Lithium in Unconsolidated 

Sediments .and Plants of the 

Basin and Range Province, 

Southern California and Nevada 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 918 

Lithium in Unconsolidated 

Sediments and Plants of the 

Basin and Range Province, 

Southern California and Nevada 

By HELEN L. CANNON. THELMA F. HARMS, and]. C. HAMILTON 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 918 

A study of the accumulations of lithium in 

the evaporites, clays, freshwater limestones, 

waters, and vegetation of open and closed basins 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1975 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

V. E. McKelvey, Director 

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 

Cannon, Helen E. Leighton, 1911-

Lithium in unconsolidated sediments and plants of the Basin and Range province, southern California and Nevada. 

(Geological Survey Professional Paper 918) 

Bibliography: p. 

Supt. of Docs. No.: I 19.16:918 

1. Lithium. 2. Sediments (Geology)-California. 3. Sediments (Geology)-Nevada. 4. Plants-Chemical analysis. 5. Water, 

Underground-California. 6. Water, Underground-Nevada. 

I. Harms, Thelma F. II. Hamilton, J. C. III. Title: Lithium in unconsolidated sediments and plants of the Basin and Range 

province ... IV. Series: United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 918. 

QE516.L5C36 553'.499 75-619074 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Washington, D.C. 20402 

Stock Number 024-001-02213-3 
CONTENTS 

Page Page 

Abstract .......................................................................................... . Lithium in the Basin and Range province-Con. 

Introduction .................................................................................. .. Lithium uptake by desert plants............................................. 6 

Collection and treatment of samples .................................... .. I Open basins discharged by underflow.................................... 7 

Geography and ecology of the Basin and Range province ......... .. 3 Hydrologically closed basins................................................... II 

Geochemistry of lithium .............................................................. .. 3 Death Valley..................................................................... 12 

Rocks ....................................................................................... . 3 Amargosa Desert............................................................... 14 

Soils and sediments ............................................................... .. 4 Other closed basins........................................................... 16 

Water ....................................................................................... . 4 Plant prospecting.................................................................... 19 

Vegetation ............................................................................... . 4 Health aspects of lithium.............................................................. 21 

Lithium in the Basin and Range province .................................. .. 5 Summary......................................................................................... 21 

Hydrological relationships ..................................................... . 5 References cited............................................................................... 22 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

FIGURE l. Map showing concentration of lithium in basin sediments, California and Nevada........................................................................ 2 

2. Graph showing relationship between lithium in plants and that in soil........................................................................................... 9 

3-7. Photographs: 

3. Crown of rush killed by hot-spring precipitate, Clayton Valley............................................................................................. 12 

4. Precipitate of biogenetic origin occurring in place, Amargosa Desert.................................................................................. 12 

S. CaC03 precipitate on organic detritus, Amargosa Desert...................................................................................................... 13 

6. Cast of former root or stem structure, Amargosa Desert........................................................................................................ 13 

7. Pickleweed (Allenrolfea) on salt mounds in Death Valley..................................................................................................... 14 

TABLES 

Page 

TABLE l. Lithium, strontium, boron, and fluorine content in some waters of Nye County, Nev., and lnyo County, Calif., 

compared with 100 municipal water supplies in the United States............................................................................................ 6 

2. Maximum lithium concentrations in some basins of Nevada and California................................................................................... 7 

3. Plant species sampled in Nevada and California................................................................................................................................ 7 

4. Lithium in plant groups of the Great Basin, California-Nevada...................................................................................................... 8 

5. Maximum contents of lithium and sodium in some plants and basin soils..................................................................................... 9 

6. Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and the ash of plants from open basins in Nevada and California......... 10 

7. Percentage of lithium and associated ions in basin sediments, collected within 6 inches of the ground surface............................ 11 

8. Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and the ash of plants from Death Valley, Calif........................................ 15 

9. Chemical constituents of some springs and wells in Amargosa Desert............................................................................................. 16 

10-12. Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and the ash of plants from: 

10. Amargosa Desert, Nevada and California.............................................................................................................................. 17 

1l. Three closed basins in which economic quantities of lithium occur................................................................................... 18 

12. Some other closed basins in Nevada and California............................................................................................................. 20 

III 

LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS 

AND PLANTS OF THE BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE, 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

By HELEN L. CANNON, THELMA F. HARMS, and J. C. HAMILTON 

ABSTRACT 

Geochemica l and geobotanical sampling of 20 hydrologica lly closed 

and open basins in the southern part of the Basin and Range province 

shows contrasting lithium conten ts of their sediments, vegetation, and 

natural waters. These findings have significant economic and environmental implications. In hydrologically closed basins, where groundwater discharge is mainly by evapotranspiration, economic concentrations of lithium are of three types- as lithium chloride in evaporites and 

brines, in the crystal lattice of montmorillonitic clays, and in carbonate 

precipitates in hot-spring and lacustrine deposits. Along with potassium, boron, and halite, lithium compounds are precipitated at a late 

stage of evaporation. Sediments collected from low areas of closed basins 

contain 30- 1,500 ppm lithium, whereas sediments from open, drained 

basins contain 20- 150 ppm lithium. 

Recycled concentrations occur in association with hot springs at the 

alluvium-playa contact, where lithium dissolved at depth is precipitated 

around hydrophytic plants and organic debris. The average lithium content of native vegetation sampled in closed basins is 100 times the content reported for average plants. The lithium content of halophytic vegetation is closely related to that of the soil, anoma lous accumulations occurring in plants that also take up large concentrations of sodium chloride. Ground water contains 50 times more lithium than average 

municipal water supplies in the United States. Lithium is produced commercially from volcanic clays and, also, by brine evaporation in several 

closed basins; analysis of vegetation may furnish a means of prospecting 

for deep-seated lithium brines. Contents of as much as 3,000 ppm lithium were found in the ash of pickleweed (A llenrolfea ) and in rushes rooted in hot springs. An average of 150 ppm lithium in the ash and 25.8 ppm 

in the dry weight of all plants that were collected in both closed and open 

arid basins is considerably higher than the average of 1.3 ppm in dry 

weight reported for plants growing in a nonarid climate. The high lithium content in well waters and vegetation of closed basins is probably 

beneficial, rather than harmful, to animals and man. 

INTRODUCTION 

The geochemistry of lithium in sediments and its absorption by plants in the arid basins of the Basin and 

Range physiographic province were studied after a broad 

geochemical study had found large amounts of lithium 

in the native plants of the basins. The importance of concentrations of lithium in plants is twofold: first, the plants 

may be of value as indicators of lithium-rich brines at 

depth; and second, the uptake of lithium by concentrator 

species of forage or produce may be of significance nutritionally to livestock and man. Therefore, we studied the 

plant-soil relationships in closed basins that are discharged by evapotranspiration and in open basins that 

are discharged by underflow through permeable beds at 

considerable depths to lower basins. Plants and sediments 

were sampled in 20 basins of California and Nevada (fig. 

I), as time permitted, during 1963-67. Plants and the sediments in which the plants grew were collected in each 

basin from the lowest and wettest part of the basin, and, 

locally, suites of samples were collected from several 

chemical zones in the basin. Generally, the plants were 

salt-tolerant species-phreatophytes in the closed basins 

and xerophytes in the open basins. The flora and deposits 

of springs were of particular interest. Analytical data on 

eight elements are reported here, together with available 

water analyses. 

COLLECTION AND TREATMENT OF SAMPLES 

Branch tips and leaves were collected from the larger 

shrubs, and the above-ground parts were sampled from 

herbaceous plants. The samples were not washed but were 

dried in paper sacks and analyzed in the U.S. Geological 

Survey laboratories in Denver, Colo. Soil samples were 

air-dried and then sifted through an 80-mesh sieve. Plant 

samples were dried at 50°C, ground in a Wiley mill, and 

ashed in a muffle furnace at 500°C. Of the elements reported, magnesium and carbonate were analyzed by rapid 

rock analysis; calcium, sodium, and potassium by atomic 

absorption; sulfate by a colorimetric method; fluorine by 

selective electrode; and boron by emission spectrograph. 

The lithium content of each sample was determined by 

two methods-semiquantitative spectrographic analysis 

(Myers and other, 1961) and atomic absorption method 

(Ward and others, 1969). Determinations by atomic absorption for lithium in the plants were made by leaching 

I 00 mg of ash in 2 ml of 6 N HCI and diluting the leachate 

to 25 ml before atomizing. Lithium detection limits are 

I 0 ppm for the atomic absorption method and 100 ppm 

for the 6-step spectrographic procedure, which appears 

to be more reproducible for higher values. Therefore, the 

reported low values were determined by atomic absorption and the high values by emission spectrograph. A 

I 
2 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

0 50 KILOMETRES 

FIGURE I.- Concentration of lithium in basin sediments, California and Nevada. Geology and base modified from Stose 

(1932). Map explana tion is on fa cing page. 
GEOCHEMISTRY OF LITHIUM 3 

EXPLANATION 

Valley fill 

Sedimentary rocks- Largely Paleozoic limestones 

Igneous rocks - Largely volcanic tuffs 

w Closed basin discharged by evapotranspiration 

© Playa 

--. Direction of ground-water movement 

Lithium in sediment sample - In parts per million. Plants 

were collected at all sample localities 

0 <100 

• 100-300 

• >300 

AM Ash Meadows 

C5 Station number 

spread in lithium values was noted in high-sodium plants 

that were analyzed by both methods. Probably sodium 

,masks lithium in determinations by atomic absorption 

to some degree but enhances the lithium values on the 

spectrograph. 

Also presented herein are analyses of waters sampled 

by U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists; the samples were 

filtered, acidified, and analyzed chemically and by emission spectrograph in the Denver laboratories. 

The senior author collected the samples, assisted at various times by Thelma F. Harms, Margaret E. Hinkle, and 

Mary Strobel!. Analyses by emission spectrograph and 

atomic absorption were made in U.S. Geological Survey 

laboratories, Denver, Colo., and by rapid-rock analysis in 

Washington, D.C. Analysts were as follows: 

Chemical analysis of plants and soils: M. E. Hinkle, ]. 

B. McHugh, K. W. Leong,]. H. Turner, T. F. Harms, 

Clara Papp 

Spectrographic analysis of plants and soils: ]. C. Hamilton, Barbara Tobin,]. L. Finley, H. G . Neiman, B. N. 

Lanthorn, E. L. Mosier, L. D. Forshey 

Rapid-rock analysis: Paul Elmore, H. Smith, S. D. Botts, 

Lowell Artis, ]. L. Glenn, Gillison Chloe, D. Taylor. 

Isaac Winograd, U.S. Geological Survey, provided helpful information concerning hydrological relationships. 

GEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY OF THE 

BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 

The Basin and Range province is characterized by a 

series of tilted fault blocks forming longitudinal, asymmetric ridges or mountains and broad intervening valleys. 

Weathering and erosion have lowered the mountain peaks 

and have filled the valleys with alluvium and products of 

volcanism to a depth of several thousand feet. The rocks 

range in age from Precambrian to Quaternary, but we are 

concerned here only with Pleistocene and Holocene basinfill sediments interbedded with volcanic tuffs and basaltic 

flows, and with the gravel fans that surround the basins. 

During the several pluvial periods of historic time, those 

basins in which the alluvium overlies relatively impervious rock formations were filled with lake water to a considerably higher elevation than ,exists today. Basins that 

are not hydrologically closed drain through the underlying Paleozoic sedimentary rocks to nearby lower basins. 

The lowest closed basin is Death Valley, whose surface is 

280 feet (85 m) below sea level. Large concentrations of 

salts have built up in the closed basins by processes of 

evaporation and transpiration; the composition of the 

salts varies from basin to basin depending on the source of 

the water and the geology of the recharge area. The climate 

is generally arid, and so surface waters are apt to be 

ephemeral; the depth to ground water in open basins may 

be several hundred feet. Which plant species can live in a 

particular basin is controlled by altitude, by water conditions, the total salt content, and the tolerance of various 

species for particular ions that may occur in very high concentrations. Hunt (1966) described the salt zones of Death 

Valley as a central area of chlorides ringed successively by 

sulfide and carbonate zones. Each zone has a characteristic flora . The plants of greatest significance as indicators of soil conditions and as accumulators of ions are 

woody shrubs of the Upper and Lower Sonoran plant 

zones. Open basins are generally populated by xerophytic 

plants except at springs along the mountain-basin contact. Closed basins are populated by phreatophytes (deeprooted plants that depend on ground water for their water 

supply) on the basin proper and by xerophytes (plants 

adapted to dry conditions) on the peripheral gravel fans. 

Bare areas completely devoid of vegetation occur in the salt 

pan of Death Valley, playa muds of drier valleys, and on 

the steeper gravel fans. We sampled sediments of the bare 

areas in several basins as well as the soils in which plants 

were able to grow. 

GEOCHEMISTRY OF LITHIUM 

Lithium, a light metal, third in the periodic table, is 

widely distributed throughout the Earth's crust. It is used 

as a pottery glaze, as an absorbent in air conditioners, and 

as an ingredient of waterproof and high-temperature 

lubricants. The use of lithium in hydrogen bombs and of 

lithium flares accounts for some of the lithium that occurs 

at the Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada Test Site. 

