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Elizabeth F. Brenner-Tourtelot

Publications and source records attributed to Elizabeth F. Brenner-Tourtelot.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1978

Lithium-bearing rocks of the Horse Spring Formation, Clark County, Nevada

The Horse Spring Formation of Miocene age in Clark County, Nevada, contains as much as 0.5% Li in individual samples. Rock sequences which average 0.1% Li range from 3 m thick near Gold Butte (south of Mesquite, Nev.) to as much as 40 m thick near Lava Butte (east of Las Vegas, Nev.) about 75 km to the west. The lithium-bearing beds are light colored to white and contain hectorite in a dolomite, magnesite, or calcite matrix. Varied amounts of gypsum, halite, celestite, clinoptilolite, quartz, feldspar, biolite and colemanite are also present locally. Hectorite is the only lithium mineral recognized to date. The lithium-rich rocks contain low concentrations of most other minor elements except that boron and strontium are enriched. Rarely, barium, arsenic, and zinc are present in anomalously large amounts. The lithium-enriched part of the Horse Spring Formation was formed from a series of volcanic ashes which were deposited in a playa. Relict volcanic ash is recognizable in thin sections as remnant glass shards and vitroclastic textures. Most of the original glass has been altered to clay minerals, carbonate minerals, or zeolites, presumably through interaction with highly saline pore waters. Abundant evidence of spring activity suggests that thermal waters played a part in releasing the lithium from volcanic materials.

Nevada↗
USGS1978

Lithium, a preliminary survey of its mineral occurrence in flint clay and related rock types in the United States

Maximum concentrations of lithium found in samples of flint clay and associated rocks of Pennsylvanian age in different States, in parts per million (ppm), are: Missouri, 5100; Pennsylvania-Maryland, 2100; Kentucky, 890; Ohio, 660; Alabama, 750; and Illinois, 160. Lithium-bearing kaolin deposits are distributed in the Coastal Plain province from New Jersey to Texas, and one occurs in Idaho; maximum lithium concentrations in samples from these deposits range from 64 to 180 ppm. The maximum concentration found in the Arkansas bauxite region is 460 ppm and that in flint clay in Colorado is 370 ppm. Samples from areas other than Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri are relatively few in number, represent mostly commercially valuable clays, and represent only a part of the refractory clay deposits in the United States. Data are not available on the clays associated with these deposits that may be unusable because they contain too much lithium as well as other deleterious elements. In both Pennsylvania and Missouri, lithium contents vary regionally between districts and locally between deposits. In samples containing more than 2000 ppm lithium, the lithium occurs in a dioctahedral chlorite mineral very similar to cookeite, which previously has not been recognized in sedimentary clays. The associated clays consist chiefly of well-crystallized kaolinite. The dioctahedral chlorite, however, seems to be most abundant where diaspore and boehmite occur along with the kaolinite. Barium, chromium, copper, phosphorus and strontium are present in some samples in amounts of several hundred pans per million or more, and may contribute to the failure of some clays to perform satisfactorily in firing tests. Lithium-rich clays could serve as a significant lithium resource in the very distant future. Clays that contain as much as 1% lithium may be common enough in Missouri or in Pennsylvania to be produced as a by-product to help support benefication costs for refractory clays. Sufficient amounts of lithium-rich clay may be found in deposits that have been explored, found unsatisfactory for normal refractory uses, and not developed. The lithium-rich clay in some deposits presently being worked may be worth stockpiling for eventual use.

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