Sulfur spring

“ Sulphur is now generally regarded as emanating from the stage of intermittent lethargy of a volcano, and the sulphides of iron, copper, arsenic, zinc, selenium, etc., fall in the same category as sulphur; they are secondary, not primary, formations. In the stage further off we have the host of sulphates produced by the oxidation of the sulphur into sulphuric acid, and its subsequent reaction on the metals and earths with which it becomes associated. ”

“ Again, a paint composed of sulfur and linseed oil may be applied to a portion of one of the steam or hot-water heating pipes. The fumes arising from this are not agreeable to breathe, but fatal to mildew. Again, a little sulfur may be sprinkled here and there on the cooler parts of the greenhouse flue. Under no circumstances, however, ignite any sulfur in a greenhouse. The vapor of burning sulfur is death to plants. ”

“ Fumaroles, which emit mixtures of steam and other gases, are fed by conduits that pass through the water table before reaching the surface of the ground. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) , one of the typical gases issuing from fumaroles, readily oxidizes to sulfuric acid and native sulfur. This accounts for the intense chemical activity and brightly colored rocks in many thermal areas. ”

“ Its usual form of occurrence is in combination with the metals to form sulfids, or with oxygen and a metal to form sulfates. Sulfur and iron combine to form iron pyrites or iron disulfid (FeS2) , while sulfur, oxygen, and calcium are found in gypsum, an important fertilizing compound.
Sulfur plays an important part in the nourishment of plants, being found in them both as sulfuric acid and in organic compounds. Methods for estimating the sulfur in both forms will be found in another part of this manual.
9. Hydrogen is a colorless, invisible gas, without taste or smell. ”

“ In west Texas, sulfur occurs in Permian rocks both at the surface and underground. A small amount of sulfur has been mined in the Rustler Springs area of northeastern Culberson County and northwestern Reeves County, about 50 miles northwest of Pecos. There, scattered grains, crystals, and irregular masses of sulfur occur in cracks and in dissolved-out openings in the Castile Gypsum and in the surface gravel, gypsum, sand, and clay that cover most of this formation.
Sulfur has many uses. It is used as an insect-killer, thus helping our food crops to grow. ”

“ All of these elements are essential for plant growth, but are usually present in the soil in ample quantities to insure a sufficient supply in available form for all plant needs. Recent investigations have shown, however, that there are many soils in which sulfur is present in such limited quantities that many agricultural crops, when grown on these soils, respond favorably to the application of sulfur-containing fertilizers. ”

“ When crystals grow within rocks, precipitated from water. If they're tabular, as they grow you can get tabular crystals and water chem changes and they go away or they weather away. Next piece of evidence comes from APXS. We found it looked like a lot of sulfur. That was the outside of the rock. We brought with us a grinding too, the RAT and we ground away 2-4 mm and found even more sulfur. Too much to explain by other than that this rock is full of sulfate salts. That's a telltale sign of liquid water. Mini-TES also found evidence of sulfate salts. ”

“ The characteristic, and to many disagreeable odor of sulphuretted hydrogen, is readily perceived. Sulphur veins, or iron pyrites, are found in all sections of this valley; one of the most provoking problems of the owners of the springs being to keep their fountains from a sulphur taint, the quantity and quality of which is not considered beneficial, while it injures the sale of the bottled water.
The Crystal Spring is somewhat alterative in its therapeutic effects. ”

“ Sulfur is one of Texas’ most valuable minerals. It consists of only a single element, sulfur. This mineral has a resinous luster and is transparent to translucent. Sulfur ordinarily is yellow, but impurities cause it to look greenish, brownish, reddish, or grayish. When you rub it across a streak plate, it leaves a white or a pale-yellow streak. Sulfur has a specific gravity of 2.04 to 2.09 and is soft enough to be scratched by a copper penny. It breaks with a conchoidal to uneven fracture. When it gets hot enough (478° Fahrenheit) , sulfur will burn. ”

