Adventures in Geology – Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
One of the first projects I had when I went out on my own, was also thanks to a reference from a distant drilling company, with whom I had worked. The job was acquired by a branch of their offices near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Needless to say, I was floored, but this time, I wasnt the sacrificial lamb, this time the drilling company was desperate. Nobody ever called me, unless they were desperate.
Their problem was that the plant at Sturgeon Bay had iron in their water, and the iron levels fluctuated wildly. One day the water was fine for their manufacturing process, and the next day, everything was stained red. This enormously infuriated the companys president, and they wanted to know WHERE the iron was coming from and they wanted it STOPPED, right now.
I was met at the airport by the Chief Engineer, who was quite surprised that I was a woman. He thought my name was Marshall, as opposed to my real name of Marsha L. Never mind, I told him, it happened a lot.
I was glad for my coat when we stepped outside. It was black leather and full length and it had a faux fur collar, and about as warm as cellophane. I thought it was sophisticated, but looking back, I believe I resembled a vampire bat, because when I raised my arms, the coat flapped open like wings. At least I had thought to cut off the price tag, under the arm, which I had forgotten to do years ago, and went around for months, looking like Minnie Pearl.
The Chief Engineer parked in front of a huge plant in the vast sea of flatness that is Wisconsin. We walked into the plant and I was whisked to a large conference room, and left there to stew in my own oil for a bit. I took out my file folder, and my large leather notebook, and sat. After about twenty minutes, I wondered if it was the same old story. People with southern accents and fluffy blond hair cant have a brain in their heads, and what the hell was the drilling company doing, sending one? Just in case, I put my file folder on the table, and my briefcase, purse, and folded coat on the chair, and sat on them, so I would at least look taller when sitting.
Finally, they came in-- seven tall men, all with blonde or gray hair, and all resembling blowfish with an acute case of dyspepsia. Watching them maneuver for position at the conference table was akin to watching the activities on the bench during the playoffs. I seemed to have disrupted their carefully choreographed seating arrangement by sitting in the middle of the table. I was not about to reveal my true height by standing up, so I thought, Let em stew
Once they were seated with their dignity intact, they looked down their nose at me, the lowly geologist amid all these Important Engineers. I smiled amicably, and said, Tell me about your problem, please, gentlemen.
I took notes, as we spoke, marking off items on a checklist, as they answered my questions. They had one well, 240 deep, into the bedrock and it produced about 1,000 gpm, located at the back of the property. There was no rhyme or reason to the days that would have high iron, but iron would come as a slug, then gradually taper off and be fine, until it hit again.
I asked if they collected water samples. No, they didnt. I suggested that they begin, immediately, to sample the water from the well every six hours that the well was in operation, and record their analysis. If they noticed a spike in the iron levels, they were to sample every hour, and to NOT turn off the well. I also asked that they acquire the samples to run both secondary and primary water standards, now, while the well was clear, and later, after the iron spiked, for comparison. I handed them a list of the water standards that I needed measured, and a list of the recommended laboratories that they could use that were nearby. I said that I would acquire aerial photography, in order to locate any fractures in the bedrock. They looked at me doubtfully. I explained, pleasantly.
A fracture, or lineament, is a break in the rocks, along which no movement has taken place. It was more a linear zone of shattered rock. A fracture is like where a bullet hits glassthe glass doesnt break, but it is shattered. They slowly nodded their heads.
I said that wells in fractures almost always had a very high increase in production due to the rocks shattered state, and that some fractures opened up to form long linear open features, that werent really caves, per se, but more open like cracks in the bedrock, both vertically within the rock body, and horizontally along bedding planes. I said in the fractures, the water could move more freely. Wells drilled into these fractures often had a thousand fold increase in production from other wells nearby that were not located in a fracture. They looked at me in disbelief.
Expecting this, I pulled out a U-2 aerial photograph that I had used a few years before, that clearly, (to me anyway), showed fractures. I pointed them out to them, and they nodded, stunned. I told them that I would order the photos from the USGS. I told them that fractures can be miles long, but were only usually 40 to 100 wide, and they could be seen in the field.
Aerial photograph of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, showing marked fracture trace or lineament, and location of sinkhole. Also showing direction of ice movement from last period of glaciation.
I asked if the wells in this area always produced 1,000 gpm, or if it was rather unusual. They didnt know. I asked if they had any information on the construction and design of their well. They thought they might, somewhere. From the file, I produced a list of the types of information I needed, and that I would appreciate if they could look for in their files, or make inquiries at their drilling company. Their eyes bulged at the list, and they quickly passed all this off to their Chief Engineer, who studied the list, and me, speculatively.
I asked about a thousand questions, it seemed, and shortly, began to get a handle on the plant operations, and their own waste stream.
I asked that the Chief Engineer take me on a tour of the plant site, to see their waste stream, locate their sewer line, and outside, to see the well set up, and of the area, in general. He nodded. I said, Gentlemen, we have a good start toward fixing the problem. My flight out is scheduled for six oclock and that gives me two hours to get to know the area. Shall we adjourn? I stood, gathered my things, and waited for everyone to catch up. They had not even offered me a cup of coffee, a serious breach of KY business etiquette, and they had been intimidating snot wads. Sigh.
Off I went with the Chief Engineer, and sure enough, the well looked to be in a fracture, but of course I wouldnt know until I got the photography. The waste stream was collected into the sewer line, and the sewer line was in front of the building. I made a mental note to keep this thought in my head. Lastly, we drove down the road of plants and industries. At the very end of the line was a plant that had just opened up about six months ago, a cherry canning company.
