Owens Lake

Past Producer in Inyo county in California, United States with commodities Bromine, Sodium, Boron-Borates
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Mining district
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10055378
MRDS ID RL10052
Record type Deposit
Mineralized Area Owens Lake
Current site name Owens Lake

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Approximate
Geographic coordinates: -117.95091, 36.41664 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 10000(meters)
Relative position Lake covers a large area. Evaporate deposits rim the lake, brine wells are in the lake. Record for Owens Lake Pit (a distinct working, or site record, as opposed to this record for the entire deposit) puts pit about 1/5 miles north of the town of Cartago.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Inyo(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Owens Lake(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Darwin Hills(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Death Valley(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Owens Lake(hydrologic unit)

Mono-Owens Lakes(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northern Mojave-Mono Lake(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California Inyo

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
Mount Diablo 017S-019S 038E-036E California

Comments on the location information

  • Old MAS 0060270097 (newMRDS 10187708) gave location of pit as 1.5 miles north of town of Cartago, which would be approx. T18S, R37E, sec. 19.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Bromine Primary
Sodium Primary
Boron-Borates Secondary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Borax Ore
Brine Ore
Trona Ore

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Clay, Mud
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Holocene

Nearby scientific data

Approximate (1) -117.95091, 36.41664

Economic information

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Non-metallic
Deposit size Small
Significant Yes
Year of first production 1885
Year of last production 1960
Production years 1926-1960

Mining district

District name Owens Valley

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    CHATARD, T.M., 1890, NATURAL SODA: ITS OCCURRENCE AND UTILIZATION, IN REPORT OF WORK DONE IN THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS MAINLY DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1887-'88: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 60, P. 27-101.

  • Deposit

    LYDAY, P.A., 1992, HISTORY OF BORON PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING: INDUSTRIAL MINERALS, NO. 303, P. 19-37.

  • Deposit

    SMITH, G.I., 1985, BORATE DEPOSITS IN THE UNITED STATES: DISSIMILAR IN FORM, SIMILAR IN GEOLOGIC SETTING, IN BARKER, J.M., AND LEFOND, S.J., 1985, BORATES: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY AND PRODUCTION; PROCEEDINGS OF A SYMPOSIUM HELD ON OCTOBER 24, 1984, AT THE FALL MEETING OF SME-AIME IN DENVER, COLORADO: NEW YORK, SOCIETY OF MINING ENGINEERS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING, METALLURGICAL, AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERS, INC., P. 38-51.

  • Other Database

    CIMRI

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-SEP-93 Langford, R.P. BHP Utah Industries
Updater 04-NOV-94 Orris, Greta J. U.S. Geological Survey
Editor 14-DEC-10 Wilson, Anna B. U.S. Geological Survey Owens Lake is one of 3 significant trona resources in the US. Formerly mined by open pit, later by brine wells. Not currently producing.

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Authoritative California resources

These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.