“ Though sulfur is found in plants in very appreciable amounts and is known to be essential to plant growth, it is evident that plants do not need so much sulfur as they often contain, some of it being taken up and merely tolerated, as is the case with all of the sodium and silicon found in plants, neither of these being required for normal growth, although commonly found in plants in very considerable amounts. The supply of sulfur in normal soils is not large ”

“ Many mineral springs owe their medicinal properties to the hydrosulphuric acid which they contain, and whose decomposition frequently gives rise to the formation of sulphur. When the large marble slab which covers the imperial source at Aix-la-Chapelle is removed at the end of every twenty years, about two hundred pounds of sulphur are collected from the walls above the spring.
Combinations of sulphur with metals, particularly with iron and copper (pyrites) , occur in much more considerable masses and in a far greater number of localities than the pure uncombined mineral. ”

“ When we analyzed rocks at Pathfinder and Gusev, the rocks didn't contain salts. At Meridiani that was different. At Meridiani, chlorine in green is small, sulfur is in yellow. Sulfur jumped up at McKittrick before we RATted. In third bar, the sulfur jumped up (after RAT) and at Guadalupe, we have the record on Mars, almost 5 times the amount. We interpret this sulfur to be sulfate so we expect magnesium sulfate, epsom salts, on Mars with less water it's called kesorite. Kesorite plus the chlorides add up to a salt concentration that may be 40% of the outcrop. ”

“ The molten sulphur is exposed to a temperature of 262° Fahrenheit, and a pressure of two or three atmospheres, in the presence of steam; under these circumstances it is found that the sulphur absorbs a considerable quantity of water, which is given off again with great violence from the mass as it undergoes solidification. The hardened crust which forms on the surface of the molten sulphur is agitated and fissured, miniature cones and lava-streams being formed upon it, which have a striking resemblance to the grander phenomena of the same kind exhibited upon the crust of the globe. ”

“ The roasting, or calcining, to get rid of the sulphur, is going on here. The whole inside—walls, roof, embers, and all—are a transparent salmon-color. As a shovel, inserted from the opposite side, stirs and turns the burning mass, the sulphur appears above—a little blue flame, and a great deal of yellow smoke. We feel some of it in our throats. We exclaim about the intensity of the heat, declaring it tremendous. But we are told that it is not so; that, in fact, "it is very cold—that furnace;" which shows us that there is something hotter to come. ”

“ Sulfur occurs in the organic compounds of plants, associated with phosphorus. It seems probable that its physiological uses are similar to those of the latter element; but there is as yet no experimental evidence to establish its exact rôle in the economy [Pg 12] of plant growth. It appears to be needed in largest proportion by plants which contain high percentages of nitrogen in their foliage, such as the legumes. ”

“ Improved methods of analysis, which insure that the sulfur which is present in the plant tissue in organic combinations is oxidized under such conditions that it is not lost by volatilization during the combustion of the material, have shown that the total sulfur which is present in many plants approaches the quantity of phosphorus which is present in the same tissue. ”

“ The purity of the product is dependent upon the time of reaction. There is always a slow reaction between the mustard gas and sulfur chloride, and because of this the charge should be completed in 8 hours.
In general the more sulfur that comes out of the solution, the better is the product. Temperature has a marked effect on the separation of sulfur. In order to entirely remove the sulfur from the product it was the custom to increase the temperature at the close of the reaction from 55° to 70° C. This, however, caused plugging of the lines and the reactor. ”

“ Sulphur is a combustible substance, having a very great tendency to combination; it is naturally in a solid state in the ordinary temperature, and requires a heat somewhat higher than boiling water to make it liquify. Sulphur is formed by nature in a considerable degree of purity in the neighbourhood of volcanos; we find it likewise, chiefly in the state of sulphuric acid, combined with argill in aluminous schistus, with lime in gypsum, &c. From these combinations it may be procured in the state of sulphur, by carrying off its oxygen by means of charcoal in a red heat ”

“ Near Alagir the River Ardon is white with sulphur, for there is an immense gushing sulphur spring there, and a natural manufacture of sulphurous and sulphuric acid. I suppose before ten years have passed someone will have found it advantageous to work this spring. ”