ROCKS 

Lithium is concentrated in the silicates and 

aluminosilicates of acidic igneous rocks where it replaces 

magnesium, ferrous iron or aluminum; it is also present in 

pegmatite dikes where it forms independent lithium 

minerals, such as spodumene (LiA1Siz06), and the lithium 
4 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLAN.TS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

micas, such as lepidolite, which are the main ores 

of the element. Averages for lithium in igneous rocks have 

ranged from 22 to 65 ppm (Parker, 1967). Averages for sediments, calculated by Ran kama and Sahama ( 1950) from 

Strock (1936), are 17 ppm in sandstones, 46 ppm in shales, 

and 26 ppm in limestones; contents of more than l 00 ppm 

are reported for iron ores. 

In a Russian study of the geochemistry of lithium in the 

sedimentary cycle (Ronov and others, 1970), 21,000 

samples were analyzed. Lithium was found to concentrate 

in clays in which it correlates most strongly with aluminum. The results of the Russian study show that the 

behavior of lithium is the weathering zone is not dependent on the petrographic type of the initial rock, on the 

initial lithium content, or on the geologic age of the crust 

but is determined by the sequence of stages or the physiochemical conditions of weathering: the metal is usually 

concentrated finally in kaolinite. Lithium entering clay 

minerals differs from sodium, potassium, rubidium, 

cesium, magnesium and calcium by being firmly bound 

during the formation of the clay minerals but by ultimately being released during the disintegration of clays to 

form laterite. 

Tardy and others (1972) showed that the retention of 

lithium in clay minerals of weathering is weak and on the 

same order as the initial content of the rock (<60 ppm); that 

the fixation of lithium is moderate in sedimentary clay 

minerals of detrital origin (<300 ppm); and that lithium is 

concentrated in new magnesium clay minerals formed 

under arid conditions in a carbonate or sulfate environment (as much as 6,000 ppm). The carbonates and sulfates 

that accompany the silicates, however, contain scant 

lithium (<30 ppm). Accordingly, the behavior of lithium 

can serve to distinguish in sediments the inherited clay 

minerals from newly formed clay minerals. 

Lithium follows the pattern of magnesium and, in one 

mode of accumulation, is absorbed into the crystal structure of montmorillonite and illite (Mason, 1952). Lithium 

is not in an exchangeable site but is probably in the octahedral layer, substituting for magnesium (R. A. Sheppard 

and H . C. Starkey, written commun., 1972). 

A second mode of lithium accumulation is in salt 

lagoons or basins where contents of lithium correlate 

negatively with those of aluminum but positively with 

those of magnesium, sulfate, and chloride; large concentrations of lithium occur in these evaporative basins 

(Ronov and others, 1970). Lithium not only is very soluble 

but is most easily displaced by ion exchange of all the 

cations and, hence, is a very mobile element that moves 

readily into and out of waters and sediments (Bear, 1964). 

In an evaporative basin, lithium may remain in solution 

until a late stage and then be precipitated along with 

sodium, potassium, and boron in the chloride and sulfate 

zones (Stewart, 1963). In several basins in the Western 

United States, lithium and potassium are commercially 

produced by evaporating the brines. 

SOILS AND SEDIMENTS 

Swaine (1955) reported 8 to 400 ppm lithium in soils. 

Steinkoenig (1915) reported 10 to 100 ppm in soil and 20 to 

70 ppm in subsoil from 19 soils in 6 different areas of the 

United States. Recent U.S. Geological Survey studies in 

Missouri show a geometric mean of 21 ppm lithium for 

that State. 

In the arid Basin and Range province, lithium is 

concentrated in hydrologically closed basins but not in 

open basins. In closed basins, soluble salts move upward 

to the ground surface, where they are further concentrated 

by evaporation and plant transpiration; in open basins the 

salts move downward to the ground-water table at depth 

and then laterally to a lower basin. Surface sediments (exclusive of alluvium) collected in our study contained 30 to 

2,000 ppm lithium (median, 150 ppm) in 12 closed basins 

and 30 to 150 ppm (median, 50 ppm) in 8 open basins. 

WATER 

The lithium content of fresh water is considerably less 

than that of sea water (0.1 ppm), because lithium chloride 

is highly soluble and remains in solution in sea water 

more or less indefinitely. A median of 2 mg/ l (0.002 ppm} 

lithium was stated by Durfor and Becker (1964) for municipal water supplies; some of this lithium may be sorbed 

by suspended clay. Thermal waters commonly contain 

large quantities of lithium leached as lithium chloride 

from rocks penetrated by the waters (Rankama and 

Sahama, 1950). 

VEGETATION 

Lithium is not known to be an essential plant nutrient, 

but its presence in all plants and its effect on plant growth 

suggests that lithium is necessary for plant growth and 

development. It exerts both stimulating and retarding 

effects on plant growth, depending on the concentration 

and on the plant species. According to Evans and Sorger 

( 1966) at least one enzyme from a halophile is activated by 

sodium and lithium but not by potassium or rubidium. 

Those enzymes that are activated by potassium are not 

activated by lithium. After analyzing 680 plants from 68 

families, Bertrand ( 1952; 1959) reported an average of 0.85 

ppm in the dry weight of Monocotyledons and 1.3 ppm in 

Dicotyledons. Averages by Bertrand for some families are 

given in table 4. Robinson and others (1917) found an average of 0.3-0.42 ppm in dry weight of various classes of 

vegetation. 

Borovik-Romanova (1965) analyzed 138 plants from 8 

soil types by emission spectrography, using potassium 

chloride as buffer. She found that plants generally have an 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 5 

average content of 0.15 to 0.3 ppm, but plants rooted in 

saline soils contain 2 to 10 times that level. 

Lithium accumulates first in the root and then moves 

into the older leaves where it becomes immobilized (Kent, 

1941). High values were found in the dry weight of crops 

irrigated with water containing 0.1 to 0.2 ppm lithium; 

more lithium was concentrated in the leaves than in the 

roots (Bradford, 1966). 

Vlasiuk and Okhrimenko (1967) experimented with 

various increments of lithium to determine effects on 

growth, development, and productivity of tomatoes and 

potatoes. The lithium was introduced as lithium sulfate in 

amounts of 0.1, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 10.0, and30.0 ppm, and the experiments were repeated 6 times. Curves plotted on doses 

versus product weight are bimodal, with two optimal 

values-for tomatoes, 0.1 and 2.0 ppm; and for potatoes, 

0.1 and 5.0 ppm. The reason for these double optima is 

unknown. In 1969 the same authors reported that lithium 

stimulates the photochemical activity of chloroplasts and 

chlorophyll content in tomato and pepper leaves, with a 

consequent increase in the yield. According to BorovikRomanova (1965), lithium forms part of the protein fraction of the leaf, and lithium ions substantially stimulate 

the metabolism of protein and carbohydrate in the plant. 

The amounts of lithium that stimulate growth and 

amounts that produce toxicity symptoms depend upon the 

tolerance of the particular species and the form of salt 

administered. Puccini (1957) reported that several lithium 

salts improved the growth of carnations, whereas lithium 

carbonate was toxic. Voelcker (1912) found any lithium 

salt to be stimulating to wheat in amounts ofless than 20 

ppm but to be toxic in amounts greater than 30 ppm in the 

soil; lithium nitrate was found to be the most toxic salt but 

nevertheless the most stimulating salt to growth when 

present in amounts less than I 0 ppm. Plant species vary 

widely in their tolerance. Citrus trees are sensitive to 

lithium, and toxicity symptoms develop in citrus growing 

in California in areas where the lithium content of the soil 

is only 12 ppm (Bradford, 1966). Lithium contents in the 

tree reach 40 ppm dry weight or perhaps 400 ppm in the 

ash. Toxicity in avocado seedlings in pot culture was produced by the addition of 16 ppm lithium. Symptoms include necrotic spots in the interveinalleaf tissue and eventual browning and curling of the leaf margins. Meristem 

damage occurred in root tips of corn exposed to high 

lithium concentrations (Edwards, 1941). 

Some plants, on the other hand, tolerate large amounts 

of lithium, and growth is stimulated when the soil contains considerable concentrations. The best-known such 

plant is tobacco, a member of the Solanaceae. Headden 

(1921), in plot experiments, found 496 ppm lithium oxide 

in the ash (or ±40 ppm in the dry weight) of Nicotiana 

affinis and I 08 ppm inN icotiana tobacum but only a trace 

in alfalfa grown in the same soil. A maximum value of 

4,400 ppm (or± 750 ppm in the dry weight) was reported by 

Strock (1936) in tobacco ash. Borovik-Romanova (1965) 

found species of Thalictrum, Adonis, Cirsium, Nicotiana, Salsola, Solanum, Ranunculus, Lycium, Atropa 

belladonna, and Datura stramonium to accumulate lithium to an unusually large degree. She noted that the lithium content is highest in samples with high alkaloid contents, which also varies with locality and growing season. 

In recent years, lithium compounds have often been used 

in organic synthesis, and they may participate in the biosynthesis of alkaloids. Vinogradov ( 1952) described a lithiurn flora which includes Thalictrum (Ranunculaceae). 

Linstow (1929) reported Lycium barbarum of the 

Solanaceae to be a lithium indicator. Lycium, which is 

used in making jelly, was sampled on lands inhabited by 

the Pima Indians in Arizona; it contained 1,120 ppm 

lithium in the dry weight of the plant (Sievers and 

Cannon, 1974). 

LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE 

PROVINCE 

HYDROLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS 

Two distinct types of basins occur in the Basin and 

Range province: hydrologically closed basins, in which 

the ground water is only discharged by evapotranspiration, and hydrologically open basins, in which the ground 

water is discharged by subsurface drainage through underlying sedimentary formations into a lower basin. Topography and surface drainage patterns in open basins do not 

necessarily coincide with the directions of ground-water 

movement. The Ash Meadows basin in the Amargosa 

Desert, for instance, drains several intermontane basins, 

all of which are hydrologically connected. The connection is effected by movement of ground water through the 

Paleozoic carbonate rocks that underlie the valleys at considerable depth (Winograd, 1962). The thousands of feet of 

fill in a closed basin act as an immense underground reservoir, constantly becoming more concentrated with salts as 

water is lost through evaporation at the surface and 

through transpiration by plants. 

In a closed basin the composition of solutes depends 

largely on the reaction of natural waters with the particular lithologic units underlying that basin and occurring in 

its area of recharge. The composition is dependent on the 

simple solution of readily soluble compounds, as might 

occur in preexisting salt beds, and on hydrolysis of various 

silicate minerals, depending on their relative solubility 

(Jones, 1966). The end product of weathering in the Basin 

and Range province is generally montmorillonite and 

carbonates except that in basins fed by waters draining extensive mineralized areas sulfates predominate. Sodium 

bicarbonate waters are common in volcanic areas, and calcium-magnesium carbonate waters are common in areas 
6 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

of limestones. Mixed waters may have originated in tuffs 

and then been altered by traveling through limestones, or 

the sequence may be the reverse (Eakin and others, 1963). 

Secondary influences on the solute composition are concentration by evaporation and concentration by organic 

respiration and decay (Jones, 1966). The evaporative 

process involves a ''continuous precipitation of salts in 

concentric zones from the edge inward according to their 

relative solubility: alkali-earth carbonates, then sulfates, 

then chlorides at the center." The chemical zonation of 

sediments and the typical plant species that are able to 

grow on each zone (generally identified by anion as carbonate, sulfate, and chloride zones) were studied by C. B. 

Hunt(l966; Hunt and others, 1966) in Death Valley, where 

he made on-site analyses of sediments and plants. 

Lithium is reported to remain in solution until a late 

stage and to be precipitated with potassium and boron in 

the chloride zone (Stewart, 1963). Our sampling in Death 

Valley shows high values for lithium in both the sulfate 

and chloride zones; and Lombardi's (1963) analyses of 

springs in Saline Valley (west of Death Valley) show a 

similar concentration of lithium in high-sulfate water. 

Lombardi noted that in transit lithium is rapidly absorbed by clay in suspension. For example, the water of 

Vega Springs, Saline Valley, loses 98 percent of its lithium in flowing 2 miles (3.2 km) from spring to playa. 

Lithium also is concentrated to a considerable degree in 

lacustrine montmorillonite clays of closed basins whose 

recharge is from volcanic rocks. 

The amount of lithium concentrated in the brines from 

a large recharge area is considerable; a maximum of 1.62 

percent lithium was found in the dried residue of Owens 

Lake water (Gale, 1915 ). The extraction of lithium, as well 

as potassium, from these large closed-basin reservoirs of 

brine is economically feasible; lithium chloride is currently being extracted from brines in several basins in 

Nevada and California. 

Lithium concentrations in wells and springs are greater 

in chloride and sulfate waters than in bicarbonate waters 

and are significantly greater in closed basins than in open 

basins. Contents in springs and wells in southern Nevada, 

reported by B. P. Robinson and W. A. Beetam (written 

commun., 1965), Pistrang and Kunkel (1958), and Eakin 

and others (1963), range from 0.00 ppm lithium to 0.3 

ppm, or 300 pg/1 (table 1). Eighteen water samples from 

Amargosa Desert, a discharge area for several basins to the 

north, had a median lithium value of 1051-J.g/1, 50 times the 

median of 100 major city water supplies in the United 

States. 

