This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1970 Excerpt: ...(table 23) are associated with the mercury deposits of the Wilbur Springs district. Light petroleum of the "froth veins" of the Abbott mine (White, 1967) contained 100,000 ppb mercury. Tarry petroleum, probably residual from loss of the lighter hydrocarbons, contained 500,000 ppb. Hydrocarbons extracted from fault gouge from the Abbott mine by organic solvents contained 1,000 to 5,000 ppb, but a sample of petroleum that had flowed from a new underground working and was stored for several years prior to analysis contained only 300 ppb. Tar from the nearby Wilbur oil test well (table 23) contained 1,000 ppb mercury. Some additional evidence for enrichment of mercury in fluid hydrocarbon deposits is indicated by the mud volcanoes of the Kerch-Taman territory of the U.S.S.R. (Karasik and Morozov, 1966). Mud and other debris that were extruded with hydrocarbon gases and waters of the oil-field type are enriched in mercury by about 100 times the mercury contents of Tertiary argillaceous rocks. SUMMARY Dilute thermal springs contain readily detectable mercury. The springs include high-temperature waters of Yellowstone National Park, which are closely associated with extensive Pleistocene volcanism. Some California thermal waters, and nonthermal waters of appreciable salinity (5,000 ppm total disolved solids) but not closely associated with volcanism, contain mercury in the range of 1 to 3 ppb, concentrations notably higher than Yellowstone National Park waters. Sediments associated with some of these springs are rich in mercury, containing about 50 to 5,000 times the mercury content of ordinary rocks (Fleischer, this report), and the mercury contained is presumed to have been transported by the spring water. Of the natural fluids examined, petroleum and ...