POTASH SALTS AND OTHER SALINES IN THE GREAT BASIN REGION. 7 
In pre-Tertiary formations salines have been reported from the upper Silurian, 
Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. These for- 
mations, excepting Permian and Cretaceous, are represented to a greater or less 
extent in the Great Basin, In spite of extensive search on the part of geologists and 
Erospectors, no beds of salines of commercial importance other than gypsum have 
een discovered. Louderback 1 notes the occurrence of gypsum beds in the Triassic 
at Mound House and Lovelock. Spurr 2 notes the occurrence of massive gypsum 
in lenticular masses in the upper Carboniferous at Cottonwood Springs. Rowe 3 notes 
shales and gypsum beds overlying the upper Carboniferous in the hills north of Cot- 
tonwood Springs. A review of the literature leads one to conclude that in the pre- 
Tertiary formations, excepting the gypsum deposits and minor occurrences of salmif- 
erous layers, the prospects of finding salines of commercial importance are not good. 
In the Tertiary formations of the basin region saline segregates have been found. 
The most important occur in Miocene lake beds. Borates, gypsum, and salt are 
the important minerals that have been noted. Of these, the borates have been 
commercially exploited and produce the borax supply of the United States. Up 
to the present there has been little utilization of the gypsum beds. Concerning the 
salt beds our information is scanty. G. E. Bailey 4 describes a bed of rock salt 12 
to 16 feet thick in the Saratoga district, San Bernardino County, Cal. He also 
describes saline beds occurring on the north slope of Avawatz Mountains in the same 
county. These beds are, without much doubt, in the Tertiary lake series. So far 
as known no potash 6alts, at least in commercial quantities, have been reported from 
the Tertiary. The Tertiary beds are not looked upon by the writer as of any great 
importance as a source of supply for potash salts. It must be said, however, that 
comparatively little systematic work has been done upon them. The Tertiary lake 
beds, as a whole, have contributed by their erosion a large amount of salt and other 
salines to their tributary basins. 
The Quaternary lake beds and the lakes accompanying the Quaternary lake basins 
hold the most important supplies of salines and are the most promising fields for 
prospecting. Pre-Tertiary and Tertiary formations have supplied the salts which, 
we find as accumulations in therecent drainage basins and lakes. 
Quaternary and recent geologic history has been studied in detail in several of the 
more important lake basins, and we have in the monographs of Russell and Gilbert 
ample information of the changes in conditions which have resulted in the formation 
of saline deposits in these basins. The complete list of the Quaternary lake basins 
has perhaps not yet been made. From the literature and from personal notes I have 
compiled the following table: 
List of Quaternary lakes . 
Name. 
Elevation. 
Remarks. 
Bonneville: » 
Present lakes — 
Great Salt Lake 
Utah Lake 
Feet. 
4,200 
Maximum depth 1,050 feet. 
Overflowed. 
Lahontan: 6 
Present lakes 
4,405 to 4,414 
3,949 
3,880 
4,083 
3,875 
3,929 
3,900 
3,916 
3,569 
1,700 
1,046 
6,426 
Honey and Eagle 
Lakes. 
Pyramid Lake 
326 feet deep. 
886 feet deep; 525 feet above 1882 level. 
435 feet deep. 
Winnemucea Lake 
•Humboldt Lake 
530 feet deep. 
500 feet deep. 
526 feet deep. 
South Carson Lake 
510 feet deep. 
Old beach 190 feet above present level. 
Searles 8 
Shore line 600 feet above fiat. 
1,000 feet above valley floor are wave-cut terraces. 
Mono 10 .. . 
Quaternary area 316 square miles; beach 670 feet above 
lake level. 
i Bui. No. 223, U. S. Geol. Survey, Gypsum Beds of the United States, p. 118. 
2 U. S. Geological Surveys West of 100th Meridian, vol. 3, p. 166; and Bui. No. 208, U. S. Geol. Survey, 
Geology of Nevada south of fortieth parallel survey. 
8 Bui. No. 208, U. S. Geol. Survey, Geology of Nevada south of the fortieth parallel, p. 170. 
i Bui. No. 24, California State Mining Bureau, p. 126. 
6 Monograph I, Lake Bonneville. Gilbert. 
* 11th Annual Report, Lake Lahontan. Russell. 
■ 7 Bui. No. 24, Cal. State Mining Bureau. 
* 10th Annual Report, Cal. State Mineralogist. 
•» Bui. No. 200, U. S. Geol. Survev. Campbell. 
*o 8th Annual Report, U. S. Geol. Survey. 