The contents of lithium and associated ions in basin 

sediments that we sampled are given in table 2. We conclude, as did the Russian scientists, that lithium is concentrated in residual chloride-sulfate brines of evaporative basins and also in evaporative lake clays close to 

volcanics. 

LITHIUM UPTAKE BY DESERT PLANTS 

Plants and soils were collected in relatively low areas of 

20 basins in Nevada and California to study the uptake of 

lithium by salt-tolerant species (table 3). 

Our analyses indicate (table 4) that native plants in the 

arid basins of the Western United States absorb much more 

lithium than do native plants in humid areas (Bertrand, 

1952, 1959; Robinson and others, ( 1917). For the arid-basin 

samples, the median lithium content for 68 samples of 

dicotyledons is 150 ppm in the ash or 22.8 ppm in the dry 

weight, as compared with an average of 1.3 ppm in 

dicotyledons collected by Bertrand. A median content of 27 

ppm lithium in dry weight of 4 7 samples of 

Chenopodiaceae from our desert collections is markedly 

higher than the average of 3.8 ppm found in Chenopodiaceae by Bertrand; except for Atriplex polycarpa, the 

median is higher (in lithium) than for plants sampled at 

the Nevada Test Site and Mohave Desert by Wallace, 

Romney, and Hale (1973). They found as much as 111 

ppm lithium in the dry weight of A triplex polycarpa and 

176 ppm in Lycium andersoni in Rock Valley, which is 

hydrologically an open valley but which contains a 

TABLE I.-Lithium, strontium, boron, and fluorine content (P.Il, ppb) in some waters of Nye County, Nev., and Inyo County, Calif., 

compared with 100 municipal water supplies in the United States 

[Data on municipal water supplies from Durfor and Becker (1964); data on Nevada Test Site and Amargosa Desen from B. P. Robinson and W. A. Beetam (written commun., 1965). ND, 

not detected) 

Lithium .................................. . 

Strontium ............................... . Boron ...................................... . 

Fluorine .................................. . Hardness as CaC03 

(Ca+Mg) .............................. . 

Median 

2 

110 

31 

400 

90,000 

Water supply, 

100 major U.S. 

cities 

Range 

ND- 170 

2.2- 1,200 

2.5- 590 

0 - 7,000 

0 -738,000 

Median 

20 

40 

180 

1,000 

45,000 

Open basins, Closed basins, 

Nevada Test Site Amargosa Desert 

(8 wells) (18 springs, wells) 

Range Median Range 

13- 46 105 0- 300 

32- 160 BOO 500- 7,700 

110- 280 420 90- 2,800 

500- 2,400 2,100 700- 7,000 

8,000-116,000 119,000 26,000-482,000 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 7 

TABLE 2.-Maximum lithium concentrations (percent) in some basins of 

Nevada and California 

[Localities are shown in fig. I] 

Area 

Closed basins, discharged by evapotranspiration 

Maximum lithium 

in sediment or 

evaporite 

Amargosa Desert, Nye County, Nev., and lnyo County, Calif....................................... 0.15 

Big Smoky Valley, Nye County, Nev.............................................................................. .01 

Bristol Lake, San Bernardino County, Calif................................................................... .03 

Clayton Valley, Esmeralda County, Nev......................................................................... .05 

Columbus Salt Marsh, Esmeralda County, Nev............................................................. .023 

Death Valley, lnyo County, Calif.................................................................................... .03 

Fourmile Flat, Churchill County, Nev........................................................................... .007 

Hector, Mohave Desert, San Bernardino County, Calif................................................. .20 

Oasis Valley, Nye County, Nev....................................................................................... .015 

Owens Lake, lnyo County, Calif.................................................................................... .08 

Railroad Valley, Nye County, Nev.................................................................................. .015 

Sarcobatus Flat, Nye County, Nev.................................................................................. .03 

Median................................................................................................................... 0.03 

Open basins, discharged by underflow 

Cactus Flat, Nye County, Nev......................................................................................... 0.004 

Dry Lake Valley, Clark County, Nev................................................................................ .005 

Frenchman Flat, Nye County, Nev................................................................................... .015 

Gold Flat, Nye County, Nev........................................................................................... .008 

Kawich Valley, Nye County, Nev.................................................................................... .008 

Silver Lake, San Bernardino County, Calif.................................................................... .008 

Stonewall Flat, Nye County, Nev.................................................................................... .007 

Yucca Flat, Nye County, Nev.......................................................................................... ..:QQ1_ 

Median................................................................................................................... 0.0075 

sodium-calcium sulfate type of water unusual to the 

region. The source of the water is a sequence of volcanics 

(Schoff and Moore, 1964). 

The highest lithium contents in plant ash were found in 

]uncus cooperi, a rush, and Allenroljea occidentalis, 

pickleweed, rooted in a hot spring on the east side of 

Clayton Valley. Most species that contained more than 400 

ppm lithium in the ash are sodium chloride accumulators 

in which sodium may be absorbed and used in place of 

potassium. For certain species of A triplex, sodium is an essential element (Brownell, 1965 ). The sodium plus potassium content in the plant appears to remain constant for 

the genus, but the sodium:potassium ratio varies with the 

species. Except for the hydrophytes ]uncus and 

Anemopsis, the high-lithium plants are all halophytes 

from the Chenopodiaceae family (table 5). The relationship between the uptake of sodium and lithium in all the 

plants collected is as foliows: 

Percentage of sodium 

in plants 

Concentration ratio of 

lithium in plants:lithium in soils 

0-10 ..................................................................... 1.6 

10-25 ..................................................................... 2 

25+ ········································································ 2.55 

The lithium content of native plants correlates well 

with the lithium content of the soils in which the plants 

were rooted (fig. 2) The correlation is better than might 

TABLE 3.-Plant species sampled in Nevada and California 

Family Genus and species Common name 

Chlorophytaceae ........ Phormidium ambiguum Gom................... Algae. 

Ephedraceae ............... Ephedra viridis Cov. .................................. Green mormontea. 

Gramineae.................. Distichlis stricta (Torr.) Beetle................... Saltgrass. 

Sporobolus airodes (Torr.) Torr................ Dropseed. 

Cyperaceae.................. Scirpus olneyi Gray.................................... Olney bulrush. 

Juncaceae ................... ]uncus cooperi Engelm.............................. Cooper rush. 

Capparidaceae............ Cleomella obtusifolia Torr. 8c Frem.......... Stinkweed. 

Chenopodiaceae ......... Allenrolfea occidentalis (Wats.) ................. Pickleweed. 

Kuntze. 

A triplex canescens (Pursh.) Nutt. .............. Saltbush. 

confertifolia (Torr. 8c Frem.)............... Shadscale. 

Wats. 

hymenelytra (Torr.) Wats. .................. Desertholly. 

lentiformis (Torr.) Wats...................... Big saltbush. 

linearis (Wats.) Hall 8c Clem.............. Narrow leaved saltbush. 

torreyi (Wats.) Wats. ........................... Torrey saltbush. 

parryi Wats.......................................... Parry saltbush. 

polycarpa (Torr.) Wats. ...................... Cattle spinach. 

spinifera Macbr. ......... .......... ..... .......... Spiny shadscale. 

Eurotia lanata (Pursh.) Moq...................... Winterfat. 

Kochia americana Wats................... .......... Greenmolly. 

Salsola kali L. ............................................ Russian thistle. 

Sarcobatus vermiculatus (Hook.)............... Greasewood. 

Torr. 

Suaeda torreyana ramossissima....... ........... Bush seepweed. 

(Standi.) Munz. 

torreyana Wats. ................................... Torrey seepweed. 

occidentalis Wats................................. Western seepweed. 

Compositae ................ Bascharis glutinosa Pers. ........................... Seepwillow. 

Bebbia juncea aspera Greene..................... Rush bebbia. 

Franseria dumosa Gray.............................. White bursage. 

Hymenoclea salsola T. 8c G....................... White burrobush. 

Pluchea sericea (Nutt.) Cov. ...................... Arrowweed. 

Cruciferae ................... Lepidium fremonti Wats. .......................... Fremont peppergrass. 

Leguminosae.............. Prosopis glandulosa (Sw.) DC................... Honey mesquite. 

Saururaceae ................ Anemopsis califomica Hook..................... Yerbamansa. 

Solanaceae.................. Lycium andersoni Gray............................. Anderson wolfberry. 

L. pallidum Miers...................................... Pale wolfberry. 

Tamaricaceae ............. Tamarix pentandra Pall. or gallica........... Tamarisk. 

have been expected, inasmuch as only the top 5 inches of 

soil or evaporite were sampled, and the roots of the larger 

phreatophytic shrubs may extend to considerable depths 

and actually reach a deeper zone of chemical precipitate. 

The concentration ratio of lithium in plant to lithium in 

soil is greatly increased for sodium accumulator plants. A 

maximum concentration ratio of 10 occurred in samples of 

pickleweed and desertholly. Commonly, the ratio is also 

increased where the soils contain less than 100 ppm 

lithium. A plot of lithium in plants against calcium in 

soils shows no pattern that confirms an interference in uptake of lithium by the presence of high calcium as Epstein 

had reported ( 1960). A more detailed discussion of the distribution of lithium in soils and plants, by area, follows. 

OPEN BASINS DISCHARGED BY UN])ERFLOW 

Many basins of the Basin and Range province are 

discharged by underflow and have been filled by clastic 
8 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

TABLE 4.-Lithium content (parts per million) in plant groups of the Great Basin, California-Nevada 

[Comparative data on analyses of plants growing in France from Bertrand ( 1959). P, phreatophyte; Ha, halophyte; Hy, hydrophyte; X, xerophyte; ND, not detected; <, less than; 

"'.approximately] 

Order and family 

LCMer plants 

Blue- green algae--

Monocotyledons--------

Cyperaceae--------

Gramineae--------

J uncaceae---------

Dicotyledons---------

Capparidaceae-----

Ch enopodiaceae----

Composi tae--------

Cruciferae--------

Leguminosae-------

Saurur aceae-------

Solanaceae--------

Tamaricaceae------

France 

Li average 

in 

dry wt. 

0.85 

• 4 

. 75 

.89 

1.3 

3.8 

1.33 

1.7 

.81 

2.12 

Great Basin, California-Nevada 

Genus and species 

Phormidium ambiguum (P)-------

Group average-----------------

Scirpus olneyi (Hy)-----------

Distichlis ~ (P)--------

Sporobolis airoides (Ha)------

J uncus co ope ri (Hy) -----------

No. 

of 

samples 

1 

3 

1 

1 

Group average------------------ 68 

Cleome11a obtusifolia (Ha)----

Family average----------------- 4 7 

Allenrolfea occidentalis (Ha)-

Atriplex canescens (P)--------

~· confertifolia (X)----------

~· hymenelytra (X)------------

~· lentiformis (P)------------

~· linearis (P )---------------

~· ~ (X)-----------------

~· polycarpa (X)--------------

~· spinifera (X)--------------

~· torreyi (P)--------------

Eurotia lanata (X)---------

~ americana (P)----------

~ kali (X)--------------

Sarcobatus vermiculatus (P)---

Suaeda occidentalis (P)-------

.§.. ramossissima (P)-----------

.§_. torreyana (P)--------------

Family average------------------

Baccharis glutinosa (P)-------

Bebbia iuncea aspera (X)------

Franseria dumosa (X)----------

Hymenoclea salsola (P)--------

Pluchea s ericea (P)-----------

Lepidium fremonti (X)---------

Prosopis glandulosa (P)-------

Anemopsis californica (Hy)----

Lyciwn anders oni (X)---------

_1. pa11idum (X)--------------

Tamarix pentandra (P)---------

1 

4 

4 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

8 

2 

1 

2 

1 

1 

Li 

in 

dry wt. 

Median 

170.0 

11 

54 

9.5 

12.6 

186 

22.8 

135 

27 

258 

18 

6. 7 

124 

28.5 

14.6 

22.8 

25.5 

14.2 

102 

16.5 

ND 

13.7 

43.5 

67 

99.3 

15.1 

15 

13.9 

3.9 

26.6 

15.2 

4.45 

. 39 

25 

25.5 

<v4.2 

16 

Percent 

ash in 

dry wt. 

Median 

85.4 

15.8 

15.5 

15.8 

15.8 

6.2 

15.2 

9. 

23. 

28.7 

20. 

16.8 

31.2 

19. 

18.3 

21.1 

17. 

12.9 

20.4 

11. 

24.8 

22.8 

12.7 

29. 

22.3 

33.1 

9.6 

10. 

9. 25 

9.7 

15.2 

9.5 

7.8 

3. 9 

16.7 

8.5 

7. 7 

11.4 

Lithiwn in ash 

Median Range 

200 110- 300 

70 60-3,000 

350 

60 30-1,000 

80 

3,000 

150 <20-3,000 

150 

120 <20-3,000 

900 300-3,000 

90 20- 150 

40 30- 500 

400 300- 500 

150 

80 20- 15'.) 

