INVESTIGATION OF OTEKO BASIN FOE POTASH SALTS. 



TABLE II. Analyses of waters of possibly deep-seated origin. 

 [Parts per 100,000.] 



a Analysis by R. F. Gardner, Bureau of Soils. 

 & Analysis by F. H. Carpenter, Bureau of Soils. 



No. 1 . This water is from the so-calle 1 Salt Spring southeast of the White Sands. The spring is apparent iy 

 deep-seated, and is slightly warmer than the surface waters in general. It has built a cone of gypsum 

 about 1,000 feet in diameter by 50 feet high. Its water flows into a playa about one-half mile southeast, 

 where it evaporates. The salt crust from this playa showed a mere trace of potash. 



No. 2. This is from the Shoemaker artesian well, about one-half mile north-northeast of the Cerrito Tula- 

 rosa. Its depth is unknown, but is said to be 400 feet. 



No. 3. This is from a well drilled by Mr. Emry Joy in the town of Alamogordo. Its depth is unknown, 

 but is said to be considerable. There are several other deep wells in or near the town of Alamogordo, 

 but the waters are all fresh, and were not analyzed. 



9. No deep wells have been bored in the central part of the basin, 

 and a shallow (75-foot) hole bored in the neighborhood of the sodium 

 sulphate deposit at Lake Lucero did not penetrate the deposits pro- 

 duced by the last filling and present desiccation of the lake. 



Turning now to the more general matter of a possible source of 

 potash and its present entry into the basin, the indications are 

 strongly negative. The bordering mountains are almost entirely 

 sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous age and of marine origin, which 

 can not be expected to carry or yield any significant quantity of 

 potash. The only potash-bearing rocks which could possibly con- 

 tribute appreciably to the saline materials of the basin are compara- 

 tively small exposures of granites in White Mountain and the Oscura 

 Mountains and some insignificant andesitic intrusions in the Sacra- 

 mentos, the San Andreas, the Oscuras, etc. In the almost total lack 

 of accurate surveys, it is impossible to estimate closely the area of 

 these potash-bearing exposures, but it is safe to say that they form 

 less than 5 per cent and probably less than 1 per cent of the drainage 

 area of the basin. It is true that a part of the Carboniferous sedi- 

 mentary series were perhaps laid down under continental conditions 

 or in inclosed arms of the sea, and may possibly carry small quantities 

 of various salts occluded and retained during the sedimentation. 

 However, none of these strata is known to be markedly saline, and 

 in any event the salt would probably be almost exclusively sodium 

 chloride. There is no reason to expect even minor quantities of 

 potash in these strata, and the drainage waters from them (as, e. g., 

 No. 2 in Table III) show only traces thereof. 



But the best evidence as to the possible existence or nonexistence 

 of a source of potash is furnished by the waters of the present drain- 



