
 Total constituents in 1,000 parts 
 
 •1510 
 
 •2426 
 •1168 
 •0078 
 •0420 
 •1498 
 •0618 
 •0134 
 •1884 
 •0116 
 
 1-1808 
 •4100 
 
 tracer 
 •2844 
 
 3-0094 
 
 Water, yellowish -brown colour, acid reaction, and styptic taste. 
 
,a |-||-ii'ii limrjtn 
 
 
 2 
 
 or 
 
 NOVA SCOTIA PIT WATERS. 
 
 The Blockhouse Scam immediafoly overlies the Gowrie Seam, worked 
 by Messrfe. Archibald. In Vol. XXVI., p. 56, of the Transactions, there 
 is an iniercsting account of the difficulties that gentleman met with in 
 overcoming the destructive effects of the water found in their pit. There 
 is no analysis of the water from the Gowrie Mine, but, from its appear- 
 ance and action, there is no doubt but that the analysis given above wiU 
 also indicate its composition. 
 
 At several other collieries in the Cape Breton district similar corrosive 
 powers appear in the pit waters, and have caused much annoyance to 
 those engaged in conductir.g mining operations. 
 
 Direct-acting force pumps are very generally employed, and frequently 
 require replacement of the iron working parts by t impositions similar to 
 that used at the Go^tIc, such as brass, babbit metal, and lignum vitie. No 
 doubt the heat induced by the steam \s-ould tend to increase this corrosive 
 tendency, but the portability of these pumps, and the general adoption of 
 slope winnings, cause their retention. When, through ignorance or a false 
 economy, these waters are introduced into the colliery boilers, an imme- 
 diate and energetic corrosion takes place. The boilers used in Cape 
 Breton, with a few exceptions, are cylindrical egg-ended, externally fired. 
 The action of the water is shown by cutting the ri et heads— severe pit- 
 ting, a planing away of some of the plates over a space of several square 
 inches, and generally a deposit of hard scale on the lower back end plates. 
 
 A scum-collector, invented by Mr. W. M. Rumble, Mechanical Super- 
 intendent. Cape Breton Coal Co., has been found to materially prevent 
 the destructive effect of these w^aters at the Emery Colliery. The descrip- 
 tion of it is from the Report of the Inspector of Mines for 1877 : — "It 
 m%j be described generally to a. ist of a two-inch pipe leading from nt.ar 
 the back end of the boiler up to an 18-gallon receiver, placed above the 
 boiler and nearly over the fire bridge ; from the receiver pass two pipes, 
 one to the open and the other directly downwards through the shell to 
 low-water line, where it branches into two transversely-placed bell mouths, 
 each having a diameter equal to the difference between high and low-water 
 in the boiler. The circuit being made by the necessary valves, a current 
 of water flows through the system in a contrary direction to the order of 
 the above description. Then as the strongest ebullition occurs where the 
 bell mouths are placed, the scum in the water is thrown to the surface 
 and passes up into the receiver where it settles, and from which it is 
 periodically blown out through the second pipe.'' 
 
 The pit water from the Gardener Colliery has developed all the above 
 injurious qualities in a marked manner. The following analysis of thig 
 
 .1 
 
 , 
 
 Wj?'/ i. 
 
 
 I 
 
 X 
 
NOVA StOTIA PIT WATKUS. 
 
 8 
 
 water, made by the wi-itcr some time ago, shows a composition similar to 
 that of the Blockhoiwe wal( r : — 
 
 Iron sulphate 
 
 Potassium sulphate 
 Calcium carbonate 
 
 Magnesium carbonate 
 
 Sodium chloride 
 
 Alumina ... 
 
 Silica 
 
 Total in 1,000 p rts 
 
 ?-750 
 •186 
 •736 
 ■025 
 •960 
 
 trace 
 •225 
 
 4-831 
 
 Water, clear with bluish shatlej after standing, deposited reddish sediment; acid 
 reaction, and highly styptic taste. 
 
 This water also exerted a corrosive action on the force pumps and the 
 wrought-iron rising columns. The action on the latter was mitigated by 
 a coating of oxide of iron deposited by the water. As this coating was 
 nearly one-half inch thick in a 5-inch pipe, the partial protection thus 
 afforded was attended with a lessened area through the pipe. 
 
 Passing to the Pictou coal-field there is a class of waters of a totally 
 different character and of a comparatively innocuous nature. The follow- 
 ing analysis of the pit water of the Vale Colliery, made by the writer a 
 short while ago, is as follows : — 
 
 Iron and alumina . . . 
 Magnesium carbonate 
 CalciuEi carbonate 
 Sodiinn chloride . . . 
 *Sodium carbonate 
 Magnesium sulphate 
 Calcium sulphate... 
 Potassium ... 
 Silicious matter . . . 
 Organic matter ... 
 
 Total in 1,000 parts 
 
 traces 
 
 1-452 
 
 7-309 
 
 •100 
 
 •514 
 
 traces 
 
 •190 
 
 trace 
 
 9-765 
 
 Water, clear and colourless ; at first it gave no reaction, but after boiling became 
 
 alkaline. 
 
 * The percentage of sodium carbonate appeared so large ihat the determination was repeated, and 
 the former result confirmed ; the percentage given is an average of boih determinatio . 
 
 This water has been used a little as a boiler feed, and has not shown 
 any injurious eifects. 
 