Information came to me, via the mail, like flotsam and jetsam floating in on the tide. I gathered it all, and plotted the water quality data on a time line, and then, the aerial photography came. I used U-2 photography from the 60s, and had it blown up so that it was 1 inch = about 1800, which is close to normal topographic map size. (Francis Gary Powers flew a U-2 plane over Russian, once) Sure enough, the well was on a fracture, and at the far end of the fracture, was a sinkhole. Right smack dab behind the cherry canning factory.
I called up the Chief Engineer and asked if he could get a meeting with the Chief Engineer of the cherry canning factory. He asked, why? I explained what I was thinking, and the next week, I flew up there again to investigate. The Chief Engineer and I met with their Chief Engineer, and I was pretty small potatoes, but I got the answers I was looking for and they were very cooperative, all in all.
I wrote up a nice report, including all the data gathered, and gave them my conclusion. Every few weeks, at different times depending on how many cherries the factory canned, they would take a dump load truck of cherry pits and pour them into the sinkhole. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
It took only about two days for the water to travel the nearly one mile from the sinkhole to the plant, and when it did, there was a spike in the iron. There was also a spike in other chemicals, but the iron was their only concern. However, the spike in cyanide and other chemicals allowed me to more closely pinpoint the source of the contamination.
I flew up there again, to present my report to a group of disbelieving, important blowfish. The Chief Engineer agreed with my report, but the others, not so much. Clearly, I had wasted their time and money, but they did get a nice report out of it, with all the data we had collected in one spot. Maybe they could hire someone else who could come up with a real answer.
The check was late, but it came, so I was pleased. The drilling company called me up and screamed, Thats the last time we hire you to do anything!!! Cherries? Preposterous! I deposited the check immediately.
About six months later, the Chief Engineer at the plant called me. Their pump had quit, completely. The drilling company had come out, pulled the pump, and opened the impellor casing. The well was pumping cherry pits, which had stopped up the impellors. The Chief Engineer of the plant, who had agreed with my conclusions, was laughing so hard, he could barely speak. The President of the Companys roar could be heard all the way to Milwaukee!
I worked many times, in the eastern US, on the recommendation of the drilling company again, and had a lot of clients for a while, until they decided they wanted a geologist that they could control. All in all, I learned an important lesson. Even though vindicated in the end, the six months of ill will caused by one client that did not believe the report did a lot of damage to my companys reputation. But thats another story
Thanks for coming by!
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I hope you enjoy this strange, but true, story of the migrating cherry pits! Oh, and, once my point was proven, I called up the President of the company and asked if I might use him as a reference. He was really lovely about it...
Have a great day!
Politics is everywhere . What you do is not a "customer is always right" type of service . How one communicates such "unexpected" results is tricky at best .
Isn't it though!!! All I ever knew to do was tell the truth, as far as I could scientifically prove it. They elevated cyanide was a key. I knew that there was cyanide in apricot pits, but didn't know there was cyanide in cherry pits, too.
What odd things we learn in life!
Thanks for coming by, Petey!!!
One of the interesting things about such natural sources of cyanide is that they are apparently non-toxic . But they do seem to have selective toxicity as indicated by prior research [I hope you're not afraid to read some journal articles ]:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=18435262&AN=47795913&h=fbpVvaxMXAlOkuk1Gjksxg3GIMHI6xg%2fZCkfZTGRQ2Yv%2b6E15ADwp8kJxnE4ARmvkFkTwLwX4BkYcgEzgO1eWg%3d%3d&crl=c
Dear Friend Dowser: You are the official Sturgeon General of this site.
Last time I went to my Dentist, I had her sign a form guaranteeing that I retain all property rights to any minerals, fuels, or precious gems and metals found when drilling.
Peace, Abundant Blessings, and Discoveries of the Mother Lode when in theTheater Chair of Dental Cruelty.
Enoch.
And to think that some people think geology is boring.
''Thar's gold in them their molars''.
There are SO much more information now, than there was 20 years ago, for sure! At the time, Latriel was panned as quackery. It is more accepted now. At the time, just finding out what was in cherry pits was difficult!
Thanks for the links, I enjoyed them!
Thanks, dear Enoch! I'm happy to be the "official Sturgeon General"!
Funny!!!
Thanks for coming to see me!!!
Believe me, there are boring parts, but, to me, at least, it is always challenging!!!
Much love to you, and thanks so much for coming by!!
I sure would have loved to be there! But, it was enough that they kept hiring me to do the work!
Thanks so much for coming by!!!
Not offering you a cup of coffee, or at least anything to drink is a breach of ettiquette in more places than Kentucky.
Great story Dowser! She who laughs last, laughs best! I bet you when they had to suck it up to you, you wanted it with Cherries on top!
Good Job Girl!
Dowser--
Totally love your geo-anecdotes, please continue.(BTW, you have the makings of a very good book here-- a dozen or so of these scenarios [fleshed out a little] and you've got a nice humor paperback... sort of 'Dave Barry Meets Earth Science)
ALSO-- you are hereby awarded an official Swamijim Certificate of Merit-- three (count 'em, three ) articles that nobody has managed to turn into a political rugby scrum or another episode of the Irish & Indian War...
That's the truth!! It's just standard practice, but they didn't want a woman, I guess. Oh well...
I guess the solution seemed pretty far-fetched, but at least, they found out that it was the truth as best as I could figure it out!
Thanks, Brolly, for coming by!
Well, thank you! I was quite pleased to have figured it out- but very disappointed that they didn't believe me, despite all the evidence.
Yeah, I wanted a public apology for all the bad things they had said about me. But, no one is going to get that!
Dear Swamijim-- Thank you so much! I'm glad that someone enjoys them!
Being a consultant is a lot like solving those logic puzzles, but at least you can gather more information. There is so much that doesn't seem to be related, but most things are, somehow...
Thanks so much for your kindess!!!