“ At all times clouds of steam, strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphurous acid gas, issue from the orifice, both of which, during an eruption of the water, are greatly augmented in quantity. From the dark coloured and elevated margin of the fountain the yellow crust of crystallised sulphur extends a great distance in every direction. ”

“ Since leaving Maria's river the wife of Chaboneau, our interpreter, has been dangerously ill, but she now found great relief from the mineral water of the sulphur spring. It is situated about two hundred yards from the Missouri, into which it empties over a precipice of rock about twenty-five feet high. The water is perfectly transparent, strongly impregnated with sulphur, and we suspect iron also, as the colour of the hills and bluffs in the neighbourhood indicates the presence of that metal. ”

“ Sulphur almost pure, called native or virgin sulphur, is found in volcanoes and grottoes, in the form of transparent crystals; but the greatest quantity which exists naturally is combined with metals in ores. Sulphur is both fusible and volatile,—which qualities enable us to procure it from those minerals by the process of sublimation: it unites easily, in different degrees, with all metallic matters, excepting gold, platina, and zinc.
Sublimation, the act of bringing a solid substance into the state of vapor by heat, and condensing it again by cold. ”

“ Much sulphur is found in this earth, together with various mineral salts, as hydro-chlorate of soda, sulphate of soda—sulphates of lime and magnesia—carbonate of iron—silex—alum—bitumen, &c.
Besides the general effects of hot, warm, and tepid baths of mineral water, the mud-baths exhibit effects peculiar to themselves. They may be taken at a higher temperature than water-baths, without inconvenience. They are never employed cold. ”

“ This has resulted from the oxidation of the sulphur to sulphuric acid by atmospheric agency, the acid in turn attacking the lime carbonate, and forming sulphate (gypsum) . The most plausible supposition as to the origin of the sulphur-seams would appear to be that the lakes received streams of water containing calcium sulphide in solution, this calcium sulphide probably resulting from a reduction of the masses of calcium sulphate (gypsum) by the action of volcanic heat. ”

“ Irregular masses of sulphur are often found where sulphide minerals, like pyrite or galena have been decomposed in such a way as to leave the sulphur behind. The extensive beds of sulphur are usually associated with gypsum, and are thought to be the result of water, containing bituminous matter, so acting on gypsum as to remove the calcium and oxygen as lime, and leave the sulphur. Finally many waters carry sulphates in solution, from which the sulphur may be 167 precipitated by certain sulphur bacteria, making thus incrustations on the bottom of ponds or lakes. ”

“ From one spring gurgles a stream of sulphur water, pungent to the smell and taste, with no indications of iron in its composition, while from the other flows a stream strongly impregnated with iron, but with no sign of a particle of sulphur in its ingredients. ”

“ Sulfur is used primarily in the casting subsystem in the fabrication sector (about 600 kg required) and in the manufacture of sulfuric acid. This product is mass-limited about equally by the amounts of S and H available. The 4000 kg of sulfur can be used to prepare 12,000 kg H2SO4, and the 200 kg of hydrogen can make up 9800 kg of the acid. Since hydrogen also has many other uses, available S will be underutilized and perhaps 1 or 2 tons of H2SO4 reasonably can be produced. ”

“ When heated to the temperature of 560° F. it takes fire, burns away with a dull blue flame of a suffocating odour, and leaves no residuum. When more strongly heated, sulphur burns with a vivid white flame. It is not affected by air or water.
Sulphur is an abundant product of nature; existing sometimes pure or merely mixed, and at others in intimate chemical combination with oxygen, and various metals, forming sulphates and sulphurets. See Ores of Copper, Iron, Lead, &c., under these metals. ”

“ It is considered as chiefly sulphur or arsenic by the lead-smelters, and is thrown by as useless. It is found at every furnace, and a very large quantity could be annually collected. This induced me to undertake some experiments on the subject. I was convinced, on reflection, that there could be no sulphur, at least no considerable quantity of sulphur, in it, from the fact that all sulphur, or other inflammable matter, expelled from the ore in the furnace, would undergo immediate combustion. This is also observable in the color of the flame while the ore is torrified. ”