DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR

413

A RECONNAISSANCE

OF THE

GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA

BY

FRANK L. HESS

WITH A NOTE ON

ERRORS IN THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF GYPSUM

BY

GEORGE STEIGER

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1910

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction............................................................... 5

Distribution of the deposits ....*......._......._._......................... 6

Climate.....................-............__-............................. 6

Importance, .classification, and derivation of the deposits.................... 7

Description of deposits in detail........................................... 8

. Efflorescent deposits.................................................. 8

General statement................................................ 8

Deposits between Menclota and the Lost Hills.. .................... 9

Paoli mine................................................... 9

Deposits near the Paoli mine. .................................. 11

Co:ilinga deposits ............................................. 11

Deposits near Dudley, Kings County .......................... 12

Lost Hills................................................... 14

Deposits near McKittrick, Kern County ........................... 16

California Gypsum and Mineral Company's deposit............. 16

. Abbott & Hickox deposits .............. ^..................... 17

Other deposits ............................................... 18

Deposits near Sunset......................................... 1.... 19

Deposits near Bakersfield......................................... 19

Other deposits in the Coast Range..............°...... .............. 20

San Benito County ........................................... 20

Carrizo Plain................................................. 21

Corona ...................................................... 22

Periodic-lake deposits.................................. 1.............. 22

E. D. Jones deposit............................................... 22

Kern Lake gypsite deposit........................................ 23

Buena Vista Lake ................................................ 25

Amboy.......................................................... 25

Other lake-bed deposits...........I................................ 28

Interbedded deposits................................................. 28

Santa Barbara Creek.............................................. 28

French Point .................................................... 28

Point Sal ........................................................ 28

Castaic ............................... .......................... 29

Palmdale........................................................ 29

Palen Mountains................................................. 31

Maria Mountains ............................... .................. 31

Mecca............................................................ 32

Other deposits . ................................................... 32

Summary and general remarks...................................... ....... 32

Note on errors in the chemical analysis of gypsum,,by George Steiger........ 33

Survey publications on gypsum and plasters................................ 37

3
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page. 

PLATE I. Map showing distribution of gypsum deposits in California ........ 6

II. A, "The Oil Bubble" in the Lost Hills south of Tulare Lake; £,

Gypsite deposit 4 miles northwest of Coalinga................... 12

III. A, Gypsum deposits in the bed of a periodic lake at Amboy; B, Gypsite deposit 9 feet thick, on the brow of a hill 1£ miles southwest 

, of Palmdale .................................................. 28

IV. A, View of the gypsite workings in sec. 7, T. 32 IS.,. R. 22 E., on the 

Carrizo Plain; B, Gypsum interbedded with clay shales 1£ miles 

southwest of Palmdale ........................................ 30

FIGURE 1. Idealized section through gypsite deposit 4 miles northwest of Coalinga, Cal.....,...........'................................... 11

2. Idealized section across hills 1£ miles southwest of Palmdale, Cal. 29
A EECOMAISSANCE OF THE GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF

CALIFORNIA.

By FRANK L. HESS.

INTRODUCTION.

The growing use of gypsum as wall plaster (hard plaster) and in 

cement, as well as for minor uses, such as in stucco and as a fertilizer,

has created a large demand for knowledge of gypsum deposits. In

most States such knowledge is more easily obtained than in California, where the gypsum deposits are largely in long stretches of 

sparsely inhabited regions in the- nearly arid territory along the east 

side of the Coast Range and in the Mohave and Colorado deserts.

Little has been published about the deposits, and accurate information concerning them is not easy to obtain. The only works known to 

the writer that treat of the gypsum deposits of the State are listed 

below, and in each of these the information is meager;

IRBLAN, WILLIAM, Jr. Eighth Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, Sacramento, 

1888, pp. 538, 688.

Gives a short description of the gypsum deposits at Point Sal, Santa Barbara 

County. Dr. Stephen Bowers gives a description of a gypsum deposit in the Ojai 

Valley, Ventura County, which is repeated in Fairbanks's report. HOBSON, J. B. Point Sal gypsum mines: Tenth Ann. Kept. State Mineralogist, 

Sacramento, 1890, p. 601.

