OBSERVATIONS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS IN THE TERRESTRIAL SALINE DEPOSITS OF SALINE VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

摘要

A large number of closed basins, many of which contain terrestrial saline deposits, are found in the Basin and Range Province, between the Sierra Nevada of California and the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Each of these basins has its own drainage system, which ends in a playa at the bottom of the basin. In some, especially the smaller basins, the playas are merely mud flats. In others, salts and brines may be found. Each saline basin contains a different assemblage of salts, although sodium chloride is common to all. Basins are found in which the principal salts are calcium chloride and strontium salts as in Bristol Dry Lake, Cali¬fornia (calcium chloride in the brine and strontium sulfate in the salts (Ref. 1));potassium chloride, sodium sulfate, sodium borate —sodium metaborate, and sodium carbonate as in Searles Lake, California;sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate, and sodium metaborate as in Owens Lake, California (also contains some sodium silicate);and sodium sul¬fate as in Sevier Lake and Great Salt Lake, Utah.