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Research about Inyo County, California

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Inyo County, California.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1984

Analytical results, geology, and sample locality map of mercury-sulfur-gypsum mineralization at Crater, Inyo County, California

The Crater mercury-su l fur-gypsum ~ineral ized area is located in east-central California along the crest of the Last Chance Range, west of the north end of Death Valley (fig. 1). The area is in the northwest quarter of the Last Chance Range 15-minute quadrangle and occupies the area between 117 39 and 117 45 longitude and 37 10 and 37 15 latitudP.. The area studied lies between 5000 ( 1525 m) and 6000 ( 1830 m) feet above sea level. Relief isgenerally moderate but can be extreme in some places, as at Hanging Rock Canyon (plate 1). The climate is arid, and there are no active streams in the area. The range fronts east and west of the area are precipitous and incised by many steep canyons, whereas the range crest has relatively low relief. The old abandoned town and mine site of Crater 1 ie in this area of low relief. Access to the Crater area is by paved and dirt roads from Big Pine to the west or from the north end of the Death Valley National Monument to the southeast.

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USGS1979

Lithologic log, lithium content, and mineralogy of sediments penetrated in test boring drilled in Eureka Valley, Inyo County, California

A test boring was drilled in a playa in Eureka Valley, Calif., by the U.S. Geological Survey in the spring of 1978. Work was done under the terms of a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to evaluate the leasable mineral potential of various playas in the California Desert Planning area, as described in the environmental analysis (prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1978). The purpose of this report is to describe the occurrence and distribution of lithium in the basin sediments as part of a program to identify additional domestic resources of nonpegmatite lithium (Vine, 1978). Interest in this playa stems from the fact that Eureka Valley is located in a region where other lithium resources have been identified. Lithium is recovered from subsurface brines at Clayton Valley, Nev., to the north and at Searles Lake, Calif., to the south. Eureka Valley is a closed topographic basin that has an arid climate, it thus provides suitable conditions for the entrapment of a brine and subsequent concentration of lithium by evaporation. Development of new energy related uses for lithium in batteries for electric vehicle propulsion and for off-peak power storage by the utility industry (Chilenskas and others, 1977) may he aided by identification of a large domestic resource of lithium.

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USGS1979

Hydrologic data, 1974-77, Stovepipe Wells Hotel area, Death Valley National Monument, Inyo County, California

Ground-water levels in most wells did not change significantly from 1974 to 1977 in the Stovepipe Wells Hotel area. The average water-level decline was less than 0.10 foot between August 1974 and August 1977 in 10 observation wells. Water-level contours show a depression centered on the two pumping wells, but this depression existed before the National Park Service started pumping its well. The chemical quality of the ground water is poor. Dissolved-solids concentrations in water samples ranged from 2,730 to 6,490 milligrams per liter. Analyses of water samples from two wells showed large changes in some constituents from 1976 to 1977. Water-quality monitoring will continue at these sites to verify the changes. Streamflow in Salt Creek has been monitored since February 1974. Base flow is seasonal, being 0.10 to 0.20 cubic foot per second during the summer and as much as three times that amount during the winter. Two chemical analyses of water from Salt Creek, representing summer and winter flow conditions, show large differences for many constituents.

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USGS1974

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur isotope study of the Darwin lead-silver-zinc deposit, Southern California

