Search Documents

By Otto F. Pfordte

The silver-ore-deposits of the famous district of Cerro de Pasco were discovered in 1630 by Huari-Capcha, an Indian shepherd. In the early part of its history, the district yielded enormous riches. The records from 1784 to 1846 (excluding five years, 1821-25, during which civil war prevailed) show a product of 2,323,526 lbs. of silver; and the value of the total product since the discovery may be estimated at about $565,000,000. The town of Cerro de Pasco is situated in the province of the same name, department of Junin, Peru, 14,250 feet above sea-level. The nearest railway station is on the line of the Callao and Cerro de Pasco R.R., at a distance of about three days' travel on horseback. The population of the town numbers about 6000, mostly native Indians. Mines.—The mines are mainly located in the immediate neighborhood of the town and partly even under the principal streets, being distributed in several very large open cuts 250 to 350 feet deep called tajos, which extend in a nearly direct north and south line west of the town and are known as Tajo de Santa Rosa, Tajo Tingo or Portachuelo, Cajac Graude, Cajac Chico, Salsipuedes, Avella Fuerte, and several smaller ones. Tajo de Santa Rosa, the largest and most southerly, is closely connected on its north side with Tajo Tingo; while the others are entirely separate and lie northward in the order given ; the extreme ends of the series being about a mile apart. Besides these, there are Tajo Descubridora a short distance east of Sta. Rosa and Tajo Matagente, about half a mile north of the main plaza in the town of Cerro de Pasco. The argentiferous deposit consists mainly of a ferruginous sandstone, while the neighboring country-rock is limestone, conglomerate and slate. The judicial fixed point from which all mining claims are measured, is a cross erected on a small elevation east of, and between tajos Sta. Rosa and Tingo, called Santa Catalina. This important

Jan 1, 1895

By H. Ries

THE term "clay" is applied usually to certain earthy rocks whose most prominent property is that of plasticity when wet. This permits them to be molded into almost any shape, which they retain when dry. Furthermore, they harden under fire. Clays contain hydrous aluminum silicates-the clay minerals-in appreciable amounts, but aside from this a number of other mineral grains, particularly quartz, may be present. Texturally clays are fine grained, and the so-called true clay particles are usually under 2µ in diameter. MINERALS IN CLAY Certain hydrous aluminum silicates that predominate in many clays are known as the clay minerals"." and are grouped by Kerr41 as follows: [ ] The kaolin group has been found to consist of a number of minerals with the same chemical composition but different crystalline structures .83 Kaolinite is commonly formed by the weathering of other mineral particles, particularly feldspar, but some deposits, like those in Cornwall, England,36 and others in the Washington-Idaho district, are thought by some to be of hydrothermal origin. Dickite and nacrite are thought to be due usually to waters of

Jan 1, 1949

By Orson Cutler, Shepard

THE OBJECT of this paper is twofold: (1) To analyze the forces that cause air bubbles to spread on mineral surfaces in the flotation process; and (2) To develop a rational expression that will serve as a criterion of the floatability of minerals, to the end that the efficiencies of various flotation reagents can be accurately compared. Heretofore, the subject of the spreading of air bubbles has been dismissed with the statement that the surfaces of minerals on which bubbles spread are water-repellent. Imperfect understanding of the forces involved has led to the use, hitherto, of various erroneous formulas for the calculation of the comparative effectiveness of flotation reagents.

Jan 1, 1932

By R. J. Pearce, I. Whittle, J. J. Stobbs

The oxidation kinetics of UCu5 in carbon dioxide have been studied over the temperature range 350° to 850°C. At any one temperature, two successive parabolic rate constants are obtained. Up to 650°C, the temperature dependence of the reaction is snzall and the first parabolic rate constant is higher than the second. At temperatures of 690°C and above, there is a very marked temperature dependence and the second rate constant is the higher. Metallo-graphic examination has shown that attack proceeds via internal oxidation. THE oxidation behavior of the U-Cu intermetallic compound, UCu5, in carbon dioxide was briefly examined during investigations aimed at selecting oxidation-resistant uranium-alloy coatings.' It was found that an extremely thick, coherent scale was formed coated at the scale-gas interface with a thin, apparently continuous layer of copper. A more detailed investigation of the oxidation of UCus has now been made. Previous published work2 has been limited to a brief examination of UCu5 in connection with the oxidation of a U-1 wt pct Cu alloy in carbon dioxide. No attempt was made to explain its behavior, but the work indicated that attack proceeded by intern oxidation, with the formation of a layer of copper on the surface of the specimen. EXPERIMENTAL UCus was prepared by arc melting the stoichio-metric amounts of high-purity copper* and uran-