108 3D- 200 

150 20- 300 

110 50- 150 

500 

150 

20 

ND 

60 <2D- 700 

150 

300 100- 500 

300 so- 100 

155 40- 175 

150 

150 150- 150 

40 

175 150- 200 

160 35- 300 

57 40- 75 

10 

150 

300 

<25- 100 

140 30- 300 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 9 

TABLE 5.-Maximum contents of lithium and sodium in some plants and basin soils 

[Analysts: Thelma F. Harms, B. N. Lanthorn] 

Plant Soil 

Na Li Na Li Plant ash 

Lab. 

No. 

(percent) (ppm) Lab. (percent) (ppm) to soil 

lithium No. ratio Dry Dry Dry Dry Ash weight Ash weight weight weight 

A llenroljea occidental is (pickleweed) ........... . 

]uncus cooperi (rush) ................................... . Distichlis spicata (saltgrass) .......................... . 

Suaeda torreyana (seepweed) ........................ . 

Sarcobatus vermiculatus (greasewood) ........ .. 

Atriplex torreyi (Torrey's saltbush) ............. .. 

con jerti folia ( shadscale) ......................... . hymenelytra (desertholly) ...................... . 

0413057 

0408136 

0413091 

0413054 

0408134 

0411534 

0405826 

0412065 

29 

22 

18 

26 

23 

26 

20 

23 

0.5,-------------,-----,--------------.-----. 

U) 0.1 

rz 

<( 

_l 

c... 

~ 0.05 

~ 

:::) 

:C . . .. t:: 

_l 

u.. . 0 . (!) 

w ... .. . :: <( 

1-

z 

w 0.01 (.) 

a: 

w 

c... 

0.005 

. . \ 

., 

0.001. 

0.001 0.005 0.01 0.05 0.1 

PERCENTAGE OF LITHIUM IN SOILS 

FIGURE 2.-Relationship between lithium in plants and that in soil. 

materials of variable texture deposited from intermittent 

streams during torrential storms. The coarser materials are 

deposited on the higher parts of alluvial fans, and the fine 

silt and clay eventually reach the basin, where they are 

deposited in a thin layer over the playa as the water evaporates. Caliche, which is distributed in this type of basin 

through hundreds of feet of alluvium above the water 

table, probably is flushed out of the near-surface soils and 

is precipitated from surface water as it percolates downward through the beds; this contrasts with the upward 

capillary flow and near-surface deposition of caliche in 

closed basins (Johnson and Hibbard, 1957). In northern 

10.1 3,000 1050 0413102 2.1 300 10 

1.4 3,000 185 D408181W 3.0 500 6 

2.7 1,000 150 0413098 2.0 120 8.3 

6.2 700 168 0413098 !:',.0 120 5.8 

2.9 700 90 D408177W 4.7 300 2.3 

5.3 500 100 0413125 1.4 70 5.0 

3.5 500 90 0405847 3.0 70 7.1 

6.9 500 150 0412058 1.3 50 10 

Yucca Flat, for instance, there is no caliche in the top 18 

feet (5.5 m). 

Alluvial basins discharged by underflow are not large 

reservoirs of water that are constantly being evaporated to 

brines; rather, they are undergoing a flushing action that 

prevents the buildup of salts. These basins can support 

lakes only if the underflow is considerably less than the 

recharge or if the sedimentation is such as to form a 

perched water table. Some such situation must have 

existed in the pluvial period in Gold Flat and Dry Lake 

Valley, as evidenced by old beaches, although the present 

ground-water table is several hundred feet deep (Eakin, 

1963 ). Perched water appears to be close to the surface on 

the southern part of the Gold Flat playa, and many 

phreatophytes grow there. The soil contains 5.4 percent 

water-soluble sulfate, and a white efflorescence of salts 

coats the surface of the ground. 

Analytical data for eight open basins are given in table 6; 

the sample localities are shown in figure 1. 

The lithium content of sediments collected from 

hydrologically open basins was generally low, ranging 

from not detected to 150 ppm, with a median of 50 ppm 

and a mean of 54 ppm (table 6). The playas of open basins 

are largely composed of calcium-magnesium carbonate 

and clay; the surrounding sediments are sandy alluvium 

containing considerable caliche. The magnesium:lithium ratio is high. Boron contents are similar to 

those of lithium and range from 20 to 70 ppm. Probably 

no lithium or boron deposits of economic value can be 

expected in basins drained by underflow. 

A maximum of 500 ppm lithium was found in a sample 

of Atriplex confertijolia from Stonewall Flat. This high 

lithium content, however, may be caused by contamination because neither the soil nor Lepidium collected at the 

same station contained much lithium; all three materials 

were collected near ground zero of a surface plutonium release which may have been accompanied by lithium flares. 

The 20 plant samples collected in open basins had a median content of 30 ppm lithium in the ash or 4.8 ppm lithium in the dry weight. 
10 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

TABLE 6.-Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and the ash of plants from open basins in Nevada and California 

[Statiom shown in fig. I. Analy't' are named in introduction. N, not detected; Ma, element present in major quantity; X, xerophyte; P, phreatophyte; M, mesophyte; WSS, water·soluble salts 

The soil in which the sampled plant grew is listed directly below each plant] 

Station 

No. 

Sample 

Lab. 

No. 

(D-) 

Ash WSS Lithium Magnesium Calcium Sodium Potassium Boron 

(percent) Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil 

Frenchman Flat--NaHC0 3 ground water at depth 623-1,103 ft (190-336 m) 

F6 Lycium pall.idum 

(X)------------ 403492 5.8 ---- 0.01 

Sandy clay west 

of playa------- 403201 ---- 0. 30 

Ly~~';7 ~~~::~~"!"__ __ 412496 9. 5 ----

Playa clay-------

FlO Playa clay on 

east side (no 

vegetation)----

A trip lex Z ineari s 

(P)------------

A. (X)-

412501 

411562 

413078 16 

413079 21 

(P)------------ 413080 16 

Playa clay with 

plants--------- 413115 

F21 Playa clay (no 

vegetation)---- 406182 .13 

< .002 

.002 

.002 

.003 

0.005 

.003 

.004 

. 015 

5.0 

1.5 

7. 0 

5.0 

7. 0 

1.4 

2.0 

3. 2 

3. 0 

3.1 

28 1.6 

4.0 1.7 

33 .6 

9.9 . 95 

10 .85 

9.0 . 28 

12 10 

11 11 

10 .8 

7. 8 .53 

12 

5.1 

25 

17 

16 

2. 9 

2.3 

2.0 

1.9 

2. 7 

Yucca Flat--NaHC0 3 ground water at depth 670-1,539 ft (204-470 m) 

Y40 Tamarix pentandra 

(P)------------ 406532 14.1 ---- 0.003 

A trip /.ex canescens (P)------- 411573 23.0 ---- .002 

North playa soil 

in cattle 

reservoir-----

YS South playa clay 

at crack 0-1.5 

(no vegetation) 

at 1. 5-15 em---

at 1 rn---------

A tl'ip lex confertifolia (X)---

Sandy alluvium--

Yl4 Lycium andersoni 

(X)-----------

Salsola h:aU (X) 

Alluvium--------

411564 

403218 

403219 

403220 ---- 0.10 

403522 17.3 ----

403221 ---- .15 

408648 8. 5 ----

408649 22. 8 ----

118531 ---- . 08 

.003 

.03 

N 

0.004 

.007 

.005 

.005 

. 0035 

>10 

.s 

2.0 

2. 0 

1.5 

1.0 

1.9 

1.9 

1.2 

1.2 

.54 

17.6 

6. 6 

13.1 

25.2 

8.6 

2.0 

3. 7 

3.8 

1.3 

2.8 

1.3 

4.0 8. 2 

3. 6 32.0 

1.2 3.0 

. 74 3.1 

. 74 3.0 

1.3 3.3 

10.6 14.4 

1.5 3.2 

.20 15.2 

.35 27.2 

1.6 3.0 

Kawich Valley--NaHC0 3 ground water at depth 660 ft (200 m) 

Kl2 confer403585 11. 7 ---- 0. 0045 2.0 11. 2 11. 8 13. 2 (X)---

P lay a clay------

K44 Playa clay (no 

vegetation)---

403255 ---- o.os 0.005 1.3 1.8 1.5 3.3 

405840 ---- . 7 6 . 008 1.8 3.2 .89 3.2 

GF33 Kochia americana 

(P)-----------

Suaeda occidentalis (P)-----

Silty sulfate 

zone----------

C3 confel'-

(X)---

lanata 

(X)-----------

Alluvium--------

Gold Flat--NaHC0 3 , ground water at depth 230 ft (70 m) 

405816 24.8 ---- 0. 002 8.8 24 15 

405817 29.0 ---- . 015 1.5 3. 8 31 9.4 

405844 ---- 2.1 0.008 1.5 4.5 1.3 3. 2 

Cactus Flat--NaHC0 3 ground water at depth 110-443 ft (35-135 m) 

405822 10.5 ----- 0.0035 2. 0 7 .o 17 14 

405823 11.0 ----- . 015 2.0 7.0 1.1 16 

405845 ---- 0. 004 0. 004 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 

Stonewall Flat--altered NaHC0 3 ground water at depth 100-275 ft (30-85 m) 

CS Atriplex conferti]'olia (X)---

Lepidium 

fremonii (!:)--

Alluvium--------

405826 17. 5 ----- 0. OS 

405827 5. 3 ----- . 004 

40584 7 ---- 0. 1 0. 007 

1.5 

2. 0 

1.0 

s. 0 20 9.4 

Ma 2.4 21 

3.0 3.0 

Dry Lake Valley--ground water at depth >300 ft (>90 m) 

L22 A trip lex 1 ine·.u'is 

(P)------------ 413074 15 0.002 7 .o 15 0.26 21 A. lentz~fo1 nds 

(P)------------ 41307 5 19 .013 10.0 9.2 12 17 Playa _sands------ 413112 0.005 2.0 9.4 0. 70 

Silver Lake 

L21 Ah'iple:r poZ:tcarpa (P)------ 413090 13 0. 002 7. 0 6.0 16 16 Sandy soil at 

playa edge----- 413124 0.007 2.0 3.4 2. 2 Playa mud (no 

vegetation)---- 415475 2.0 . 008 2.0 3. 8 2.5 

1Fluorine content of plant: 0.0063 percent. 

5.0 

2.0 

2. 3 

1.9 

0.01 

<0.002 

.015 .003 

.015 

.02 

.07 

0.07 

.01 

.007 

.02 

.01 

0.01 

0.02 

.015 

0.01 

.02 

0.02 

.03 

0.02 

.02 

0.05 

<.002 

.005 

.002 

0.007 

.005 

.003 

.003 

.003 

.003 

0.005 

.005 

0.005 

<0.002 

0.003 

0.007 

0.002 

.007 

Carbonate 

(as C02) 

Soil 

2.4 

8.1 

1.4 

3.1 

2.9 

.15 

1.1 

.15 

0.55 

2. 2 

1.6 

Sulfate 

(watersoluble) 

Plant Soil 

0.19 

.40 

. 92 

.33 

1.7 

<0. 01 

.03 

<. 01 <0. 01 

.23 

<.01 

.55 

.52 

.34 

0.36 

0.49 

.68 

0.65 

.77 

0. 46 

.02 

.01 

0.17 

1.3 

5.4 

0.15 

0.02 

. 54 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 11 

TABLE 7.-Percentage of lithium and associated ions in baszn sediments, collected within 6 inches (15 em) of the ground surface 

[N, not detected; number of samples shown in parentheses1 

Lithium Magnesium Mg/Li Potassium Boron 

Median Range Median Range Ratio Median Range Median Range 

Closed basins 

Lake clay (5) associated with vol canics-- 0.07 0.03 -0.2 3. 0 0.3-11.0 43. 1.7 0.24- 2.4 0.005 0.002-0.015 

Sp ring-deposited tufa and lake marls (8)- .045 . 003 - . 20 2.85 . 33- 5.0 63. .73 .1 -18.0 . 003 <.002- .03 

Chloride zone (13)----------------------- .015 . 0025- .03 2.0 . 03- 4.0 133 • 1.9 .8 - 2.4 .03 .015- .07 

Sulfate-chloride mixed (9)--------------- .015 .003 - .03 1.7 • 07- 5.0 113 • 2.9 .24- 3.7 .05 N - .15 

Black oozes in hot springs (6)----------- .01 .004 - .08 1.0 . 70- 2.0 100 . 1.12 .34- 3.0 .005 .002- .02 

Carbonate zone (11)---------------------- .015 N - .03 1.0 • 07- 4.8 66 . 2.3 . 24- 3.6 . 015 N - .0 3 

Playa clays, calcareous (7)-------------- .015 . 006 - .023 1.3 . 7 - 3.2 86. 2.45 2. 3 - 2 . 6 . 019 .005- .07 

Alluvium (4)-------------------- --------- .003 N - . 005 1.0 1.0 - 1.1 333. 3.0 2.8 - 3.5 .003 <.002- .005 

Basin sands (6)-------------------------- .004 N - .017 1.5 . 4&- 3.0 375. 2.4 2.0 - 3.4 .005 .003- . 2 

Open basins 

Sulfate zone (1)------------------------- 0.008 -----------

Playa clays (12)------------------------- .005 N -0.015 

Playa sands (2) ------------------------- .006 0 . 005 - . 007 

Alluvium (4)---------------------------- .005 .004 - .007 

HYDROLOGICALLY CLOSED BASINS 

Lithium is concentrated particularly in the evaporites, 

spring deposits, and lacustrine clays of closed basins. The 

maximum lithium concentration found in sediment and 

clay samples that were collected in 12 closed basins in 

Nevada and California ranged from 30 to 2,000 ppm. 

