File:Geology and water resources of Big Smoky, Clayton, and Alkali Spring valleys, Nevada (1917) (14580371657).jpg

Identifier: geologywaterreso00mein (find matches)
Title: Geology and water resources of Big Smoky, Clayton, and Alkali Spring valleys, Nevada
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Meinzer, Oscar Edward, 1876-1948
Subjects: Geology Water-supply
Publisher: Washington : Govt. Print. Off.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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lt and a 6-inch stratum of salt at 47 feet below which clay was againencountered. Except a shallow bed of light-gray calcareous material at 16 feet nothing but claycontaining weak brine was struck to a depth of 40 feet in boring No. 14, at the southend of the playa. Borings Nos. 11 and 12 indicate that the beds of salt in the northeastern part of themarsh are denser than those farther south. The mud is underlain by clay and thatin turn by crystallized salt so hard that it has to be drilled. A much harder formation,probably calcareous tufa, was struck below the salt in both borings at a depth of about36 feet. The data afforded by the six deeper borings lead to the conclusion that the north-eastern two-thirds of the playa is underlain at a depth of about 20 feet l^y beds5 to 15 feet thick of crystallized salt mixed with more or less clay. It is doul)tful 1 Dole, R. B., Exploration of salines in Silver Peak Marsh, Nev.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 530, pp. 330-345,1913. 2 Idem, pp. 338-340.
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OCCUEKElSrCE AND LEVEL OF GROUND WATER, 143 if deposits of so great extent occur west of Goat Island or south of Alcatraz Island.Besides these beds practically all other strata to a depth of 50 feet contain appreciableproportions of salt that readily dissolves in water percolating through them. The remarkable feature of this playa is the large amount of saltthat it contains. As suggested by Dole, most of this salt was probablyderived by leaching from the Tertiary strata, which, according toSpurr, are part of the deposits of interior lakes and would thereforeprobably contain saline materials. The salt deposits underlying thepresent playa are, according to this explanation, reconcentrations ofthe salt that was contained in the basin at the beginning of theQuaternary period. The relatively large amounts of chlorine suggestthat part of the salt may have been derived from sea water (p. 146). No physiographic evidence of the existence of an ancient lake hasbeen found, but the thick beds of

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