Jan 1, 1965

By S. F. Emmons

It was said by many who discussed Professor Posepny's admirable paper on the "Genesis of Ore-Deposits," read at the Chicago meeting of the Institute, in 1893, that its most valuable feature was the clear distinction which it drew between the influence upon ore-deposits of the " vadose " circulation of waters descending directly from the surface, and that of the deep underground circulation of waters generally coming from the depths, and assumed by the author to be ascending through more or less open spaces under the influence of heat. A little later the effect of the oxidizing action of the vadose circulation upon ore-deposits was ably and exhaustively treated by Prof. R. A. F. Penrose, in a paper on " The Superficial Alteration of

Jan 1, 1901

By Oswald J. Heinrich

The responsibility resting upon the owners and managers of mines where fire-damp is generated, renders it a matter of imperative duty that a frill and correct statement of any explosion that occurs should be given to the public. But such a statement must be based on the testimony of impartial eye-witnesses or trained experts. Then a sad experience may result in the adoption of effective preventive measures. In the absence of any official and professional body of mining experts in the State of Virginia, the writer desires to submit to his professional brethren of the American Institute of Mining Engineers an account of an explosion which recently took place in a colliery under his management, and earnestly desires a thorough and impartial discussion on the Fats submitted. Description and Plan of the Mine.—The "Grove" shaft is situated at the nearest point 825 feet from the last old workings upon the Midlothian property, south of the old Pump shaft works. (See Plate 111.) The shaft was sunk by the former company, some thirty years ago, to the depth of 622 feet. An incline over 230 feet long, starting in a northwest direction at a depth of 105 feet above the shaft bottom, had been driven to explore the coal on the dip. A return of very small dimensions had been driven round the shaft on the south side, entering the upcast chamber. With the information obtained from the former company that a seam of coal about four feet thick, at a depth of 490 feet, had been found, and with the information obtained by the present proprietor, R. T. Burrows, of Albion, N. Y., by means of two boreholes on the dip west of the old shaft, in both of which workable seams of coal at various depths had been ascertained, the clearing out and thorough retimbering of this shaft were commenced in March, 1873. Borehole No. 1, at a depth of 4773 feet from surface, revealed a seam of coal. This borehole was afterwards carried to a depth of 1140 feet to the granite, without finding any other seam of coal. Borehole No. 3, at a depth of 608 feet, revealed the first coal-seam, 14 1/2 feet thick; at 633 feet, the second, 12 feet thick; at 662 feet the third, 1 foot thick, and at 692 feet the fourth, 43 to 5 feet thick. The borehole was stopped at a depth of 715 1/2 feet.