Samples collected from lacustrine clay deposits have a 

median concentration of 700 ppm lithium; springdeposited tufa and lake marls, 450 ppm; those from the sulfate, chloride, and carbonate zones and, also, those from 

playa clays, which commonly contain considerable 

detrital calcium carbonate, contain 150 ppm; samples of 

organic black oozes in hot springs, 100 ppm; alluvium and 

basin sands from the fans that surround the basins, 30 and 

40 ppm (table 7). Apparently lithium and boron differ in 

their geochemical behavior. Lithium becomes concentrated in lake clays, particularly those of volcanic origin and 

in spring deposits, whereas boron does not. A general 

increase for both lithium and boron content from the fans 

to the center of the basin is probably real, as shown by 

samples collected in Death Valley (fig. 1), although the 

content of a particular zone is not consistently high or consistently low. 

A close correlation of lithium, boron, and potassium 

might be expected in view of their common volcanic 

origin and their precipitation at a late stage in brine 

evaporation. There is little zonal variation in the potassium concentrations of basin sediments, although the 

1.5 --------- 187. 3.2 0.005 ----------

2.0 1.0 - 3.2 400. 2. 7 1. 9 - 3. 3 .005 <0 . 002-0. 007 

2.0 --------- 333. 2.2 2.0- 2.3 .004 .002- .007 

1.0 . 54- 1.2 200. 3. 1 3.0- 5.0 . 003 <.002- .003 

brines are highly enriched in potassium. However, the 

boron contents increase from 30 ppm in alluvium on the 

fans to 500 ppm in the sulfate-chloride zone in the central 

parts of the basins. Neither element is precipitated in 

quantity in the spring deposits. In evaporites, the boron 

content exceeded the lithium content, but in detrital sediments the reverse was found. 

The magnesium content of the basin sediments varies 

widely because it occurs in residual dolomite that has been 

deposited in the carbonate zone and in the playas. 

Magnesium also occurs in sulfates and chlorides that have 

been precipitated from evaporite brines. The 

magnesium:lithium ratio varies from basin to basin, 

which affects the economic value of the deposits, a low 

magnesium: lithium ratio being most desirable. The ratio 

is lowest in collections from Owens Valley and is also 

relatively low in spring deposits and lake clays. 

The amount of lithium found in the spring-deposited 

tufas and the marls of springs that occur at the alluviumevaporite contact in these closed basins is much greater 

than the average content of lithium in marine limestones. 

The phenomenon probably reflects a secondary cycling in 

the basins, as lithium trapped in clays and other sediments may be easily returned to solution by thermal 

waters. Hot springs are highly charged with carbon 

dioxide, and so alkali carbonates precipitate around the 

orifice of a spring of low discharge due to evapotranspiration, respiration, and decay of marsh vegetation (Jones, 
12 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

FIGURE 3.-Crown of rush killed by hot-spring precipitate, Clayton Valley, Sample from station L4B. 

FIGURE 4.-Precipitate of biogenous origin occurring in place, Amargosa 

Desert. Sample from Station ASB. 

1966). Such concentrations around the roots of rushes 

(]uncus cooperi) in a hot spring of Clayton Valley gradually kills the plants. These "fossilized" root crowns contain more than 1,000 ppm lithium (fig. 3). Lithium-rich 

lacustrine deposits of marl and clay commonly show a 

definite root-cast structure that suggests precipitation 

around plant debris and in old root casts in marls of 

Amargosa Desert (figs. 4, 5, 6). 

Thus, the lithium content of many types of sediment is 

highest in closed basins discharged by evapotranspiration, particularly basins that receive recharge from several 

adjacent basins. Within a given basin, lithium is particularly concentrated in lacustrine deposits of volcanicorigin 

and in biogenous deposits precipitated from thermal 

waters associated with these closed basins. 

DEATH VALLEY 

Death Valley is a closed basin from which no water 

escapes, as the floor of the valley extends 280 feet below sea 

level. Old shorelines mark the lowering by evaporation of 

Pleistocene Lake Manley, which was originally 600 feet 

(180m) deep. Mineralized water has also been contributed 

yearly by freshwater rivers and by underflow from nearby 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 13 

FIGURE 5.-Calcium carbonate precipitate on organic detritus, Amargosa Desert. Sample from station AS. 

FIGURE 6.- Cast of former root or stem structure, Amargosa Desert. 

Sample from station ASA. 

basins (Hunt and Robinson, 1960). Thus, lithium has 

been concentrated as a residue in the mother liquor in this 

evaporite basin from an enormous quantity of water a~d 

has been redistributed laterally through seasonal flooding 

and hot-spring action. 

Discharge by evapotranspiration of this large quantity 

of water has resulted in a lateral zonation of salts characterized by chlorides in the center of the basins ringed successively by sulfates and carbonates. The carbonate and 

sulfate zones are commonly contaminated with salt 

(sodium chloride) during seasonal flooding. Groundwater conditions are rarely homogeneous to the depth 

penetrated by plant roots because permeable layers alternate with impermeable layers. The carbonate zone,may be 

underlain by a caliche of sulfates, and so forth (Hunt and 

others, 1966). 

Only bacteria grow in the chloride zone of the salt pan 

and fungi and algae in the sulfate zone (Hunt, 1966). 

Pickleweed (Allenrolfea) grows on the sand facies of the 

carbonate zone where the sands are impregnated with salt. 

Sixty percent of the ash of this plant is composed of 

sodium chloride, and mounds of exudated salt build up as 

high as 2 feet (0.6 m) around the base of the plant (fig. 7). 

Saltgrass (Distichlis), which grows on the same sand 

facies, contains a lesser percentage of salt in the ash, but 

the true amount of salt in the plant is masked by the large 

amount of silica in the ash which affects all the percentage values. Arrowweed (Pluchea) absorbs large 

amounts of sulfate but little sodium chloride. Arrowweed 

is restricted to soils of less than 5 percent water-soluble 

salts and mesquite to less than 0.5 percent. Thus, mesquite 

(Prosopis) grows only around springs of relatively fresh 

water that issue along the contact between the alluvial fans 

and the salt pan. Xerophytes, such as desertholly (A triplex 

hymenelytra), cattle spinach (A. polycarpa), and creosotebush (Larrea) cover the alluvial fans (Hunt, 1966). 

Hunt (1966) reported the following percentage con-
14 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

FIGURE 7.-Pickleweed (Allenrolfea) on salt mounds in Death Valley. 

Mound beneath near bush is approximately 2 feet (0.6 m) high .. 

centration of major ions in the ash of some Death Valley 

plants: 

C01orP04 

Plam name and numbt>r Ca Mg K Na so. Cl needed to SiO, 

of samples balance 

calions 

Xerophytes 

Atriplex hymenelytra (2) ..... 6 2 7 26 4 25 30 

A triplex polycarpa (1) ......... II 6 8 14 4 14 40 <5 

Phreatophytes 

Pluchea (6) .......................... II 4 10 12 23 8 32 

Distich/is (6) ........................ 2 I 2 6 5 9 5 70 

]uncus (2) ............... .. ........... 4 2 19 8 13 9 20 25 

Suaeda (!) ............................ 3 5 9 20 8 20 35 

Allenrolfea (12) ................... 2 2 5 32 7 27 25 

A triplex linearis (I) ............. 9 4 13 17 5 12 

The relatively constant ratio of sodium to chloride in 

the plants suggests that the two ions are absorbed together. 

The correlation between lithium and sodium shown in 

our analyses suggests that lithium is adsorbed as a chloride. 

Our samples in Death Valley came chiefly from the carbonate zone, the lower parts of the alluvial fans, and near 

springs so that we could study the uptake of ions by plants 

(table 8). The content of water-soluble salts in the soils that 

were collected at plant sample localities was higher in several instances than the tolerance limits reported for these 

species because the samples were of surface soils and included an efflorescent crust. The soils actually in contact 

with the plant roots (for example, mesquite) may be as 

much as 50 feet ( 15 m) below the surface. 

In general, lithium contents in surface sediments of this 

evaporite basin decrease laterally from the center outward: 

Chloride and sulfate zones ..... l50- 300 ppm 

Carbonate zone ......................... 30-150 ppm 

Alluvium and dune sand.. ... 35- 50 ppm 

Anomalous amounts of lithium (300 ppm) were 

detected in the travertine deposits of Travertine Spring in 

Furnace Creek Wash, the sulfate sediments at Badwater, 

and in the sediment (as opposed to the halite pinnacles) of 

the salt pan or chloride zone (DlA). This concentration 

was found in the brown soft sediment below the polygonal hard crust of the streambed which meanders across 

the salt pan. The surface polygons of halite with upturned edges are hard enough to support a man's weight. 

Lithium in the ash of plants that were collected in Death 

Valley ranges from 30 to 500 ppm in the ash, or 7.3 to 160 

ppm dry weight. Plants containing high lithium correspond with high lithium in the substrate. The highest concentrations of lithium are in Allenrolfea (pickleweed), in 

A triplex hymenelytra (desertholly) and Suaeda ramossissima (seepweed) collected near the edge of the salt zone 

where the roots presumably are periodically contaminated with salt during floods. The blue-green algae at Badwater (sta. D8) in the sulfate zone (which is also high in 

sodium chloride) contained only 110 ppm lithium, a surprising low value considering the metal-accumulative 

ability of most algae. 

AMARGOSA DESERT 

The Amargosa Desert is not topographically closed; the 

Amargosa River flows into it from Oasis Valley in the 

northwest corner and out into Death Valley at the southeast corner. Nevertheless, little water is actually lost from 

the valley because the streambed is completely dry in the 

summer, when the temperatures and evaporation rates are 

high. Hydrologically, therefore, the basin is presumed to 

be closed and is characterized by a noticeable upwelling of 

ground water in many large springs; even that flow is consumed in the summer by evapotranspiration. The chemistry of Death Valley waters shows (Hunt and Robinson, 

1960) that a certain amount of water from the Amargosa 

Desert is discharging by underflow into Death Valley. 

According to Winograd ( 1962), who studied the altitude of 

the piezometric surface of the semi perched Cenozoic aquifers in Yucca, Frenchman, and Jackass Flats, the ground 

water of these valleys moves downward into the underlying Paleozoic carbonates and discharges into the Amargosa Desert. 

Analyses of water from springs and wells (Walker and 

Eakin, 1963; B. P. Robinson and W. A. Beetam, written 

commun., 1965) show high calcium and magnesium in 

the ground water discharged largely from limestones in 

the northeastern part of the valley and high bicarbonate, 

sulfate, chloride, sodium, fluorine, potassium, and boron 

in waters recharged largely from tuffs in the western part 

of the valley (table 9). Water from Jackass Flats, which is 

unusually high in sulfate attributed by Schoff and Moore 

(1964) to hydrothermal alteration of volcanic rocks, contributes sulfate and probably lithium to the western part of 

Amargosa Desert. Water from a shallow well southeast of 

Aliens Well and 2 miles ( 1.2 km) south of station A4 contains 0.30 ppm lithium and 2.8 ppm boron-the highest 

percentages recorded by Walker and Eakin for their 18 

Amargosa water samples. According to Walker and Eakin, the boron content should be toxic to any but the most 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 15 

TABLE B.-Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and the ash of plants from Death Valley, Calif. 

(Stations shown in fig. I. Analysts are named in introduction. N. not detected; X, xerophyte; P, phreatophyte; Ha, halophyte; Hy, hydrophyte; WSS, water-soluble salts. The soil 

in which the sampled plant grew is listed directly below each plant] 

Station 

No. 

Sample Lab. Ash WSS Lithium 

No. 