The ores at Darwin occur as massive replacement bodies in silicated limestones of Pennsylvanian and Permian age adjacent to a Jurassic quartz monzonite stock. Three types of ore have a definite spatial relationship to the quartz monzonite: (1) pyrite-sphalerite-galena ores, (2) pyrite-pyrrhotite-magnetite-sphalerite-galena ores, and (3) galena-Ag-Bi-Se ores.The delta 34 S values of all sulfide minerals range from +4.4 to --5.7 permil. The delta 34 S values for individual minerals tend to decrease with respect to both space and paragenetic time. The delta (sub sl-gn) values range from 1.5 to 2.5 permil and correspond to a temperature range of 325 degrees + or - 55 degrees C. The sphalerite-galena sulfur isotope temperatures at a given locality are reproducible to + or -30 degrees C and are consistent with temperatures determined by other means.Analyses of water in three samples of fluid inclusions in sphalerite indicate that the ore fluids had delta D values of --66 + or - permil, a total salinity that reached at least 20 percent, and K/Na atomic ratios of 0.23 + or - 0.03. Isotopic and thermochemical data indicate that the ore fluids had average values of delta 34 S (sub Sigma S) = 3 permil, delta 13 C (sub Sigma O) = -- 3.5 permil, Sigma S = 0.01 mole/Kg H 2 O, f (sub CO 2 ) = 12 + or - 8 bars, and Sigma C = 0.15 + or - 0.06 mole/Kg H 2 O.The delta 18 O values of postsulfide calcites have a range of 12.8 + or - 1.5 permil in the pyrite ores and 17 + or - 2 permil in the pyrrhotite ores. Similar values for relict limestone host rock in these areas indicate that oxygen isotopic equilibrium was established between the calcite precipitating fluids and the wall rock. The delta 13 C values of the calcites, however, range from --5.8 to --3.6 permil and are considerably more negative than the limestone in the host rock, indicating that carbon isotopic equilibrium was not established between the fluids and the wall rock.Thermochemical data indicate that the pH of the ore fluids was about 4.8 as they traveled through the quartz monzonite at T nearly equal 350 degrees C. When the fluids completely equilibrated with the relict limestone and calc-silicate host rock, the pH increased to 6.7. This increase in pH as the fluids traveled upward and away from the quartz monzonite was responsible for the spatial distribution of iron sulfide assemblages, for variations in delta 34 S values of sulfides, and probably caused precipitation of the ore.

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USGS1971

Fractionation of minor elements between galena and sphalerite, Darwin lead-silver-zinc mine, Inyo County, California and its significance in geothermometry

Minor element abundances were determined for galena and sphalerite from the Darwin mine, Inyo County, California. The temperature of deposition was calculated from the distribution coefficients determined experimentally by Bethke and Barton (1971) for cadmium and manganese in coexisting galena and sphalerite. The fractionation of cadmium between coexisting sphalerite and galena indicates a temperature of deposition of 416 degrees C+ or -20 degrees , the fractionation of manganese between the same mineral pair a temperature of 377 degrees C+ or -32 degrees . The fractionation of selenium gave unreasonably high temperatures. Three pairs gave temperatures between 568 degrees and 625 degrees C, the fourth pair a temperature of 889 degrees C. The reason for this descrepancy is not known.

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USGS1965

Geochemistry of Birch Creek, Inyo County, California a travertine depositing creek in an arid climate

A small stream in eastern California was studied in detail to determine the causes of travertine deposition from the stream. Although the ground water feeding the stream is slightly supersaturated to just saturated with calcite, the ground water is supersaturated with CO 2 with respect to the overlying air. The water becomes increasingly supersaturated with calcite in a downstream direction as CO 2 loss to the air and by photosynthesis exceeds the rate of precipitation of calcite. Water loss by evaporation was below detection and does not play an important role in calcite deposition in this case. The water loss is by seepage through the stream bed. Observations showed variations in HCO − 3 , pH, discharge, Ca +2 , relative humidity, water and air temperatures, and dissolved CO 2 . Comparisons of observed and equilibrium states are given for five sampling stations along the stream.

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USGS1964

Argon retention in a granitic xenolith from a pleistocene basalt, Sierra Nevada, California

THIS note reports measurements made in an attempt to determine: (1) the possible effect of xenoliths on whole-rock basalt age determinations; (2) whether or not potassium-argon age determinations on xenoliths in basalt might approximate the age of the basalt flow. The field location is in the canyon of Sawmill Creek, Inyo County, sec. 7 md 18, T. 12 S., R. 34 E., and sec. 12 and 13, T. 12 S., R. 33 E.

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