By R. P. McLaughlin

Discussion of the paper of R. P. McLaughlin, presented at the San Francisco meeting, September, 1915, and printed in Bulletin 'No. 108, December, 1915, pp. 2313 to 2319. M. E. LOMBARDI, Berkeley, Cal.-Mr. Bell, I would ask you to state before the meeting what you said to me the other day, about the final recovery of oil from oil sands that have become inundated with water. A. F. L. BELL, San. Francisco, Cal: In stating my opinion, I give it with certain qualifications. In the Kern field, and possibly in some others, I think we will eventually get all the oil out, whether the water comes in or not, since it is peculiarly constructed, being in the form of a partial dome. In 1909, while I was field manager of the Associated Oil Co., I installed some large air compressors to handle the water. At that time the oil had migrated to the higher and more shallow portions of the field, because the water had inundated the deeper sections. The result was that the shallow districts within the center of the dome were in many, cases producing as much or more oil per well than the deeper wells. And in the inundated sections the water had slowly spread over large areas, so that nothing but water was pumped from them. Under these conditions, we decided to pump the wet. well with air, and installed four 2,000-cu. ft. compressors. The air was compressed and forced into the wet wells at, about 250 lb. pressure. Shortly the inundated district that had produced almost all water and only about 150 bbl. of oil a day increased its production to over 2,000 bbl. of oil per day. It was not-long before, we noticed that the production of the shallow territory was falling off to such an extent that in many cases the wells were abandoned; at the same time the area of the water-inundated district was greatly reduced, showing that when the water pressure was reduced the oil migrated back to the lower depth. The wells which at first had had the air jets put into them finally produced so much oil that we had to take the 'air jets out and return to the use of the beam pump, because it is not commercially feasible to pump, an oil of 14° gravity with air. To handle such oil profitably by air, it must carry with it 50 to 90 per cent. of water. The results have led me to believe that oil monoclines, where there is a gradual rise to a certain point, or in plunging anticlines, even though water gets into oil sands, eventually we get the larger percentage of the oil. However, the man with a small acreage in the deeper sections may find some morning that his oil has gone, another man in some higher portion of the district having gotten it.

Jan 12, 1915

By W. L. Honnold

Owing to a unique labor situation and other unusual circumstances, the mining methods of the Rand are hardly comparable with practice elsewhere. They are of considerable interest, however, and their importance is increased by the magnitude of the' industry with which they are identified, gold of $166,186,000 value, say 40 per cent. of the world's production, having been recovered from 25,701,954 tons of ore milled in 1914. In the sketchy remarks to follow, attention will first be drawn to some influential factors of general bearing, after which certain features at two mines of the writer's group will be referred to. It is hoped that engineers associated with similar or different conditions and practice will contribute to broaden the discussion. Before proceeding, recognition is due the generous assistance of C. E. Knecht and F. A. Unger. General Observations The principal mines are situated along the northern limit of an irregularly shaped geological basin, and extend in almost unbroken continuity over a distance of about 60 miles. As the boundaries are defined by vertical planes there are both "outcrop" and "deep-level" properties, all differing in size and in technical features. So much has been written in regard to the geology of the Rand that only a few pertinent features need here be recalled. Briefly, the ore deposits are profitably enriched portions of certain conglomerate beds or "reefs," rarely more than three, which are interposed between quartzite, or quartzite and slate, and lie so closely together that where more than one are mined they are dealt with as a working unit, although they may be stoped separately. Their collective extension is locally referred to as " the Reef." Along the outcrop the series dips more or less steeply, and in depth it flattehs, the latter tendency being most marked in the Far East Rand, where the bottom of the basin is nowhere so deep as to be inaccessible. Dikes and faults are a common feature throughout. They are,

Jan 1, 1916

By C. G. Southmayd

ANYONE who has been confronted with the problem of predicting the performance of a sand-pump installation is vitally aware of the dearth of precise information that has been published on this important subject. Such data as have been collected are not readily available in a concise and readily usable form, so that many operators would find it a considerable chore to find the pertinent information required to undertake a detailed study. The purpose of this paper is to assemble such established data, correlate them with field experience and outline the factors that must be appraised in the determination of a satisfactory pump installation. The transportation of solids in solution is of vital interest to every mill superintendent and operator, and many of the factors that are involved in this hydraulic problem vary widely from installation to installation, and in some cases even from time to time on any one installation.. These include: type of solids (including shape of particles), size of solids (grind), percentages of fines (slimes), dilution of pulp, contour of pipe line, type of pipe, age of pipe line, effect that diameter of pipe has on characteristic flow conditions, and other factors. Some of these have been fairly well determined by experimental work but many still must be established through interpolating or extrapolating between values that have been derived from known field conditions. Most problems primarily concern the transportation of a definite weight of dry solids from one specific location to another. The type of material, shape of particles, grind and percentages of fines are established and very often the dilution at which the solids must be handled as well. The problem then evolves into a determination of the size, type and contour of the pipe line and the net effective head against which the pump must operate. Before discussing the determination of the head, it might be well to review the interrelationship between the pump discharge (capacity), the head developed by the pump and the pump speed, which will apply to any centrifugal pump installation. EFFECT OF PUMP SPEED Basically, the head developed by a centrifugal pump varies as the square of the pump speed and the discharge as the first power of the speed. However, even at constant speed a centrifugal pump will operate over a wide range of capacities, depending upon the head that must be developed to deliver the liquid or pulp to the end of the pipe line. This is shown graphically in Fig. I. If the pump in question is being driven at a constant speed of 900 r.p.m. it will deliver 500 U. S. gal. per min. against a head of 56 ft., 800 U. S. gal. per min. against a head of 50 ft., and so on. In other words, at this speed the capacity of the pump will be determined and limited by