(D-) 

Magnesium Calcium Sodium Potassium Boron 

Carbonate 

(as 

C02) 

(percent) Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Soil 

DlA Allenrolfea occidentalis (Ha)--- 403640 27.5 

Sediment mixed 

with halite----- 403338 

Salt pinnacle 

(no plants)----- 405463 

Brown sediment between pinnacles- 405464 

Streambed to salt 

zone------------ 405465 

DlB A tr>ip lex hymenelytm (X)------- 403642 32.3 

Suaeda r>amossissima (P )-------- 403641 22.5 

Carbonate zone 

0.035 

2.8 

.03 

.05 

At edge of salt pan, west of Devil's Golf Course 

2.0 2. 7 33.2 6.4 

0.015 4.0 7. 8 8. 3 

.02 .07 . 50 35 

.03 1.0 3. 0 20 

.03 2.0 5.1 15 

1.5 5.4 31.3 5.4 

1.5 3. 2 31.5 6.4 

0. OS ----

1.7 0.03 6.2 

.8 .07 

1.7 .15 

1.9 .10 

.02 

.02 

plus salt------- 403339 

DlC A tr>ip lex hymene-

.85 .007 3.2 8.8 3.1 1.9 .01 12.2 

lytr>a (X) 1______ 412065 30.0 

Alluvium---------- 412058 

D5 Atr>iplex linear>is 

.05 

0.015 

7. 0 

.005 

(P)------------- 403649 16.8 3.0 

Distichlis str>icta 

(P)------------- 403650 24.4 

Dune sand--------- 413095 

. 003 1. 5 

D2 Pluchea ser>icea 

(P)------------- 403643 10.7 

Pr>osopis g landulosa (P)-------- 403644 3. 9 

A tr>ip lex po lycar>pa 

(X)------------- 403645 13.5 

Sandy facies of 

0. 0035 

0.0035 -----

.015 

.015 

carbonate zone-- 403340 1.05 ----- N 

D2A A tr>ip lex po lycar>pa 

(X) 2------------ 412066 16. 0 . 015 

Sandy carbonate 

zone------------ 412059 0.003 

3.0 

5.0 

7. 0 

7 .o 

9.6 23 7 .o .03 

1.0 1.8 1.3 3.5 .003 

Stovepipe Wells (spring) 

8.8 18.0 14.6 0.05 

3.1 5.8 2.6 .03 

2.0 3.8 1.1 2.4 0.015 

Near Tule Spring 

15.5 10.2 6. 2 0.1 -----

20.8 1.0 19.2 • OS -----

9. 4 23.2 8. 2 .03 -----

1.8 2.8 4. 2 2. 5 ----- 0.015 

7. 3 23 6.5 .05 -----

• 7 7. 0 . 75 2.0 .005 

L 7 mi (3 km) N. of Badwater, and 8 mi (13 km) S. of Badwater 

D7 Allenr>olfea occidentalis (Ha)--- 408644 25.5 0.03 

Sulfate zone plus 

salt------------ 118528 38. 8 0. 03 

DB Phor>midium 

ambiguwn-------- 408645 87.0 . 011 

Crust of gypsum--- 118529 5. 7 . 007 

D9 Allenr>olfea occidentalis (Ha)--- 408646 30 .03 

Spongy sulfate 

zone plus salt-- 118530 18.0 .015 

D6 Anemopsis califor>nica (Hy)---- 403651 16.7 ---- 0.015 

1.5 2. 2 30.2 

3. 2 5.1 9. 7 

5. 0 2. 3 2.0 

1. 4 18 1.6 

2. 0 2. 0 33.2 

3. 4 3.4 4.4 

Furnace Creek Wash, Travertine Spring 

5 .o 5.6 12.1 

8.2 0.05 -----

1.4 

5.6 

27.0 

2 • 7 ----- 0. 3 

.41 

3. 4 

. 02 ----

.02 

.03 ----

.OS 

0.02 -----

2.0 

3. 2 

1.0 

1.2 

Travertine 

deposit--------- 403342 0.30 ----- 0.03 3.3 17.7 o. 74 1.2 ----- 0.003 20.4 

D3 Fi'anser>ia dwnosa 

(X)------------- 40364 7 9. 7 

Hymenoc lea sa lso la 

(P)------------- 403646 9.1 

D4 

Alluvium at 2,000 

ft elev. ( 610 m) 

Bebbia juncea 

asper>a (X)------

Alluvium at 1,000 

ft elev. (305 m) 

DlO Soft sediment 

403341 

403648 9. 25 ----

413096 

0.004 

.015 

N 

.015 

0. 0035 

(NaCl)---------- 415466 2.0 ----- 0.016 

1Fluorine content in plant 0.0033 percent. 

Mud Canyon, alluvial fan 

2.0 20.2 1.4 20 0.05 -----

3.0 12.7 1.1 28.4 . 07 

1.1 2. 6 8.1 2.8 0.005 2.0 

6.0 14 . 5 16 • 3 

1.5 3. 8 1.1 2.4 .005 

Salt Spring 

3.0 4. 9 2.0 2.3 ----- 0.03 

2Fluorine content in plant 0. 0112 percent. 

Sulfate Chlorine 

(watersoluble) 

Plant Soil Soil 

o. 50 

1.72 28.5 

2.0 

4.5 

9.4 

.71 

1.2 

.44 

0.23 

.13 

0.03 

o. 76 

.08 

.19 

o. 91 

4.2 

5.9 16.7 

. 22 

2. 2 

1.9 

2. 6 7. 9 

0.16 

o. 02 

0.22 

.14 

0.01 

.13 

. 03 

0.30 
16 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

TABLE 9.-Chemical constituents (parts per million) of some springs and wells in Amargosa Desert 

[Analyses from Walker and Eakin (1963, p. 33) and B. P. Robinson and W. A. Beetam (written Commim., 1965). Surface ~amplt-~ unkss depth figure shown] 

Name of spring, sample-collection Depth Ca Mg Na K Li Dissolved date, station No. (feet) (metres) HC03 so, Cl F B solids Hardness 

Recharge largely from limestones 

Fairbanks Spring 

10-27-64 (A7). ............................... 51 18 71 8 0.11 304 80 22 2.2 0.51 422 201 

Point of Rocks (small spring) 

10...:26-64 (A9) ................................ 52 19 66 7.9 .1 306 70 21 1.2 .66 419 208 

PoiRt of Rocks (King Spring) 

10...:26-64 (AS) ................................ 42 19 68 7.9 .09 308 70 22 1.6 .45 416 208 

Recharge largely from altered tuffs 

Southeast of Aliens Well 

8-18-52 (2 miles south of A4) ...... 27 8.2 4.8 3.3 370 16 0.30 542 256 

149 

37 

102 3.2 2.8 1,119 

874 

293 

26 

12 

60 

Death Valley Junction 

8...:29-52 (AlO) ................................ 146 45 1.9 1.9 325 12 556 49 7.9 1.3 

Ash Tree Spring 

5...:8-52 (A5) ................................... 16 4.8 

•USGS analysis of sample collected by H. L. Cannon. 

boron-tolerant crops, and the fluorine content of 7.9 ppm 

at Death Valley Junction is too high to meet U.S. Public 

Health Service drinking-water standards. Lithium content was not reported for Death Valley Junction but is 

probably also high. Two phreatophytes collected near the 

well contained 200 ppm lithium and 116 and 140 ppm 

fluorine in the ash. 

Although correlations are apparent for lithium and 

sodium, lithium and chloride, and lithium and boron in 

the waters, no consistent relationship between lithum and 

any other element can be demonstrated in the various types 

of sediments sampled (table 10). Plant and soil studies 

were made in relation to a playa northeast of Ash Meadows, springs issuing from limestones in the same part of 

the valley, a playa northeast of Aliens Well, the well at 

Death Valley Junction, and the clay and carbonate deposits north of Death Valley Junction. The unnamed playa is 

a relatively wet playa with ground water at a depth of 5-6 

feet (1.5-1.8 m) discharging from Paleozoic limestones. 

Several A triplex species were sampled in sandy soil600 feet 

(180m) northeast of the playa (station AI). Also growing 

at the same station were the phreatophytes Prosopis (mesquite), A triplex canescens (saltbush), and Suaeda ramossissima (seepweed) and the sulfur indicator Lepidium fremonti. No plants grew in the center of the playa, at station 

A2. Seepweed and shadscale were collected at station A3 

where ground water stands at 6 feet (1.8 m) in depth in the 

clay pits. These clay sediments contained appreciable carbonate and sulfate and 200 ppm lithium. At four springs 

issuing from Paleozoic limestones (stations A6, A7, AS, 

A9) only a small amount of lithium was found in tufa 

deposits but as much as 150 ppm was found in organic 

mud in McGilivrays Spring. At the unvegetated wet playa 

northeast of Aliens Well, the capillary fringe extends to the 

53 7.9 *.45 160 7.2 2.8 .29 

surface and is fed by water from the Paleozoic limestones; a 

maximum of 150 ppm lithium was found in the outcropping sandy carbonate facies. Of greater interest were the 

Pleistocene lacustrine clay and travertine deposits in the 

northwest part of the valley where the waters are of volcanic origin. There, clays contained as much as 1,500 ppm 

lithium; travertine or lacustrine limestones, as much as 

700 ppm; and plants, a maximum of 300 ppm lithium. 

The area appears to be favorable for the commercial production of lithium salts. 

The carbonates with the highest concentrations of lithium are clearly of biochemical origin (figs. 3, 4, 5) and 

probably reflect selective transpiration of particular elements by halophytes. Lithium has been shown to substitute for magnesium in the crystal lattice of the clays. 

Clays deposited or formed in saline lacustrine deposits 

commonly have relatively high lithium contents. Studies 

by P. D. Blackmon and H. C. Starkey (written commun., 

1974) at the Pleistocene Lake Tecopa in the southern part 

of the Amargosa Desert showed the zeolitic rocks to contain 50-100 ppm lithium and montmorillonitic claystones to contain 100-800 ppm. A nearly pure separate of 

saponite from a claystone contained 0-34 percent lithium 

oxide. 

OTHER CLOSED BASINS 

Lithium and potassium have been commercially produced in Owens Lake and are being produced in Clayton 

Valley; halite, calcium chloride, and gypsum are being 

mined in Bristol Lake, and halite is being recovered at 

Fourmile Flat. In all these evaporite basins the brines are 

pumped from depth and evaporated to crystallize the salts. 

Lithium chloride and potassium are or have been produced from the remaining mother liquor in Owens Lake 

and Clayton Valley. Hectorite, a lithium clay, is being 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 

TABLE 10.-Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and ash of plants from Amargosa Desert, Nevada and California 

[Stations shown in fig. I. Analysts are named in introduction. N, not determined; X, xerop~hyte; P, phreatophyte; Ha, halophyte; WSS, water-soluble salts. The soil in which the 

sampled plant grew is listed directly below each plant] 

Station 

No. 

Sample Lab. 

No. 

(D-) 

Ash WSS Lithium Magnesium Calcium Sodium Potassium Boron 

Carbonate 

(as 

COz) 

Sulfate 

(watersoluble) 

(percent) Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Soil Plant Soil 

Clay pits N of Death Valley Junction, from Ash Tree Spring to ESE, Na 2HC03 ground water 

AS Lake clay with root 

AS~. 

ASB 

AlO 

A4 

Al 

A2 

A3 

casts------------- 403349 

Limestone of bio0.25 O.lS 

genic origin------ 4127S9 . 48 . 07 

AtripZex spinifera 

(;{) --------------- 408130 10. 7 0. 015 

Pinkish limestone--- 408171 1.46 .03 

Lepidiwn fremonti--- 408131 10.4 .007S 

Casts on roots------ 408172 1.02 .03 

Brown sulfate zone 

with crust-------- 408173 11.0 

CZeomeUa obtusifoZia (Ha)-------- 413089 9.0 .OlS 

Calcareous soil----- 413122 • 02 

Sulfate soil-------- 413123 2. 3 

Distich lis s tricta 

(P) --------------- 408640 lS. 8 . 006 

Sporobo Zus airoides 

(Ha)-------------- 408641 lS. 8 . 008 

Tamarix pentandra 

(P) --------------- 408642 14. S . 03 

Calcareous lake clayl_____________ 418525 

Limestone of biogenic origin------ ll8526 

.18 

.28 

.02 

.OlS 

.028 

.039 

.OS 

11.0 0.92 

3.0 42.0 

7 .o 2S 4.3 

1.9 32.6 

3.0 14 3. 7 

2. 7 12.4 

2.1 2.9 

5.0 6.6 10 

3.0 32.0 

5.0 5. 7 

.7 1.3 7.8 

1.0 2.3 6.8 

>10 14.8 10.3 

.96 9. 9 

.33 38.3 

Death Valley Junction, near spring 

Tamarix pentandra 

(P) 2-------------- 412 7 56 6. 9 0. 02 

HymenocZea saZsoZa 

(P) 3-------------- 412 7 57 21. 4 . 02 

A trip Lex parryi (X)- 413088 25.0 . 02 

Sandy soil---------- 413121 0.50 

Brown carbonate 

layer with NaCl--- 403347 

Salt crust---------- 403348 

2.0 

80.6 

0.017 

7.0 

1.5 

1.5 

3.0 

8.4 

1.4 

4.6 

6.0 

12 

32 

25 

Playa NE of Allens Well (no vegetation) 

0.015 

N 

3.4 

.4 

8. 7 

• 78 

1.1 

• 2 

.47 

.96 

6.4 

.ll 

2.2 

1.7 

.06 

3.3 

2. 2 

29 

3. 7 

19.4 

18 

2. 2 

1.7 

5.6 

19 

8 

3.4 

1.7 

.1 

. 27 

2.4 

3. 7 

.35 

2. 7 

2.2 

.15 

0.02 

.07 

.03 

.03 

.02 

.OS 

0.07 

.015 

.20 

0.01 0.04 

.003 36.9 

.03 12.6 

.1 S.9 

.005 

.02 

.015 21.2 

<.002 3S.4 

2.7 0.20 

2. 7 

3.2 

0.015 10.2 

.OS 9.4 

Playa NE of Ash Meadows; ground water at 5-6 ft (1.5-1.8 m), CaMgHCO,) 

A triplex parryi (X)- 403652 21.6 

A. confertifolia 

(X)--------------- 403653 16.3 

Sandy soil at sta. 

