Evaporites Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
LOCATION 5N 12E Sec. 34 SBM 34.48473 -115.72053 (MRDS, 2011) The Bristol Lake Salt Plant (formerly California Salt, Leslie Chloride Plant) is southeast of Amboy Crater volcanic flows in Bristol Dry Lake. The southeast end of the... more
LOCATION
5N 12E Sec. 34 SBM 34.48473 -115.72053 (MRDS, 2011)
The Bristol Lake Salt Plant (formerly California Salt, Leslie Chloride Plant) is southeast of Amboy Crater volcanic flows in Bristol Dry Lake. The southeast end of the Bristol Mountains are to the northwest and the America Mne in the northwest Bullion Mountains is to the southwest.
Bristol Lake, recently and thoroughly described by Gale (1951) covers an area of about 60 square miles just south of Amboy. It occupies the center of a broad depression, bordered mainly by ranges of pre-Cretaceous crystalline rocks, but flanked on the northwest by flows of Recent basaltic lava which emanated from ·Amboy crater about
3 miles west of Amboy (Wright and others, 1953, p. 219).
OWNERSHIP
California Salt Company National Salt Company Leslie Salt Company
The land is administered by U.S. Burau of Land Management. Operators leased the salt from the federal government under authority of Saline Placer Act of January 31, 1901 (31 Stat. 745; 30 U.S.C. 162) (The Diggings, 2021).
GEOLOGY
A regional geologic mosaic of the Bristol and Old Dad Mountains is available at:
A regional stratigraphic compilation for this mosaic is at:
My report on the geology of the Bristol Lake Salt Plant can be accessed at:
https://www.academia.edu/52331735/Amboy_Crater_Area_Mines_San_Bernardino_County_California
or
http://www.greggwilkerson.com/amboy-crater.html
LAKE DEPOSIT GEOLOGY
Distribution . The west edge or the map area is occupied by Bagdad Dry Lake, which is the western extreme of lake deposition in Bristol Basin. Bristol Dry Lake is situated south of Amboy in the eastern half of the area (Schaefer and others, 1958. p. 7-8).
Lithology. The playa surface consists of tan to dark brown clay containing scattered gypsum crystals along the lake margins. The clay surface is very rough consisting of puffy hummocks which is characteristic type of playa clay. This feature is due to the salt content of the clay which commonly produces a “salt bloom due to capillary action. In places, on Bristol and Bagdad Dry Lakes, there is a very thin crust of salt . This has been deposited by the evaporation of surface runoff water which in wet years may lie standing on the lake to a depth of several feet (Schaefer and others, 1958. p. 7-8).
Gypsum occurs in a belt around the north and west sides of Bristol dry Lake. On the geologic map an area of dominantly gypsum (as determined by field observations and air photo geology) and another of gypsiferous clay are distinguished. Core hole data (see APPENDICES B and C) indicate the subsurface extent of the gypsum is variable (Schaefer and others, 1958. p. 7-8).
Subsurface data in the lake center (see APPENDICES D and E and Gale, 1951) show that Bristol Basin is filled with over 1000 feet of alternating beds of salt , clay, and silt . The uppermost and mined bed of salt is outlined on the map (data from Gale, 1951). The core data indicate the salt is associated with green beds of clay. This relationship indicates that a fairly persistent body of water existed during deposition of the green clay and then it desiccated enough to deposit the salt. Origin of the salt is not definitely known (Schaefer and others, 1958. p. 7-8).
Age and Relation to other rocks. There is evidence of deflation having removed sediment from the surface of the dry lake. This and the veneer of eolian sand (thick in places but not shown on geologic map) along the west side of the playa gives the impression that the basalt overlies the lake clay. Actually, the basalt is overlain partly by the dry lake beds, but the subsurface relationship is not known. It is assumed that the flows lie upon older lake sediment. Alluvial material around the sides of the playa overlie and extend in places out onto the dry lake (especially southeast of Saltus) (Schaefer and others, 1958. p. 7-8).