Gives a cross section of the rocks, including gypsum deposits, at Point Sal. No 

description is given.

 Eleventh Annual Report of the California State Mineralogist, 1892.

Mention is made of gypsum deposits in Kern, Los Angeles, San Benito, and San 

Bernardino counties. The descriptions lack detail and are unimportant. 

CRAWFORD, J. J. Twelfth report of the State Mineralogist, Sacramento, 1894, pp. 

323-325.

Short descriptions of gypsum deposits in a number of counties of the State.

 Thirteenth Report of the State Mineralogist, Sacramento, 1896, pp. 503-504.

Gives a brief notice of a number of the gypsum deposits of the State. 

FAIRBANKS, H. W. Gypsum deposits in California (in "Gypsum deposits in the 

United States"): Bull. II. S. Geol. Survey No. 223, 1904, pp. 118-123, 1 map.

Includes a few general remarks upon the gypsum deposits of the State and brief 

memoranda upon the individual deposits.

AUBITRY, LEWIS E. The structural and industrial materials of California: Bull. 

California State Min. Bur. No. 38, 1906, pp. 281-288.

Gives a short general description of gypsum; its uses; methods of manufacture 

of plaster of Paris; distribution of gypsum deposits in the State; a catalogue of 

occurrences and their owners; and brief accounts of the deposits. Little 

geologic description is attempted.

5
6 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OP CALIFORNIA.

In an endeavor to supplement what was known the writer spent 

a part of the winter of 1906-7 in a reconnaissance of various gypsumbearing localities of the State. The time and money available did 

not permit visits to several other areas where deposits of more or less 

importance are said to occur, and for lack of time the deposits visited 

could not be examined in detail.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE DEPOSITS.

The gypsum deposits that give promise of possible commercial 

importance are south of San Francisco Bay (see PL I), and most of 

them are associated with Tertiary strata; a few occur in Pleistocene 

beds. Many deposits are found in the Coast Range, from San Benito 

County southward into Los Angeles County. These deposits are 

generally shallow, are covered by a thin skin of soil, or lie on the surfaces of knobs or ridges, with here and there one on a hill slope or in a 

ravine, and are of the variety known as gypsite.

At Point Sal, Santa Barbara County, and at Palmdale, Lang, and 

Castaic, Los Angeles County, gypsiferous strata interbedded with 

clayey material have been worked. Beds that seem, from the descriptions obtainable, to have the same general characteristics as these 

occur at several points in the Colorado Desert.

In the San Joaquin Valley, in the Mohave Desert, and probably in 

the Colorado Desert are many areas that become lake beds during wet 

seasons, and some of these beds carry considerable deposits of gypsum. 

Such deposits do not exist in all the periodic lake beds, and whether 

they form depends on the nature of the rocks drained by the streams 

feeding the lakes. In the Palen Mountains, between the Colorado 

and Mohave deserts, there are said to be large deposits of alabaster, 

which appear to be the only extensive beds of the kind in the State.

CLIMATE.

The climate of all that portion of California which contains the 

gypsum deposits described in this report is so dry that the most 

moist of the lands are semiarid and the less favored portions are 

arid. Along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, in the lower 

hills of the Coast Range, temperatures of 110° to 125° F. are frequently 

recorded in summer, while in the Mohave Desert, according to common report, these temperatures are exceeded. Iron lying on the 

ground in the sun-during the summer can not be handled with the 

bare hand without great discomfort. The -soil, and especially the 

sand, gets so hot that it is painful to the newcomer to walk in it.

The seasons are often spoken of as wet and dry, because nearly 

all the rain that falls in the region comes during late autumn, win-
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 413 PLATE I

MAP SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF GYPSUM DEPOSITS IN CALIFORNIA.
IMPORTANCE, CLASSIFICATION, AND DERIVATION. 7

ter, and early spring. However, the wettest winters are probably 

not so damp as the summer season in the eastern portion of the 

United States. Naturally, with such heat and such dearth of rain 

the humidity is low in summer, so that water evaporates very rapidly 

and the rocks are quickly dried, the water being drawn out of them 

for great depths. These climatic conditions have much to do with 

the formation of the gypsum deposits, and will be referred to in the 

descriptions of the deposits;

IMPORTANCE, CLASSIFICATION, AND DERIVATION OF

THE DEPOSITS.,

The importance of the gypsum deposits as possible objects for 

commercial exploitation can be discussed to advantage by considering at the.same time their.derivation. The deposits fall naturally 

into four groups, according to their origin (1) efflorescent deposits, 

(2) periodic-lake deposits, (3) interbedded deposits, and (4) veins.

