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Boston Valley Salt Prospect

Occurrence in San Bernardino county in California, United States with commodities Halite, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Strontium
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Materials information
  7. Host and associated rocks
  8. Nearby scientific data
  9. Geologic structures
  10. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  11. Links to other databases
  12. Bibliographic references
  13. General comments
  14. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10023668
MRDS ID I001074
Record type Site
Current site name Boston Valley Salt Prospect

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -116.45087, 35.61666 (WGS84)
Location accuracy 1000(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

San Bernardino(county)

California(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Avawatz Pass(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Owlshead Mountains(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Trona(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Death Valley-Lower Amargosa(hydrologic unit)

Northern Mojave(hydrologic accounting unit)

Northern Mojave-Mono Lake(hydrologic subregion)

California(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management CA)

Bureau of Land Management CA BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States California San Bernardino

Comments on the location information

  • IN NORTHERN FOOTHILLS OF THE AVAWATZ MOUNTAINS, A FEW HUNDRED METERS SOUTH OF CAVE SPRING ROAD, 6.5 KM N OF FORT IRWIN.

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Halite Primary
Gypsum-Anhydrite Tertiary
Strontium Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Celestite Ore
Gypsum Ore
Halite Ore
Clay Gangue

Analytical data

Result SAMPLES FROM 27 DRILL HOLES INDICATE THAT THE SALT BEDS CONTAIN ABOUT 90% HALITE, 8% BROWN CLAY, SOME GYPSUM, AND TRACES OF OTHER SALINE MINERALS.

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Shale
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Sandstone
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Sedimentary Rock > Conglomerate
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Evaporite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -116.45087, 35.61666
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Late Cenozoic Faulting; Death Valley Fault Zone

Comments on the geologic information

  • TERTIARY VOLCANIC FLOWS, LACUSTRINE CLASTIC SEDIMENTS, AND ALTERED TUFF EXIST THROUGHOUT THE STRATIGRAPHIC SECTION IN THIS AREA.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Occurrence
Commodity type Non-metallic
Significant No

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • FIRST FIGURE IS MEASURED RESERVES AND RESOURCES; SECOND FIGURE IS INDICATED RESERVES AND RESOURCES.

Comments on development

  • FIRST SYSTEMATIC EXPLORATION IN 1911 BY A.I. OLIVER, L.D. RASOR, AND J.O. LEWIS FOR THE AVAWATZ SALT AND GYPSUM CO. IN 1941-42, UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD CO. AND BASIC MAGNESIUM, INC. JOINTLY MAPPED AND DRILLED THE DEPOSIT. SOME EXPLORATORY WORKINGS WERE DEVELOPED AND A SUMMARY REPORT WAS PREPARED IN 1942 BY H.C. LEE AND L.F. BYER. A SECOND SUMMARY REPORT WAS PREPARED IN 1947 BY H.S. GALE BASED ON FIELD WORK DONE BY GALE AND L.F. MOBLE IN 1942. NO EXPLORATION, DEVELOPMENT, OR SALT MINING HAS TAKEN PLACE SINCE 1942.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    RAPP, J.S., AND VREDENBURGH, L.M., 1992, INDUSTRIAL MINERAL RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF TERTIARY PLAYA DEPOSITS OF THE FORT IRWIN AREA, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: SOCIETY FOR MINING, METALLURGY, AND EXPLORATION, INC. PREPRINT NUMBER 92-44, 9 P.

  • Deposit

    PHALEN, W.C., 1914, CELESTITE DEPOSITS IN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA, IN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1912: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 540, P. 521-533.

  • Reserve-Resource

    RAPP AND VREDENBURGH, 1992.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit BROWN CLAYEY SLAT BED WITH LAYERS OF SALT AND GYPSUM AND NODULES OF CELESTITE OCCUR AT THIS SITE. THE SALT BEDS ARE TRUNCATED AND DISPLACED BY SLIVERS OF THE DEATH VALLEY FAULT ZONE. THE MIO-PLIO SALT BEDS ARE UNDERLAIN BY BASAL CONGLOMERATE AND BRECCIA AND OVERLAIN BY PLIO-PLEIS FANGLOMERATE. DRILLING INDICATES THAT THE SALT BEDS EXTEND TO A DEPTH OF AT LEAST 83 M.

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-APR-92 Orris, Greta J. U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site

Authoritative California resources

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