BULLETIN OF THE 



No. 61 



•Contribution from the Bureau of Soils, Milton Whitney, Chief. gj 



June 30. 1914. 



(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 



POTASH SALTS AND OTHER SALINES 

 GREATpASIN REGION.^ 



IN THE 



By G. J. Young. 

 GEOCHEMICAL CONDITIONS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The area under consideration in this bulletin embraces practically the entire State 

 of Nevada, the southern part of Oregon, the western part of Utah, and certain sections 

 of eastern and southeastern California. It is confined on the north by the watershed 

 of the Columbia, Snake, and Klamath Rivers, on the south and southeast by the 

 Colorado River, on the west by the Sierra Nevada, on the east by the Wasatch Moun- 

 tains, and on the southwest by the mountains bordering on the Mojave Desert. It 

 includes the drainage of the Humboldt, Truckee, Carson, Walker, Quinn, Bear, 

 Weber, Jordan, Salt, Sevier, Beaver, Amargosa, Mojave, and Owens Rivers and their 

 tributaries, besides numerous smaller creeks and streams. It is considered as a unit 

 because it has no surface drainage to the sea. Climatologically, it is a part of the 

 arid region of the West. 



The total area is estimated at between 208,500 and 210,000 square miles. The term 

 "Great Basin " has received such widespread use and acceptance that we may consider 

 the designation fixed, although it must not be considered as a single basin, but rather 

 as a series of individual basins separated by mountain ranges. These basins are 

 roughly of north-and -south trend. Five major systems may be separated and desig- 

 nated as the Bonneville; the Lahontan; the Amargosa and Death Valley; the Owens, 

 Searles, and Panamint system; and the Oregon Lake system. Of the other lake basins 

 not included in these systems the following may be named: Pthodes Marsh, Teels 

 Marsh, Columbus and Fish Lake Valley, Clayton Valley, Alkali Lake (Paradise Val- 

 ley, Cal.), Big Smoky Valley, White River, Mono, Saline Valley, Ivanpah, 

 Bristol, Cadiz, and Danby. A complete list of the individual basins making up the 

 Great Basin has been prepared by E. E. Free, and the following table is taken from 

 his paper (The Present and Past Topography of the Undrained Areas of the United 

 States) : 



Basin. 



Description. 



Area. 



Basin. 



Description. 



Area. 



Lahontan .... 





Square 



miles. 



47, 600 



10, 500 



445 



890 



340 



270 



2,660 



2,975 



90 



20 



Humboldt-Carson. . 

 Fernley . . 



Part of Lahontan. . . 

 do... 



Square 

 miles. 

 27, 575 



Black Rock 



Part of Lahontan . . . 

 do 



215 





Allan Springs 



do 



235 



Granite Spring 



do 



Ranri pprinp-s . 



...do 



200 



Jungo . . 



do.. . 



Buena Vista 



Buffalo Springs 



Part of Humboldt 

 drainage. 

 ...do 



4,000 



Hot Springs. . 



...do 







do 



500 



Truckee 



do. 



Gibson 



do 



1,150 





do.. . 



Clover (snow water) 

 Walker 



do 



1,075 



Warm Springs 



do 



Part of Lahontan... 



3,850 



' This bulletin embodies the results of investigations carried on in cooperation with the United States 

 Geological Survey and the Mackay School of Mines, Reno, Nev., with a view to determiaing the existence 

 or nonexistence of sources of potash salts in the basin region. 