The lake deposits are considered to be Pleistocene in age, but may extend to the sub-Recent (Schaefer and others, 1958. p. 7-8).
Bishop (1963) mapped the Bristol Lake Salt Plant as having outcrops of:
Holocene deposits
Qlt: Salt Deposits
Ql: Quaternary lake deposits
Qpvb: Pleistocene basalt
Quaternary and/or Pliocene cinder cones
Bishop (1963) mapped the area of the Bristol Lake Salt Plant as salt deposits (Qst) within Quaternary lake beds (Ql).
Kupfer and Basset (1962) mapped the following units in the Bristol Lake Salt Plant area:
Qa: Alluvium
Playa Deposit
Qca
Qx
Qxb
Qxc
Qxg
Qoa: Quaternary Older Alluvium
Qb2: Quaternary basalt flows and cones
Kupfer and Bassett, 1962, mapped the area of the Amboy Crater Mines as
Quaternary basalt flows and cones (Qb2).
Kupfer and Bassett (1963) mapped the Bristol Lake Salt Plant as a salt crystal body at or near the surface (Qx):
Bedford and others (2010) and Phelps and others (2012) mapped the Amboy 100K Quadrangle. Howard (2002) mapped the Sheep Hole 100K Quadrangle. In the Bristol Lake Salt Plant area they identified the following units:
Substrate Units: Qmv: Quaternary Mafic Volcanics
Hill Slope Deposits
Qha/Qmv
Alluvial Units
Qya
Wash Deposits
Qyw-Qaw: Young Wash-Active Wash deposits
Pediment Surfaces
Qpd-fpg: Deeply dissected pediment, felsic plutonic rocks converting to gruss
Qpi/pc: Incised pediment, partly consolidated
Eolian Deposits
Qye/Qmv: Young eolian sand/Quaternary mafic volcanics
Qae/Qmv: Active eolian sand deposit/Quaternary mafic volcnics
Qyp: Younger playa deposit
Qpsg and Qpsh: Halite and gypsum deposits
Bedford and others (2010) mapped the area of the Amboy Craters as Active eolian sand deposit/Quaternary mafic volcanics (Qae/Qmv) and Hillslope/Quaternary mafic volcanic rocks (Qha/Qmv).
Howard (2002) mapped the area of the Bristol Lake Salt Plant as Quaternary Playa silt-halite deposits (Qpsh).
Dibblee and Minch (2008f) mapped the area of the Bristol Lake Salt Plant as having the following exposures:
Qa: Alluvium
Qoa: Older Alluvium
Qb: Pleistocene basalt
Dibblee and Minch (2008f) mapped the area of the Amboy Craterss Area as Quaternary basalt (Qb). There map does not extend to Bristol Dry Lake.
Schafer and others (1959): T.5N, R.11 and 12E, SBM:
Qal: Alluvium
Qabf: Recent basalt flows
Qabcc: Younger cinder cones
Bristol (Dry) Lake sediments:
EVAPORITES
In the area of the Bristol Lake Salt Plant, Schafer and others mapped lakebed halite and clay (Qblh).
Schafer and others )1958) described saline minerals in Bristol and Cadiz lake in their Southern Pacific Railroad report for T.5N, R.11 and 12E, SBM. The Saline Mineral section of that report is reproduced in Appendix A.
The rock salt deposit of present commercial interest is an extensive horizontal layer as much as 7 feet thick, and covered by 3 to 7 feet of overburden. It is believed possible to mine the salt profitably over an area of 5 square miles in the northwestern part of the lake where the salt layer exceeds 3 feet in thickness. Bordering this area on the south is the depression's lowest part, known as Salt Lake and covered with a thin crust of rock salt. Plants recovering calcium chloride from the brines of Salt Lake have produced common salt as a by-product (Wright and others, 1953, p. 219)