Efflorescent deposits. The deposits of the first group are formed 

by the evaporation of water that has percolated through gypsiferous 

sandstones or shales. The gypsum thus formed is of the variety 

known as gypsite. 0 It is buff or creamy to rust colored, soft, and 

easily crumbled in the hands. Some of it is so powdery that it 

resembles wood ashes, and is frequently referred to as "amorphous." 

Under a microscope, however, it is seen to be made up of small 

plates of gypsum that are entirely crystalline. It is easily worked 

with a pick and shovel, and many deposits can be dug with a spade 

or stiff shovel alone. A deposit near McKittrick is worked by first 

plowing and then handling with a horse scraper.

Nearly, all these deposits are thin and of rather narrow extent, 

though some of them are 10 to. 15 feet thick and have an area of several acres. Most of. the deposits lie on the tops of hills or ridges. 

Owing.to the small area of most of the individual deposits they are 

of economic value at only a few places.

Periodic-lake deposits. Deposits have been formed in some places 

by the crystallization of gypsum from the waters of intermittent 

shallow lakes. The material of these beds is generally granular and 

crystalline, the particles ranging from minute specks to grains onequarter inch in breadth, and thin in proportion. These deposits are 

locally of economic importance, and one is worked at Amboy, in the 

Mohave Desert. The mode of formation of these deposits is described 

on pages 24-25.

a In this report the term "gypsite" will be applied to those unconsolidated gypsum deposits in which 

the gypsum is so finely divided that individual grains are not readily discernible to the eye. Other deposits of the mineral will be called gypsum, alabaster, or selenite, as may seem most fitly to apply to the particular variety under consideration.
8 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFOBKIA.

Interbedded deposits. The interbedded gypsum deposits of California are of two principal varieties. One that .is now worked at 

Palmdale is composed of thin beds of somewhat impure gypsum, in 

thickness ranging from a fraction of an inch to 3 or 4 inches, interstratified with much more impure clayey material. Such deposits 

were probably formed by precipitation from a shallow sea into which 

large amounts of sediment were poured. At only a few places are 

the deposits sufficiently pure and large to be worked.

A second variety is composed of thick, interbedded strata, taking 

the form of alabaster, very pure and white in color. Naturally, the 

two varieties grade into each other, as at Point Sal, where in places 

the gypsum is clear and white, while at others it is of the clayey 

form mined at Palmdale and Castaic, Los Angeles County.

Of deposits of the second variety, only those in the Palen Mountains 

are known, and a railroad is not at present near enough to these to 

permit them to be worked at a profit.

Veins. Gypsum veins are of the variety often known as selenite, 

in which the gypsum is crystalline and glassy, occasionally taking 

a finely columnar form, known as satin spar. Such veins are formed 

by the solution of gypsum from the surrounding rocks or from other 

deposits, the material being reprecipitated in cracks through the 

rocks. No veins of commercial importance are known to exist in 

the State.

DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITS IN DETAIL.

EFFLORESCENT DEPOSITS. 

GENERAL STATEMENT.

The efflorescent deposits lie along, the Coast Range, extending

southward from San Benito County to Los Angeles County in an area 

that is nearly coincident with the Tertiary sandstones and. shales 

throughout this region.

It was not possible to visit all the deposits, but enough were 

examined to permit general conclusions to be drawn as to all of them. 