0.005 

.01 

NE of playa------- 403343 0. 20 0. 005 

AtripZex parryi (X)- 413087 27.0 .015 

Sandy soil---------- 413120 • 0035 

Playa crust--------- 403344 1. 5 . 007 

Playa at 6 inches 

(15 em) depth----- 403345 1. 5 . 015 

Suaeda ramossissima 

(P) --------------- 403654 22. 0 . 01 

A triplex confertifo lia (X)--------- 4ll4 77 38.6 . 0035 

Carbonate clay with 

so,--------------- 403346 

Efflorescence------- 4ll455 

.02 

.01 

.02 

.01 

0.005 

.01 

3.0 

2.0 

1.5 

1.1 

1.5 

3. 2 

3. 2 

4.8 

3.0 

5.0 

7 .o 

8.8 

4.1 

6. 5 

4.5 

4.3 

7 .o 

4.8 

8.4 

5.8 

17.6 

19.2 

15 

27.9 

21 

Fairbanks Spring, mixed CaMgHC0 3 and Na 2 HC0 3 

16.8 

12.4 

1.7 2.3 

8.4 

1.3 12.4 

2.3 2.6 

7.4 2.5 

6.9 

16.0 

8.3 

17.0 

2. 2 

1.7 

0.007 

.007 

0.003 4.4 

.02 

.003 

.OlS 7. 8 

.03 10.4 

.015 

.01 

.03 15.2 

.OS 

A6 Tamarix pentandra 

A7 

AS 

A9 

(P)--------------- 403655 9. S 

Hard white calcareous clay---------- 403350 

Brown silty carbonate interbedded-- 403351 

Bacharis glutinosa 

(P)--------------- 411478 10.0 

Black organic mud--- 4ll456 

Tamarix pentranda 

(P)---------------- 411480 11.4 

Black organic mud--- 4114S7 

Pluch2a ser'icea (P)- 411479 8.3 

Calcareous tufa----- 4114S8 

0.45 

.15 

0. 0065 s.o 13.3 1.6 

0.005 0.96 9.9 1.7 

3.3 38.3 .06 

McGilivrays Spring, CaMgHC0 3 , recharge in limestone 

O.OlS >10 23 o. 91 

0.015 2.0 10 1.1 

Spring at trailer, CaMgHC0 3 , recharge in limestone 

0.01 7 .o 14 16 

o. 0045 1.5 19 2. 2 

Point of Rocks Spring, CaMgHC0 3 , recharge in limestone 

0.03 3.0 

0. 0025 ------

14 

2.0 ----- 37 

16 

0.15 

16.8 0.03 

2.2 0.003 9.6 

.15 <.002 42.5 

6. 6 0.15 

1.5 0.005 

9. 0 0.05 

1.5 0.002 

9.0 0.15 

0. 2 ----- <0. 002 

0.12 

1.64 

1.2 

.14 

.36 

2. 3 

1.5 

1.4 

.54 

0.12 

.24 

.15 

.72 

1.4 

1Chlorine content of soil 0.09 percent. 2 Fluorine content of plant 0. 0140 percent. 3Flnorine content of plant 0. 0116 percent. 

0.04 

.09 

.26 

.36 

2.58 

.02 

2.3 

.03 

.08 

0.50 

0.41 

19.5 

0.01 

<.01 

1.13 

.95 

3.65 

0.10 

.01 

17 
18 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

TABLE I I.-Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and the ash of plants from three closed basins' in which economic quantities 

of lithium occur 

lStations shown in fi~. I. Analysts are named in introduction. P, phyteatophyte; Ha, halophyte; X, xerophyte; Hy, hydrophyte; WSS, water-soluble salts. The soil in which the sampled 

plant grew is listed directly below each plant] 

Carbonate Sulfate Station 

No. 

Sample Lab, 

No. 

(D-) 

Ash WSS Lithium Magnesium Calcium Sodium Potassium Boron (as C02) (watersoluble) 

Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil 

Clayton Valley (Lithium and potassium produced commercially from chloride brines) 

L3 Sarcobatus vermiculat~ 

(P )------------------- 408134 12. 7 0, 07 0, 5 

Sulfate soil under plant 408177 13.3 0,03 

Spongy chloride so11---- 408178 

Efflorescent crust------ 408179 

L4A Soft brown lake clay 

(no plants)------·----- 415459 

White efflorescent crust 415460 

L4B Allenrolfea occidentalis 

(Ha)------------------ 408135 25.8 

Juncus cooperi (Hy )----- 408136 6. 2 

Algae in hot spring (Hy) 408148 83.8 

Spring deposit between 

Juncus---------------- 408180 

Spring deposit under 

Juncus---------------- 408181 

Allenrolfea occidentalis 

(Ha) ------------------ 4130 56 44. 

Hot spring mud---------- 413101 

118 Allenrolfea occidentalis 

(Ha)----------------- 413057 33. 

Brown soft soil with 

Na Cl·----------------- 41310 2 

13.8 

88.6 

2.8 

3.2 

.15 

.30 

.03 

.03 

.03 

.03 

.OS 

1.0 

1.0 

• 3 

7.45 ---- .03 ----

9.51 ---- .OS ----

• 3 2.0 

.01 

• 3 3.0 

.03 ----

6,8 23.2 14.6 0,015 0. 38 ----

1.4 

1.4 

.24 

6, 8 4.7 2.57 0.015 1.6 2.33 

1.0 

1.5 

3. 6 

4.6 

33.4 

3.0 

1.8 

3. 3 

3.3 

• 7 ---- 30. 

1.0 ---- 25. 

1.4 

1.0 23. 

31.5 

21.6 

3.6 

31. 

1.0 ---- 29 . 

2 .o 3.9 

6.1 

35.0 

2.9 

2.8 

3.0 

3.0 

1.0 

4. 5 

4.8 

3. 6 

3.4 

2,24 

1.3 

3. 2 

2. 8 

3.0 

3.0 

. 85 

3.0 ----

2.1 ---- 2.4 

.OS 

.2 

.007 

.07 

.02 

<.02 

.015 

.015 

.01 

1.6 l. 22 

.18 ---- 3.02 

.10 

.24 

2.08 ----

.4 ----

34 .1 ---- . so 

.02 ---- 25.6 ---- 2. 51 

3.4 

.007 .18 

.OS ---- ---·- ---- 1, 8 ----

• 015 ---- ---- ---- .16 

Owens Lake (Lithium and potassium formerly produced from chloride brines) 

112 Scirpus olneyi (Hy)----- 411481 15.5 

Mud in spring at playa 

edge------------------ 411459 

Atriplex torreyi (X)---- 411534 20.4 

Sand at edge of playa--- 126550 

Suaeda torreyana (P)---- 413054 24.0 

119 Distichlis spicata (P)-- 413091 15.0 

Soil under evaporites 

in evaporating pan---- 413098 ---- ----

Evaporites being 

shipped for Bl________ 413099 ---- ----

Ll9B Soft spring mud with 

salts----------------- 415469 1.8 

119A Crystals in Distichlis 

plants---------------- 415468 ---- 44. 

Spring mud with algal 

scum------------------ 41546 7 • 7 

0.035 ---- 1.5 

.OS 

.07 

.10 

0.01 

• 7 

. 007 ----

3.0 

1.5 

. 012 ----

.07 

,08 

.01 ----

,004 ----

1.5 

1.5 

3.0 

3.0 

3.0 

1.5 

• 7 

4. 2 ---- 15. 

3. 2 

1.4 

2.0 

7.8 

7.4 

9. 2 

6.1 

11.0 

26. 

26. 

18. 

1.45 

3 • 

2 • 

17. 

2.5 

3. 5 ---- 10. 

13. 

11, 

8.2 

3.0 

2 .s 

2.0 

1.9 

.85 

1.9 

---- 1. 7 

2.8 2.8 ---- 3.1 

0. 7 

,03 

,03 

.15 

0.007 ---- 0.65 

2.2 ---

.03 

2.2 ----

,19 ---

• 0 15 ---- ---- ---- .12 

.os ---- ---- ---- .76 

.03 ---- ---- ---- .15 

. 1 ---- ---·- ----15 . 

.1 ---- ---- ---- .17 

Hector (Lithium clays being mined (hectorite)) 

124 White carbonate lithium 

clay being shipped---- 415473 1. 0 ---- 0. 20 ---- 7.0 ---- 22. 1.1 ---- 0. 24 ---- 0.003 ---- ---- ---- 0. 01 

Darker clay surrounding 

white nodules--------- 415474 1.6 . 07 ---- 3.0 ---- 20 . 1.5 .85 .002 ---- ---- ---- .03 

Shale underlying 

volcanic flow--------- 4154 76 . 3 .005 ----

1Chlorine content of soil 1.4 percent. 

mined in the Mohave Desert. Analyses of samples from 

three closed basins from which lithium has been produced are given in table 11. 

• 3 .80 ---- 4.2 ---- 2.4 .01 ---- ---- ---- .01 

In Clayton Valley playa sediments consisting of 5-20 

feet (1.5-6 m) of clay impregnated withhaliteandgypsum 

overlie beds of crystallized halite and saturated brine 
LITHIUM IN BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE 19 

(Meinzer, 1917). Brines that contain 12 percent sodium and 

3 percent potassium are currently being pumped by the 

Foote Mineral Co. from a depth of 500ft (150m). Lithium 

contents of the brine were not ascertained from company 

geologists, but a magnesium:lithium ratio of 1 was mentioned. The percentage of lithium in the brine can then be 

assumed from the available analyses for magnesium in the 

brines to be at least an order of magnitude higher than that 

of sediments sampled at the surface. The highest lithium 

value in a surface soil analyzed by the Foote Mineral Co. 

was 1,200 ppm. Our surface sediment samples averaged 

300 ppm lithium. Lithium-rich precipitate around the 

roots of ]uncus in the hot spring on the east side of Clayton Valley contained 500 ppm lithium; a ]uncus root 

crown (fig. 3) contained 3,000 ppm. Water-soluble sulfate 

has been concentrated from 0.50 percent in the spring mud 

to 2.51 percent in mud around the roots of a]uncus plant 

(sta. L4B). Hunt (1966, p. 34) reported 13 percent total S04 

in the ash of ]uncus; the plant described above contained 

0.4 percent water-soluble so4. 

The water of Owens Lake is a dense brine containing 

halite, soda, borax, and other salts. The dried residue 

analyzed by Stone and Eaton in 1905 contained 38.09 percent potassium, 1.62 percent lithium, and only 0.02 percent magnesium (Gale, 1915 ). The mother liquor still constitutes a large proportion of the mass, permeating the entire thickness of crystallizing salt. 

Mud in the bottom of the old evaporating pans at Owens 

Lake contained only 120 ppm lithium; evaporite, which is 

dug and trucked only for boron payments, contained 500 

ppm boron and 700 ppm lithium. Plants collected at several stations contained 350 to 1,000 ppm lithium. 

A high-lithium clay, hectorite, is mined at Hector, east 

of Barstow from lake beds close to volcanic flows from 

Mount Pisgah (Foshag and Woodford, 1936). The pure 

mineral contains 1.1-1.2 percent Li20. The material being shipped is a white talclike clay that occurs in nodules 

and contained, in our sample, 0.2 percent lithium. The 

surrounding impure clay matrix contained only 0.07 percent. The hectorite resembled structurally the clay being 

mined in Amargosa Desert (AS) and shown by our analyses to contain a considerable amount of lithium. 

Analyses of samples from seven other closed basins are 

given in table 12. On the Bristol Lake playa, rock salt 

(sodium chloride) is mined by the Leslie Salt Co. from a 6-

to 7-foot-thick bed, which is covered by a similar thickness of mud over an area of about 4 square miles. In the 

recovery method, calcium chloride is precipitated from 

brines believed to be the mother liquor of the evaporative 

basin. The abundance of calcium chloride in this basin is 

unique for basins of the Basin and Range province. The 

calcium chloride is believed by Gale (1951) to have originated in the basaltic flows from Bagdad crater, which 

have in Holocene times separated Bristol Lake from Bagdad Lake to the northwest. Lithium is not mentioned in 

Gale's report. Polygonal salt crust in evaporating pans 

sampled during our study (sta. L25) contained only 20 

ppm lithium. A sample of the playa carbonate mud overlying the salt contained 300 ppm lithium, and Atriplex 

linearis rooted in the carbonate near the toe of the volcanic flow contained 150 ppm. Gypsum and oolitic surface material 350 feet (100m) onto the barren playa from 

the south edge also contained scant lithium. The surface 

alluvium at the south edge of the lake was low in lithium, 

but desertholly and cattle spinach collected there contained 300 ppm lithium. 

On Sarcobatus Flat, the sediments of the soft brown 

carbonate zone that are impregnated with halite contained 300 ppm lithium, but greasewood ash contained 

only 150 ppm. Lesser amounts in both plants and soils 

were found in samples from Fourmile Flat (where halite is 

mined), Big Smoky Valley, Railroad Valley, and Oasis 

Valley. Samples of gypsiferous sediments collected near an 

old borax works in Columbus Salt Marsh contained only 

30 ppm lithium but contained lO,OOOppm boron.Atriplex 

spinifera growing on them contained 150 ppm lithium 

and 1,500 ppm boron. The barrenplayamuds500feet(l50 

m) beyond the borax works contained 280 ppm lithium 

and 1,500 ppm boron. Seemingly, lithium is not associated directly with halite and borates but has a rather spotty 

distribution pattern in the basins, owing to sources of volcanic activity, to thermal hot springs, to adsorption on 

clay, or to subsequent flooding and subsurface movement 

of the solutions. 