Jan 1, 1946

By C. W. Vaupell

THE Huitzuco mines lie in north central Guerrero, Mexico; production has been about 90,000 flasks of quicksilver since 1873. Near-surface ores fill extinct mud geysers and the deep deposits are chambered veins, stock-works in brecciated blocks, and replacements in limestone. The epigenetic minerals livingstonite, stibnite and sulphur occur in limestone, gypsum and dolomite through a developed vertical range of 260 meters. The deepest workings expose an increased amount of stibnite, which probably indicates that the lower limit of mercury mineralization is being approached. A resurgence of heat and water formed geysers over an extended area after the period of mercury mineralization. Mud geysers, which are situated, in the outcrops, contain the secondary mercury minerals, cinnabar and barcenite in the gravel and mud filling the vents. A 150-ton flotation plant is in operation concentrating stope fills that assay 3.0 kg. of mercury per ton. In one open stope, which is more than one hectare in area and 60 m. high, 150,000 tons are available. INTRODUCTION The Huitzuco mercury mines are of interest because of the unusual occurrence of ore in extinct geyser vents and the presence of several rare mercury minerals. Some of the deposits have typical characteristics of the telethermal zone and there is a gradation towards typical epithermal mineralization in depth. Halse,1 Villarello,2 Mactear3 and Merrill4 have described the geology and the early operations in the district, and Barcena5 and Mallet6 have described the rare mercury minerals, livingstonite and barcenite, found at Huitzuco. LOCATION The village of Huitzuco lies in the north central part of the State of Guerrero, Mexico, 27 km. (16.7 miles) east of Iguala, which is the largest and most important town in the area. Iguala is served by the Mexican National Railways and also by the Mexico City-Acapulco highway. The highway is surfaced from Mexico City to Iguala, a distance of 200 km. (124 miles) by road, and there is a fairly good, level, dirt road from Iguala to Huitzuco. The elevation above sea level is about 1000 m. (3280 ft.). The climate is warm and very dry except during the rainy season, from June to

Jan 1, 1937

By B. K. Miller, R. S. Bradley

THE principal producing areas of fire clay in Missouri are: (I) the east central district, which includes Audrain, Callaway, Montgomery, Warren, and Boone Counties [ ] (Fig. I); (2) the St. Louis district, which includes St. Louis and St. Louis County; (3) the north central Ozark district, which includes Franklin, Gasconade, Osage, Maries, Phelps, and Crawford Counties. Most of the semiplastic[$] fire clay is found in Audrain, Callaway, Montgomery and St. Louis Counties, and in St. Louis. Flint fire clay is found in Callaway, Audrain, and Montgomery Counties and in most of the north central Ozark district. High-alumina diaspore clay is found only in the north central Ozark district, except a few deposits found in Montgomery County. This paper is concerned with the semiplastic fire clay that occurs in the east central Missouri district near Mexico, Audrain County, Missouri, which is mined by the open-pit method as practiced by the A. P. Green Fire Brick Co. About one-fourth of the semiplastic fire clay in that district is mined in shaft mines, and three-fourths in open pits.