Their derivation and geology are of great importance in determining 

their extent. They have heretofore been regarded as interbedded 

deposits/ but such a view gives an erroneous idea of their probable 

extent, for, if they are efflorescent, instead of reaching to an unknown 

depth, they can be but shallow, and differences in composition of the 

parent rock, in its depth of covering, in the position of the deposit 

with regard to drainage, and in the surface exposed to solution through 

the fine division of the mass all tend to narrow their extent.

a Fairbanks, H. W., Gypsum deposits in California: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 223,1904, pp. 118-123, 

1 map. Also various California state mining reports.
EFFLORESCENT DEPOSITS. 9

DEPOSITS BETWEEN MENDOTA AND THE LOST HILLS. 

PAOLI MINE.

The deposit that has been called the Paoli mine is in Fresno County,

on a ridge on the north side of Tomey Creek, 18 miles southwest of

'Mendota, in the SW. i sec. 1, T. 16 S., R. 12 E., Mount Diablo base

! and meridian, and adjacent lands. It lies from 400 to 800 feet

(barometric measurement) above the floor of the valley. Tomey

Creek, which flows by the foot of t,he hill, carries water only during

wet seasons and empties on the plain a mile or two farther east.

The outcrops of gypsite begin on a low hill less than 100 feet above 

the creek bed, and occur over a large part of the crest of a gradually 

' rising ridge for nearly a mile. The rocks are soft and clayey, containing fine sand with interspersed pebbles of chert, igneous rocks, and

glaucophane schists. There are occasional thin beds of diatomaceous 

shales, and beds of sandstone containing large numbers of Tertiary 

barnacles. The dip is about northeast, at angles ranging from 15° to 

30°. The hills here are largely structural, with abrupt faces on the 

southwest and gentler slopes on the northeast. The gypsite. occurs 

on the edges of the softer layers in irregular deposits whose distribution is due almost entirely to the strike and width of the outcrops. 

From the main ridge following Tomey Creek four other ridges extend 

like fingers to the north, and gypsite deposits are found on these at a 

number of places. Gypsite is found also at several points in the 

intervening gulches beneath a thin layer of soil. The thickness of 

the deposits is hard to determine, as they had been cut through at 

only a few points, but it appears to run from 3 to possibly 15 feet. 

The latter depth, however, if reached at any place is exceptional, 

and the average depth probably does not much exceed 3 feet.

On the theory that the deposits were interbedded, a short tunnel 

was run into the hill 30 or 40 feet below one of the deposits, but it 

encountered only a friable sandstone.

The gypsite is of a creamy or buff color and can be worked with a 

| pick and shovel at many places with a shovel alone. At some 

> points it has been partially dissolved and reprecipitated, so that it 

is considerably hardened, but the hardened part is not more than a 

few inches thick and can be readily worked with a pick. The 

gypsite is easily crushed and most of it could be handled by screening 

without crushing. Ordinarily the gypsite is covered by a few inches 

of soil, below which for a few inches it is very free from foreign 

matter, containing occasional pebbles of the same sort as those found 

in the sandstone. These pebbles increase in number downward. 

At a depth of 2 or 3 feet they become abundant, and at a greater 

depth the gypsite forms the smaller part of the mass, the larger part
10 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OP CALIFOENIA.

being the sandstone of the underlying rock. In the gulches there 

are places to which the gypsite has been washed from the ridges by 

freshets and in which it now forms deposits several feet thick, though 

sufficient prospecting has not been done to show their exact dimensions. There is almost no gypsite on the sides of the hills, its absence 

being due probably to its solution and washing away by rain water. 

The gypsite remains on the tops of the hills, but on their sides, which 

receive not only the falling rain but the run-off from the upper parts 

of the hills, it is dissolved and carried away. Occasional torrential 

rains carry the gypsite from above and deposit it in the valleys so 

quickly that it is not dissolved, but is moved like so much earth or 

sand. Deposits in the gulches are rare and are generally mixed with 

considerable earth.

A specimen of the purer material from the Mendota No. 1 claim 

was analyzed by E. C. Sullivan, of the United States Geological 

Survey's chemical laboratory, with the following result:

Partial analysis of gypsite from north side of Tomey Creek, Fresno County, Col.

Lime (CaO)................................................. 28. 3

Sulphur trioxide (S03 )....................................... 39. 5

Water driven off at 60° C..................................... .3

Water driven off at 300° C.................................... 18. 6

Chlorine (Cl)................................................. Trace.