PLANT PROSPECTING 

The analysis of plants for assessing lithium contents in 

brines in the Great Basin might be a useful prospecting 

tool in those areas where brines occur at depth and surface 

soils are relatively low in lithium. The lithium contents of 

plants growing in two plant societies in closed basins may 

indicate lithium concentrations at depth. First, hot 

springs at the contact of alluvium with basin sediments are 

apparently dissolving lithium at depth and the· hydrophytes, such as Scirpus olneyi and ]uncus cooperi, are absorbing and concentrating large quantities of lithium in 

plant tissues. Second, phreatophytes, such as Allenrolfea, 

Distichlis, and Suaeda, that are tolerant of and absorb 

large quantities of sodium chloride and grow in the 

chloride and sulfate zones also are tolerant of and absorb 

large quantites of lithium chloride. Xerophytic species of 

A triplex, even though they may be lithium accumulators, 

have shallow root systems adapted to collecting surface 

water rather than ground water and, therefore, do notreflect lithium deposits at depth. 

No symptoms of lithium toxicity were identified in 

plants, nor were useful indicators identified. Lycium is 

definitely an accumulator of lithium and may even be an 
20 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

TABLE 12.-Percentage of lithium and associated ions in sediments and the ash of plants from other closed basins in Nevada and California 

[Stations shown in fig. I. Analysts are named in introduction. N, not detected; P, phreatophyte; X, xerophyte; WSS, water-soluble salts. The soil in which the sampled plant grew 

is directly below each plant) 

Station 

No. 

Sample Lab. • Ash WSS 

No. 

(D-) 

Lithium Magnesium Calcium Sodium Potassium Boron 

(percent) Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil Plant Soil 

Ll6 Atr>iplex Zinear>is 

(P)------------ 411575 21.5 

Playa mud-------- 411565 

Ll6a Carbonate overlying chlorides 413104 

Limes tone underlying flow----- 4154 70 4. 4 

117 Atr>iplex hymenelytm---------- 413060 27 

A. polycar>pa (X)- 411576 19.4 

Alluvial fan, 

south side----- 4ll566 

L25 Oolitic gypsum 

(no plants)---- 415471 54 

Polygonal evaporite crust 

(no plants)---- 415472 ---- 90 

0.015 

.03 

.03 

Bristol Lake (salt (NaCl) produced commercially) 

0.01 

.03 

.004 

<. 0025 

.005 

.002 

0. 5 

5.0 

1.0 

2.0 

1.5 

. 2 

1.0 

.07 

.03 

8.6 21.0 

5.6 1.3 

16.0 2.1 

15 1.5 

10 15 

7.4 18 

3.4 2.0 

25 .95 

1.4 34 

Columbus Salt Marsh (borax previously produced commercially) 

L5 A tr>ip lex sp inifaa (X)------- 408137 

Soft sand with 

sulfate and 

borates-------- 408182 

Soft brown gypsiferous soil 

(no plants)---- 415455 

Playa sediment 

(no plants)---- 415456 

L7 Sar>cobatus ver>-

7. 2 0.015 

12.5 

7 .o 

8.4 

miculatus (P)-- 408139 13.7 0.0025 

Suaeda tor>r>eyana (P)------- 408140 9.2 .005 

Sandy soil, 

brown---------- 408184 0. 3 7 

Playa mud with 

0.003 

.015 

.028 

sulfates------- 408185 7. 5 0. 015 

Ll4 Sar>cobatus ver>-

micu latus (P)--- 408643 16.3 

Playa mud (water 

at 43 ft (13 m)) ll8527 

L23 Sar>cobatus ver>-

miculatus (P)--- 413059 16.0 

Atr>iplex par>r>yi 

(X)------------- 413058 11. 0 

Sandy soil with 

NaCl------------ 413103 

Hard playa mud 

(no plants)----- 415457 

Sandy clay 

(no plants)----- 415458 

L6 Sar>cobatus VePmicu latus (P) --- 408138 

Chloride 500 ft 

(150 m) onto 

playa----------- 408183 

1-4 in. chlorides 

4,400 ft (1,320 

m) on to playa--- 415453 

Sediments in 

slough near edge 415454 

9. 7 

0.007 

4.4 0. 008 

<.002 

.003 

.01 

3. 3 .006 

.4 .009 

o. 0025 

5.9 0.007 

1.8 .0035 

8.8 .0025 

5.0 12.8 12.2 

1.4 5.2 6.0 

• 7 3.5 3.8 

• 7 3. 2 5.0 

Railroad Valley (NaHC0 3 water) 

1.0 5.6 28.2 

1.0 4.8 25.2 

0.48 2.1 1.8 

1.7 6.1 4.4 

Big Smoky Valley (NaHCO, water) 

0. 7 8.9 20.2 

1.6 3.8 1.2 

1.5 3. 2 25 

2.0 5. 2 20 

2.0 2.0 2. 9 3.6 

1.0 3.6 2.5 

1.0 4.0 3.5 

Fourmile Flat (halite mined) 

o. 7 7.4 19.8 

2. 2 2.9 4.9 

.7 4.5 3.6 

.5 3. 2 6.5 

12 

ll 

14 

15.6 

11.8 

13.6 

12.2 

9.0 

8.2 

15.8 

Sarcobatus Flat (altered NaHC03 water at depth 0-5 ft (0-1.5 m)) 

12 SaPcobatus VePmiculatus (P)--- 408133 

Brown carbonate 

zone------------ 411479 

Soft dembo in 

playa edge------ 415461 

Hard playa mud 

(no plants)----- 415462 

5.0 0.015 

1.6 0.03 

3.2 .02 

2.2 .015 

1.5 23.2 5.5 5. 9 

1.0 6. 2 2.0 

1.0 6.0 3.1 

1.5 5. 5 2.4 

2.3 

1.6 

1.1 

3.0 

. 24 

.33 

2.6 

2.9 

3.0 

3.4 

2.4 

2.6 

2.6 

2.6 

2.4 

2.2 

2.4 

2.4 

3.6 

3.2 

3.1 

0.015 

.05 

.03 

0.15 

0.01 

.02 

0.03 

.05 

.05 

0.015 

0.03 

0.005 

.007 

<.002 

< .02 

N 

N 

1.0 

.2 

.15 

0.005 

.007 

0.007 

.07 

.007 

.07 

0.05 

.07 

.10 

0.02 

.03 

.03 

Carbonate 

(as 

C02) 

Sulfate 

(watersoluble) 

Soil Plant Soil 

1.5 

2.1 

1.5 

1.2 

2.1 14 

2.0 15 

0.24 

3.8 4.3 

2.2 

2.0 

0.30 

.55 

1.2 0.02 

3.5 2.1 

0. 28 

1.6 0.15 

. 75 

.31 

.54 

.01 

.21 

0.28 

2.6 0.40 

.08 

.54 

0.06 

5. 7 0.07 

. 55 

.18 

~--------------0-as_i_s_v_a_l_l_ey_(_dr_a_i_ns_i_nt_o_Sarcobatus Flat; NaHCO·'-_w_a_te_r_at_d_ep_t_h_o_-_5_ft_(o_-_1_._5 _m_)_) ---------------

Ll SaPcobatus ver>-

micu latus (P) --- 408132 

Brown carbonate 

zone with NaCl-- 408175 

Efflorescent crust 

of NaCl--------- 408174 

7.5 0.006 

2. 3 

46 

1.5 8.0 

0. 015 0.96 2.6 

.01 . 30 1.3 

22.4 8.8 0.015 0.16 

3.0 3.0 0.01 2. 3 0.18 

---- >35 3.0 .02 5.9 . 47 
SUMMARY 21 

indicator of lithium but it cannot grow in soils of high salt 

(sodium chloride) content. 

Plants would not be useful in prospecting for highpotassium brines, because nutrient elements, such as 

potassium, that are required by plants in large amounls in 

normal physiological processes are not generally accumulated to any great extent. The plant absorbs only the 

amount needed regardless of the amount in the soil unless 

the quantities available are extremely high. As the particular species of plants that grow in the chloride and 

sulfate zones use sodium in place of potassium even when 

the latter is available, no correlation between plant contents and brines would be expected. 

HEALTH ASPECTS OF LITHIUM 

Little is known concerning the long-term effects of lithium deficiency or excess on health or disease of domestic 

animals or man. Claims for the efficacy of lithium in the 

treatment of gout, diabetes, and epilepsy have not been 

substantiated. Probably the most promising use for lithium in medical practice arises from its profoundly tranquilizing effect on manicdepressive patients (Carle, 1949; 

Schou, 1959). In Texas, a strong negative correlation exists 

between lithiumintake, as indexed by concentrations in 

drinking water, and admission rates to State mental institutions (Dawson and others, 1970). According to Lawrence Razavi (written commun., 1970), lithium stabilizes 

chromosomes by shortening the amplitude of helical polymers, including DNA. Although the concentrations 

cannot be compared with those used in medical treatment, one might conclude that relatively high levels 

(20-1 00 /-lg/1) of lithi urn in drinking water as might be encountered in the Basin and Range province would be beneficial in improving chromosomal quality and cell membrane strength. 

The well-known negative correlation between water 

hardness and cardiovascular mortality can be explained 

statistically by lithium concentrations concomitant with 

water hardness (V oors, 1971 ). Biological evidence that low 

levels of lithium provide a protective effect against atherosclerosis is accumulating. 

No cases of toxicity from naturally occurring lithium 

have been reported; indeed, increasing evidence suggests 

several beneficial effects. 

SUMMARY 

Lithium contents average 22-655 ppm in igneous rocks, 

17 ppm in sandstone, 46 ppm in shale, and 26 ppm in limestone. During weathering, much of the released lithium is 

trapped in montmorillonitic clays; but lithium that reaches the sea tends to remain in solution as the highly soluble 

compound lithium chloride (average, 0.1 ppm). From 

8 to 400 ppm lithium have previously been reported in 

soils. 

Both open and closed basins occur in the Basin and 

Range province; hydrologically closed basins are discharged by evapotranspiration, and open basins are discharged by underflow to basins of lower hydraulic head. 

The median lithium content for 100 major municipal 

water supplies of the United States is 2 pg/1; that of 18 

springs and wells of the Amargosa Desert, a closed basin, is 

105 /-lg/1. Thermal hot springs are a common source of 

lithium in geochemical processes, and more lithium is 

contained in sodium bicarbonate water originating in 

tuffs than in calcium-magnesium bicarbonate water originating in the Paleozoic limestones. A further concentration of lithium takes place by the evapotranspiration of 

brines contained in closed basins that drain a large recharge area and that were occupied by lakes in Pleistocene 

time. The percentages of lithium in the brines along with 

potassium, bromine, boron, and halite are of economic 

value in several areas. Further investigation of lacustrine 

clays in closed basins, particularly in the Amargosa Desert, may reveal lithium concentrations of economic value. 

In an evaporative basin, lithium may remain in solution until a late stage and then be precipitated along with 

sodium, potassium, and boron in the chloride and sulfate 

zones, although lithium is readily adsorbed by clay minerals in lacustrine deposits and also precipitated in marls of 

biogenous origin. Sediments collected for our project contained maximum values of 70-2,000 ppm lithium in 12 

closed basins and maximum values of 40-150 ppm in 8 

open basins. 

Median contents of lithium in the type of sediments in 

closed basins were: lacustrine clays 700 ppm lithium; hotspring travertines 450 ppm; sulfate-chloride, and carbonate zones, 150 ppm; playa clay, 150 ppm; and alluvium, 30 

ppm. Lithium may be concentrated in amounts greater 

than 1,000 ppm in hot-spring deposits where lithium is 

dissolved at depth, pumped to the surface, and precipitated around the roots of hydrophytes. 

Lithium is reported to be toxic to most cultivated plants 

at concentrations as low as 30 ppm in the soil, and for 

citrus plants, as low as 12 ppm. Vegetation generally contains about 1 ppm lithium in the dry weight; a maximum 

concentration of 4,400 ppm has been reported in the ash 

(or ±750 ppm in dry weight) of healthy tobacco. In the 

Great Basin, pickleweed and rush containing 3,000 ppm 

in the ash grow without apparent damage in soils containing 300-500 ppm lithium. A median of 150 ppm in the 

ash or 22.8 ppm in dry weight of higher plants collected 

from these basins is considerably greater than the average 

of 1.3 ppm in dry weight found by Bertrand. 

The lithium content in the vegetation correlates well 

with that of the soil (as shown in fig. 2) except at levels of 

less than 100 ppm; at lower levels, the greater relative content in plants suggests that lithium is essential to plants. 

The species of plants that accumulate the greatest 
22 LITHIUM IN UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS AND PLANTS, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA 

amounts of lithium are largely from the Chenopodiaceae 

family, and most lithium accumulators also take up large 

amounts of sodium chloride. The analysis of hydrophytes 

in springs at the alluvium-basin sediment contact and of 

halophytes growing in the chloride and sulfate zones of 

closed basins may be useful in evaluating the economic 

possibility of lithium extraction from brines. 

The high lithium concentrations in water and vegetation of hydrologically closed basins may have a 

beneficial effect on the health of both lower animals and 

people living in the Basin and Range province. 

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