Jan 1, 1941

By E. A. Kaarsberg

The electron photomicrographs shown in this paper are of samples of the A.P.I. Reference Clay Minerals Montmorillonite No. 27 and Kaolinite No. 4 and of a shale from Spraberry Oilfield in Texas. These samples are part of a larger collection whose physical properties, composition and internal structure were previously studied by ultra-sonic and X-ray methods. ' Elastic anistropy was indicated in the montmorillonite and shale samples by sound velocity measurements parallel and perpendicular to the bedding. In the montmorillonite the velocities parallel and perpendicular to the bedding were 2.12 and 1.92 km/sec respectively, a difference of about 11%; in the shale the same velocity measurements were 4.18 and 3.75 km/sec, a difference again of about 11%. Within the bedding plane the sound velocity was also found to be independent of direction. The electron photomicrographs of the montmorillonite sample, which are shown in Fig. l(a) and (b), clearly indicate the preferred orientation of the mica-like clay particles parallel to the bedding. In Fig. 2(a) and (b) similar orientation in the shale sample can be seen although not quite as clearly. This is probably because, in addition to the clays illite and chlorite, the shale sample contains grains of quartz, calcite and dolomite which do not as readily show an alignment pattern as the clays do. This suggests that the elastic anisotropy of these two samples is derived from a preferred alignment of component mineral grains which are themselves elastically anisotropic. The bulk elastic properties of these two samples therefore appear to be much like those of mica. Velocity measurements were made on the kaolinite sample in three directions at right angles because no bedding could be discerned in it. The values ob-

Jan 1, 1967

By Oswald J. Heinrich

THE responsibility resting upon the owners and managers of mines where fire-damp is generated, renders it a matter of imperative duty that a full and correct statement of any explosion that occurs should be given to the public. But such a statement must be based on the testimony of impartial eye-witnesses or trained experts. Then a sad experience may result in the adoption of effective preventive measures. In the absence of any official and professional body of mining experts in the State of Virginia, the writer desires to submit to his professional brethren of the American Institute of Mining Engineers an account of an explosion which recently took place in a colliery under his management, and earnestly desires a thorough and impartial discussion on the facts submitted. Description and Plan of the Mine.-The "Grove" shaft is situated at the nearest point 825 feet from the last old workings upon the Midlothian property, south of the old Pump shaft works. (See Plate III.) The shaft was sunk by the former company, some thirty years ago, to the depth of 622 feet. An incline over 230 feet long, starting in a northwest direction at a depth of 105 feet above the shaft bottom, had been driven to explore the coal on the dip. A return of very small dimensions had been driven round the shaft on the south side, entering the upcast chamber. With the information obtained from the former company that a seam of coal about four feet thick, at a depth of 490 feet, had been found, and with the information obtained by the present proprietor, R. T. Burrows, of Albion, N. Y., by means of two boreholes on the dip west of the old shaft, in both of which workable seams of coal at various depths had been ascertained, the clearing out and thorough retimbering of this shaft were commenced in March, 1873. Borehole No. 1, at a depth of 477 1/2 feet from surface, revealed a seam of coal. This borehole was afterwards carried to a depth of 1140 feet to the granite, without finding any other seam of coal. Borehole No. 3, at a depth of 608 feet, revealed the first coal-seam, 142 feet thick; at 633 feet, the second, 12 feet thick; at 662 feet the third, 1 foot thick, and at 692 feet the fourth, 4 1/2 to 5 feet thick. The borehole was stopped at a depth of 715 1/2 feet.

Jan 1, 1877

By Philip S. Morse

THE Australian lead-smelting plants began to use charges carrying high zinc percentages somewhat earlier than was common with American plants. When lead smelting first started in Australia the immense deposits of oxidized lead at Broken Hill were available but later these oxidized ores became exhausted and were replaced by sulfides. This was before the days of flotation and these sulfides when concentrated carried about 1 per cent. of zinc to 6 per cent. of lead. The works of the Sulphide Corpn. at Cockle Creek was perhaps the pioneer in high-zinc slags but the Port Pirie plant of the Proprietary Co. was a close and very able second and has continued the work to the present time. The Cockle Creek lead furnaces remained in operation until shortly after the war when most of the Broken Hill companies combined and took over the Port Pirie plant to treat their concentrates. As it was the practice both at Cockle Creek and Port Pirie to carry 20 per cent. or more of lead on the charge, it was found that under these conditions of large amounts of zinc in the charge, good roasting was absolutely necessary and matte production was unwise. The Hunting-ton-Heberlein system of roasting was introduced and later the Dwight & Lloyd process. In this way, by roasting the sulfide portions of the charge as thoroughly as possible and making no matte, a method of smelting was developed where the slag over long periods carried as high as 20 per cent. ZnO without serious furnace troubles, and slags carrying even up to 33 per cent. ZnO have been reported. The zinc slags were not very different in appearance from the ordinary slags produced in American practice except that they gave off more smoke and fume on tapping. The slag usually ran hot and freely, coming from the tap in a full stream. Normally there was little crust on the sides of the furnace and the tuyeres gave no trouble though they were always rather dark. At the works of the Sulphide Corpn. it was the custom, on account of the labor situation, to shut down the furnaces during the Christmas holidays, thus giving a campaign of about 12 months. The furnaces at the end of the run usually showed no crust on the sides, though crusts always occurred at the back and front ends. A furnace campaign of 22 to 23 months has been made at this plant where both sides of the