Iron oxide (Fe2 03 )............................................ .6

This is equivalent to 85 per cent of gypsum. In 1894 a E. W. 

Hilgard published the following analyses of specimens from these 

deposits:

Analyses of gypsite from Tomey Creek, Fresno County, Cal.

No.

1

fi

fi

7

Locality. Gypsum.

95.24

94.74

92.90

82.20

Clay.

1.98

1.52

2.60

8.21

Sand,

moisture,

carbonate

of lime,

etc.

2.78

3.74

4.50

9.59

Some gypsite was mined from these deposits several years ago, 

when a cabin and a small amount of machinery were e'rected. The 

gypsite was mined for land plaster and used on the ranches of the 

San Joaquin Valley as an antidote for alkali. No work, except 

assessment work, has been done on the claims for a number of years. 

Water is very scarce and what is to be had is not fit for drinking. 

Drinking water must be brought from Mendota, 18 miles away. The 

plain is almost as flat as a floor and the soil makes good roads, so 

that teaming is easy and, for such a distance, hauling is very cheap.

a Twelfth Kept. State Mineralogist California, 1894, p. 323.
EFFLORESCENT DEPOSITS. 11

On the south side of Tomey Creek similar deposits occur and have 

been prospected to some extent.

DEPOSITS NEAR THE PAOLI MINE.

A few miles south of Tomey Creek, along Cantua Creek, like beds 

were once worked in a small way for land plaster, and similar deposits 

may be found wherever the same rocks outcrop along the foothills.

COALINGA DEPOSITS.

In the NE. J sec. 22, T. 20 S., R. 14 E., Mount Diablo base and 

meridian, about 4 miles northwest of Coalinga, is a deposit which 

was worked to a small extent for land plaster a number of years ago. 

The gypsite overlies a sandstone that lies next to a coarser fossiliferous stratum having a dip of about 30° NE., occupying the top of 

a small hill, and may be followed for about 200 feet along the strike 

of the rocks. This sandstone has been determined by Ralph Arnold 

and Robert Anderson,0 of the United States Geological Survey, to

Gyp'site

FIGUKE 1. Idealized section through gypsite deposit 4 miles northwest of Coalinga, 

Cal. Not drawn to scale.

be near the base of the Tejon formation of the Eocene. The general 

relations of the gypsite and the country rock are shown in figure 1. 

At a depth of 2 or 3 feet pebbles begin to appear in the gypsite, and 

below that they form so much of the mass that the material would 

have to be screened for use. (See PI. II, B.} The gypsite is light 

buff,very soft and friable, and could be largely shoveled from the face. 

Occasional small stringers are harder, but all could be worked with a 

pick. The gypsite is so soft that small animals and insects burrow 

through it.

A partial analysis of a specimen of gypsite from this deposit, made 

for Arnold and Anderson by R. C. Wells, of the United Stated Geological Survey's chemical laboratory, gave: CaS04 , 71.6; Si02 , 0.8.

About 7 miles northeast of Coalinga, on the top of a hill half a mile 

S. 20° E. of the Home Oil Company's wells, is a gypsum claim, on 

which a small area about 20 by 50 feet has been stripped to a depth 

of 1 or 2 feet. The gypsite below this is very impure, containing 

many fragments of fine-grained shale.

a Personal communication.
12 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFOENIA.

Three miles Avest of Coalinga, on the east side of a hill in the S. £ 

sec. 35, T. 20 S., R. 14 E., gypsite outcrops at a number of places 

through a distance of about a quarter of a mile. Prospect holes have 

been sunk at a number of points and shallow excavations have been 

made. The deposits are very similar to those just described as 

occurring northwest of Coalinga, but are of somewhat larger extent. 

There is apparently from 2$ to 3 feet of fairly good gypsite, but below 

that the foreign matter forms too great a proportion of the material 

to allow profitable working. The deposit is overlain by about a foot 

of soil. The stratum covered by the gypsite is a soft sandstone, 

which is in many places very pebbly. The weathering of the sandstone leaves a layer of loose pebbles on the surface, and where gypsite has formed these pebbles are contained in it. ,.;.

