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Abstract
A hitherto undescribed thermal spring rises from Waterberg sandstone on the farm Buffelshoek, 12 miles east-north-east of the Thabazimbi iron ore mine. The water issues at a temperature of 30·6° C., the daily discharge being about 18,000 gallons. Chemical analyses gave a total mineral content of 623, ·9 mgm. per litre, the dominant ions being Na″, Ca″, CI′, SO4″ and HCO3′. Several analyses have been added for comparison; one, not previously published, is of water from the hot spring at Warmbaths.
Nitrogen, together with argon and its congeners, form no less than 99·5 per cent. of the gas bubbling up through the water at Buffelshoek. Attention is drawn to spring gases with similar compositions at another locality in the Transvaal, and also in England, Switzerland, and Madagascar. A generally held opinion that carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, and the lower hydrocarbons are the chief gases escaping from spring waters is criticised.
The geological evidence indicates that the Buffelshoek spring is meteoric in origin. The flow down the artesian slope is assumed to be mainly in Bushveld granite, and this assumption is in agreement with the composition of the water.