 The second analysis of Pictou pit water now given is one of the water 
 from the Nova Scotia Colliery, situated at the western extremity of the 
 
 I 
 
 MMP^^^-'-' 'rs '^-.i^^^iliiipjiiiiil 
 
1^,' 
 
 NOVA SCOTIA PIT WATERS. 
 
 district, made by Dr. H. How, King's College, Windsor, N.S., giving the 
 
 following results : — 
 
 Silica 
 
 Calcium carbonate 
 Magnesium carbonate 
 Iron carbonate , . . 
 Sodium chloride ... 
 I'otassium sulphate 
 Sodium sulphate . . . 
 Sodium cai'bonate 
 Phosphoric acid . . , 
 Organic matter . . . 
 
 •460 
 10590 
 3-570 
 traces 
 1170 
 1-580 
 2-500 
 3-350 
 
 ncmu 
 traces 
 
 23-.^20 
 
 Water, bright and clear; no odour, slightly acidj after boiling gave alkaline 
 reactions. Calculated in grains to the imperial gallon. 
 
 These waters have been used to some extent mixed with surface water, 
 with no markedly injurious efifccts. 
 
 On comparing the Pictou and Cape Breton pit waters it will be at 
 once seen that the latter contain very large quantities of iron sulphates, 
 and the former lai'ge percentages of alkaline carbonates. These waters 
 all differ from any of the Canadian pre-carboniferous waters, which are 
 fully described by Dr. Sterry Hunt in Sir William Logan's " Geology of 
 Canada," 1803. The Canadian waters, arising from comparatively undis- 
 turbed measures, present constituents derived from limestones, dolomites, 
 argillaceous sediments, and feldspathic rocks, which admit of their division 
 into six classes. The number of Nova Scotia pit waters analysed is too 
 small to admit of any deductions which can be considered reliable. But 
 there are a few points, which may to some extent account for these widely- 
 divergent results. In considering the composition of these pit waters 
 found in workings of moderate depths, it may be assumed that they are 
 accumulated partly from surface water filtering downwards, and partly 
 from water rising from lower measures by hydrostatic pressure through 
 the strata, or by means of faults. 
 
 The strata containing the Cape Breton coals are largely composed of 
 sandstones, many of which hold numerous disseminated crystals of iron 
 Bulphurets, while the shales which predominate in Pictou County are 
 comparatively free ft'om this ingredient. This and the larger percentage 
 of iron pyrites and organic compounds of sulphur in the Cape Breton 
 coals may account for the large amounts of iron sulphates the former 
 contain. The preponderance of sodium chloride in the Pictou pit water 
 may be explained by the fact that on the southern edge of the district, 
 
 • 1 ' 
 
 ■HMNmi 
 
 'I II Tti|ii'igj|ggj|rfaWjji|ijj|b.^ 
 
NOVA 8C0TU PIT WATERS. 
 
 whence the waters analysed were taken, the Lower Carboniferous lime- 
 stones and gypsums come against the coal-measures with very little 
 intervening millstone grit, and the heavy faults bounding the district 
 would allow the admission of their waters to the workings. In Cape 
 Breton, on the other hand, the coal-measures are comparatively undis- 
 (;urbed, and a great thickness of millstone grit must intervene betTveen 
 them and the marine (Lower Carboniferous) limestones. In both districts 
 limestone is almost entirely wanting in the coal-measures. 
 
 The folluwing analysis of a Capo Breton Lower Carboniferous water, 
 from the Little Narrows of the Bras d'Or Lake, made by the analyst to 
 the Geological Survey, 1873, is given for comparison :— 
 
 Sodium chloride... 
 
 Potttssiuin rhlorido ... ... 
 
 Magnesium chloride 
 
 O'tlcium sulphate 
 
 Alumina.., 
 
 Silict: ' 
 
 Ferric >xi '" suspended, originully present, probably as 
 ferroub airbonate 
 
 Totalin 1,000 parts 
 
 60-6881 
 
 ■1942 
 
 •1592 
 
 B6810 
 
 traces 
 
 n 
 
 •0054 
 56^7279 
 
 Tais fairly represents the composition of the Lower Carboniferous 
 waters, although in cases whore tliey rise from highly gypseous portions 
 of these measures, the calcium sulphate sometimes predominates. 
 
 This derivation oi" the sodium chloride irom the marine limestones in 
 Ihe case of the Pictou waters may be supported l.y the fact that at the 
 Vale Colliery, where the Lower Carboniferous measures are a compara- 
 tively short distance away, the cleats of the coal are i'requently coated 
 with films of selcnite up to one-quarter of an inch in thickness ; and it 
 will also be observed that the water from this mine contains a consider- 
 able amount of calcium sulphate. The unusually large percentage of 
 sodium carbonate present in the waters from the Vale Colliery does not 
 at first seem easily accounted for, unless it owes its origin to the argilla- 
 ceous shales which were formed from the granites and silurian slates of 
 the hills lying to the south of the district. 
 
 The comparatively small amounts of magnesium salts present in all 
 the Nova Scotia pit waters may perhaps be owing to the fact that this 
 mineral is not abundant in the province— an average of twenty analyses 
 of Lower Carboniferous limestones giving but 75 per cent, of magnesium 
 carbonate. 
 
 MMMwIpM