Jan 1, 1929

By Rudolph Emmel

The mines operated by the South American Development Co. are located in the Zaruma mining district of southwestern Ecuador. They are near the old mining town of Zaruma, which is the only important city in the canton of the same name. The district is situated in the upper end of a valley lying between two spurs of the Cordillera, one of which may be considered the Coast Range and the other an intermediate range. The mining camp proper, known as Portovelo, and the plant are 2.4 km. south of Zaruma, on the north bank of the Amarillo River, a tributary of the Tumbes River, which flows southwestward through Peru to the Pacific. Portovelo is difficult of access; it is reached from Guayaquil by means of river steamers and muleback. 'Embarking at Guayaquil, the route is down the Guayas River, across the Jambeli Canal, and up the Santa Rosa River to Santa Rosa, a distance of 177 km. From Santa Rosa, the road or trail follows the Santa Rosa River, then across the summit of the Coast Range into Portovelo, a distance of 74 km.—a two-day trip on muleback. The mining property of the South American Development Co. comprises 297 lode claims and 142 placer claims. The combined lode claims cover an area, roughly rectangular in shape, 9000 m. long from north to south by 4000 m. wide; the northern edge of the rectangle is about 3000 m. north of the central plaza of Zaruma. Mineral lands in Ecuador are held by virtue of an annual tax per claim paid to the central government, no surface rights being included. HiSTOry The Zaruma mine has been worked by white men since 1549, probably before that it was worked by Indians. The followers of Pizarro, led by traces of gold in the sands of the Tumbes River, followed that stream to its source, worked the gold veins that they found and established the city of Zaruma. Among the mines worked by them were th Sesmo, Leonora, Viscaya, and Mina Grande. Only the soft ores at the outcrop were

Jan 1, 1925

By A. R. Kinkel

THE Shasta copper-zinc district of northern California lies in the foothills of the Klamath Mountains at the northern end of the Sacramento Valley. It contains two main areas of base-metal ore deposits, the East Shasta and West Shasta districts shown in Fig. 1. The East Shasta includes the area from the Afterthought mine, near the settlement of Ingot on U. S. highway 299 East, to the Bully Hill mine, on the north side of the Pit River, 9 miles to the northwest. The West Shasta, a well-defined northeast-trending district about 8 miles long and 2 miles wide, west of the Sacramento River, Fig. 2, is the western part of the ore-bearing area formerly known as the Shasta copper belt. Referred to in the older writings as a copper arc, this belt was thought to form a crescent extending entirely around the head of the Sacramento Valley, the convex side to the north. Recent studies by the U. S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the California State Division of Mines show that there are two districts, one at each end of the so-called copper arc, which are distinct in geologic structure and ore occurrences, and that there is only sporadic and unconnected copper mineralization between them. Ore deposits of the two districts are similar in mineralogy, that is, they are largely massive pyritic ores containing copper and zinc with minor amounts of gold and silver, but the structure and structural control of ore deposition are different. The ores of the East Shasta district are replacements of steeply dipping shear zones in Triassic rhyolite and shale, whereas those of the West Shasta district are replacements of gently dipping rhyolite of Middle Devonian age and are essentially flat-lying. Thus there is marked lateral control of orebodies by shear zones in the East Shasta district and equally marked vertical control of orebodies by the stratigraphy in the West Shasta district. Geologic Setting The Paleozoic rocks of the West Shasta district range in age from Middle Devonian (?) to Missis-sippian. The oldest formation exposed is the Copley greenstone, probably Middle Devonian. It is composed of volcanic flows, volcanic breccias, and tuffs, all of mafic composition, but contains minor amounts of shale and rhyolitic tuff. Largely submarine in origin, it rests upon a base of older marine sediments, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3. The lower part of the formation is made up principally of flows, many of which are ellipsoidal, and the upper part contains most of the pyroclastic material. The formation is at least 3700 ft thick. The Balaklala rhyolite overlying the Copley greenstone is made up of many rhyolitic flows and beds

