Studies of quaternary saline lakes. III. Mineral, chemical, and isotopic evidence of salt solution and crystallization processes in Owens Lake, California, 1969-1971

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(87)90095-0· OSTI ID:6935550

Smith, G I; Friedman, I; McLaughlin, R J

As a consequence of the 1969-1970 flooding of normally dry Owens Lake, a 2.4-m-deep lake formed and 20% of the 2-m-thick salt bed dissolved in it. Its desiccation began August 1969, and salts started crystallizing September 1970, ending August 1971. Mineralogic, brine-composition, and stable-isotope data plus field observations showed that while the evolving brine composition established the general crystallization timetable and range of primary and secondary mineral assemblages, it was the daily, monthly, and seasonal temperature changes that controlled the details of timing and mineralogy during this depositional process. Deuterium analyses of lake brine, interstitial brine, and hydrated saline phases helped confirm the sequence of mineral crystallization and transformations, and they documented the sources and temperatures of waters involved in the reactions. Monitoring the lake-brine chemistry and mineralogy of the accumulating salts shows: (1) An estimated 0.9 x 10/sup 6/ tons of CO/sub 2/ was released to the atmosphere or consumed by the lake's biomass prior to most salt crystallization. (2) After deposition, some salts reacted in situ to form other minerals in less than one month, and all salts (except halite) decomposed or recrystallized at least once in response to seasons. (3) Warming in early 1971 caused solution of all the mirabilite and some of the natron deposited a few months earlier, a deepening of the lake (thought the lake-surface lowered), and an increase in dissolved solids. (4) Phase and solubility-index data suggest that at the close of desiccation, Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ x 7H/sub 2/O, never reported as a mineral, could have been the next phase to crystallize.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6935550
• Journal Information: Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta; (United States), Journal Name: Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta; (United States) Vol. 51:4; ISSN GCACA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580300 -- Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics-- (-1989)
580400* -- Geochemistry-- (-1989)
BRINES
CALIFORNIA
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMISTRY
CRYSTALLIZATION
CRYSTALS
DISSOLUTION
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HALIDE MINERALS
HALITE
MINERALIZATION
MINERALOGY
MINERALS
NORTH AMERICA
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PRECIPITATION
RECRYSTALLIZATION
SALT DEPOSITS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLUBILITY
SOLVENT PROPERTIES
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
USA