Jan 1, 1956

By E. V. Watts

The D-7 zone of the Ventura Avenue field is of special interest because the initial reservoir pressure at 92.00 ft nearly equaled the pressure exerted by the overburden. While the phenomenon has been observed elsewhere in the world, there is no record of a previous case in California. Such high pressures have been attributed to sealing of the reservoir, followed either by emergence of the beds or by compaction of the sediments in various ways. Oil in the D-7 zone is undersaturated. At pressures above the bubble point, oil is recovered by the slight expansibility of the reservoir framework and its liquid contents. More than 40 pct as much oil probably will be recovered by this mechanism as will be recovered by internal gas drive after pressures pass below the bubble point. Operations are handicapped by sand and pipe troubles. Introduction The Ventura Avenue field has been under development since 1915. It has long been considered a "high-pressure" field, but interest was heightened by the extreme conditions encountered in the recent development of the so-called D-7 zone. The original reservoir pressure in this pool is estimated to have been 8300 psi at a depth of 9000 ft below sea level, or 9200± ft below the surface. A fluid pressure approaching that exerted by the overlying sediments has been encountered in other parts of the world, but never before in California to the degree observed in the D-7 pool. With few exceptions, the original pressure in California fields is about equivalent to the static head of water below the water table in the outcrop. Structure The Ventura anticline is a prominent feature of the Ventura basin, being traceable on the surface about 17 miles.' The Ventura Avenue field is at the apex of the anticline. It is about one mile wide and five miles long, the major axis lying in an east-west direction. The productive limits cover an area of about 2300 acres. The entire anticline has been severely folded and faulted. The productive portions in particular are broken up by three major thrust faults having a general east-west strike. The resultant four fault blocks are termed the A, B, C, and D blocks, respectively. Certain electric-log intervals are assigned numbers. Fig I is a diagrammatic north-south section of the field near the crest, looking west, and shows three of the four fault blocks. To the west, the upper fault divides into two branches, which define the B block. Wells penetrating a fault may duplicate over 1000 ft of formation. However, the greater fault movement is the strike shift, which is believed to exceed 2500 ft both between the A and C blocks and between the C and D blocks. The location of water is irregular and unpredictable. A few intermediate waters exist, while some strata have more than 2000 ft of productive closure.

Jan 1, 1948

By W. R. Hibbard

Although extensive pole figure studies have been reported by Brick1 and others2,3 showing preferred orientations in rolled and annealed 70-30 alpha brass, and by Hermann and Sachs4 in 70-30 alpha brass cups, comparatively little information has been published on textures in drawn 70-30 alpha brass tubes. Crampton5 reported a (110) , [111] texture in drawn brass tubes based on selected individual X ray photograms following the method of Norton and Hiller,6 but the extent and ease of developing this texture and the annealing texture have not been reported and pole figures of these structures were not found in the literature. The present investigation was further stimulated by the possible influence of textures on the mercury stress-corrosion cracking of brass tubes. According to Snoek,7 iron-nickel alloy sheet with a strong cubic texture was more resistant to corrosion than a randomly oriented sheet. Crampton5 reported that single crystals of 70-30 alpha brass drawn into tubes did not crack after 24 hr in a standard mer-curous nitrate test. Edmunds12 found that single crystals of 70-30 alpha brass did not crack in a standard mercurous nitrate test but did crack when subjected to ammoniacal vapor. Wasserman11 reported a similar failure of a single crystal of brass in ammonia. A tube with a strong texture might approach single crystal behavior and tend to resist mercury cracking if the differences in orientation between adjacent grains were sufficiently slight. Preparation OF Specimens Crampton's5 tubes drawn 28 pct reduction in area developed a slight degree of preferred orientation while in tubes drawn 48 pct it was more marked. Based on this information, in order to obtain specimens with markedly different degrees of preferred orientation but with the same final draw, two sets of 70-30 alpha brass tubes were made following the mill schedules shown in Table I. The final draw involved a large reduction in outside diameter, and a ratio of reduction in area to reduction in outside diameter similar to that reported by Crampton,5, 10 to cause mercury cracking of brass tubes. The brass contained 71.31 pct copper, 0.01 pct lead, 0.01 pct iron and zinc by difference. Determination of Pole Figures A 6-in. length from each tube was rotated rapidly by an electric stirrer in 25 pct nitric acid until the gauge was reduced to 0.003-0.005 in. The tubes were carefully cut longitudinally and the walls gently flattened. They were further etched in 25 pet nitric acid to 0.0015 in. thickness and (111) pole figures were determined using copper K-alpha radiation in the manner described by Brick.' The three general types of pole figures

Jan 1, 1949

By D. W. Smith

THE beta solid solution phases of the systems copper-zinc, copper-aluminum, copper-tin and silver-zinc are structurally analogous.1 R. F. Mehl and 0. T. Marzke2 have shown that the a phase upon segregating from the 0 phase in the system copper-zinc takes the form of needles lying parallel to a [111.] direction or some similar direction, such as [556], of the parent solid solution, and that the a phase upon segregating from the ß phase in the system copper-aluminum also takes the form of needles. By analogy they assume that in this case also the segregate needles lie parallel to the [111] or [556] direction in the ß lattice. The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether the structures resulting from segregation of the a phases from the respective 0 phases of the systems copper-tin and silver-zinc are analogous to those obtained by Mehl and Marzke in the systems copper-zinc and copper-aluminum.

Jan 1, 1932

By E. V. Watts

The D-7 zone of the Ventura Avenue field is of special interest because the initial reservoir pressure at 92.00 ft nearly equaled the pressure exerted by the overburden. While the phenomenon has been observed elsewhere in the world, there is no record of a previous case in California. Such high pressures have been attributed to sealing of the reservoir, followed either by emergence of the beds or by compaction of the sediments in various ways. Oil in the D-7 zone is undersaturated. At pressures above the bubble point, oil is recovered by the slight expansibility of the reservoir framework and its liquid contents. More than 40 pct as much oil probably will be recovered by this mechanism as will be recovered by internal gas drive after pressures pass below the bubble point. Operations are handicapped by sand and pipe troubles. Introduction The Ventura Avenue field has been under development since 1915. It has long been considered a "high-pressure" field, but interest was heightened by the extreme conditions encountered in the recent development of the so-called D-7 zone. The original reservoir pressure in this pool is estimated to have been 8300 psi at a depth of 9000 ft below sea level, or 9200± ft below the surface. A fluid pressure approaching that exerted by the overlying sediments has been encountered in other parts of the world, but never before in California to the degree observed in the D-7 pool. With few exceptions, the original pressure in California fields is about equivalent to the static head of water below the water table in the outcrop. Structure The Ventura anticline is a prominent feature of the Ventura basin, being traceable on the surface about 17 miles.' The Ventura Avenue field is at the apex of the anticline. It is about one mile wide and five miles long, the major axis lying in an east-west direction. The productive limits cover an area of about 2300 acres. The entire anticline has been severely folded and faulted. The productive portions in particular are broken up by three major thrust faults having a general east-west strike. The resultant four fault blocks are termed the A, B, C, and D blocks, respectively. Certain electric-log intervals are assigned numbers. Fig I is a diagrammatic north-south section of the field near the crest, looking west, and shows three of the four fault blocks. To the west, the upper fault divides into two branches, which define the B block. Wells penetrating a fault may duplicate over 1000 ft of formation. However, the greater fault movement is the strike shift, which is believed to exceed 2500 ft both between the A and C blocks and between the C and D blocks. The location of water is irregular and unpredictable. A few intermediate waters exist, while some strata have more than 2000 ft of productive closure.

Jan 1, 1948