A specimen collected by the writer from this deposit was partially 

analyzed by E. C. Sullivan, of the United States Geological Survey's 

chemical laboratory, with results as follows,:

Partial analysis of gypsite from S. % sec. 85, T. 20 S., R. 14 E.

Lime (CaO).......................:......................... 26. 6

Sulphur trioxide (S03 )....................................... 34. 4

Water driven off at 60° C..................................... .5

Water driven off at 300° C.................................... 16.1

Chlorine (Cl)................................................. Trace.

Iron oxide (Fe203 )............................................ 1. 2

This analysis gives an equivalent of 74.1 per cent gyspum. A 

tunnel near the summit of the hill on the west side-shows many narrow veins of crystalline gypsum cutting the sandstone. There are 

small nodules of kaolin from one-half to 2^ inches in diameter along 

one of the bedding planes of the sandstone. These nodules have 

probably not been formed by the kaolinization of granitic pebbles,

as they contain no visible quartz grains. It seems possible that they 

may have been pellets of clay rolled.on an ancient shore line.

Mr. N. L. Palmer, of Coalinga, states that gypsum is to be found 

also in sec. 34, T. 20 S., R. 16 E., about 1 mile south of Stahley 

station on the Southern Pacific Railroad; in sees. 32 and 33, T.. 21 S., 

R. 16 E., 6 or 7 miles southeast of Coalinga; and in sec. 34, T. 20 S., 

R. 14 E., 3 miles west of Coalinga.

' DEPOSITS NEAR DUDLEY, KINGS COUNTY.

About 6 miles southeast of Dudley, in the McLure Valley, or, as 

it is generally known, Sunflower Valley, Kern County, some thin 

deposits of buff gypsite, from 1 foot to 2 feet thick, overlying soft, 

siliceous Tertiary shales, have been prospected to a small extent, 

and have been shown to cover possibly an acre on a low mound in 

the NW. i sec. 15, T. 25 S., R. 18 E. The gypsite is covered with 

8 to 16 inches of soil and is much mixed with shale.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 413 PLATE I

A. "THE OIL BUBBLE" IN THE LOST HILLS SOUTH OF 7ULARE LAKE. 

A mound of gypsum, made by the evaporation of water seeping from the rocks below.

H. GYPSUM DEPOSIT 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF COALINGA.
EFFLORESCENT DEPOSITS. 13

Across a low range of hills of what is known locally as'"porcelain 

shale" gypsite is found on many of the hilltops and ridges. A 

deposit on the property of the Visalia Oil Company, near the middle 

of the W. J sec. 22, T. 25 S., R. 18 E., about 7 miles southeast of 

Dudley, may be taken as an example of the deposits common to this 

locality. The deposit occupies the upper part of the east side of a 

north-south hill through a distance of about a quarter of a mile, 

and its width reaches 300 feet as an extreme, probably averaging 

somewhat over 100 feet. It lies on fine-grained sandstone and 

shales, on both sides of a fossiliferous, limy sandstone carrying 

Ostrea vespertina and Pecten coalingaensis.

The gypsite is buff in color and is hardened for 2 or 3 inches on 

the top, so that when dug it breaks in slabs a foot or more across. 

Below the crust it is so soft that it may be screened to get rid of 

pebbles and fragments of sandstone or shale without crushing. The

deposit is 2 to 3 feet thick, the purer material generally being contained in the upper 2 feet. Sandstone or shale forms a large portion 

of the lower part of the mass, the proportion becoming greater with 

increase of depth and making up the bulk of the lowest part of the 

deposit. Gypsite occurs also on the hills in various other parts of 

the same section.

Mr. Orlando Barton, who lives near by and who has spent much 

time in examining the rocks of this region, states that deposits of 

gypsite occur on the following bodies of land in T. 25 S., R. 18 E., 

of which, owing to limited time, only those described were examined 

by the writer:

Gypsite deposits in T. 25 S., E. 18 E., near Dudley, Kings County, Cal.

Sec. 14, small bed in SE. £. .

Sec. 20, about one-quarter acre in SE. £.

Sec. 21, 10 acres in SE. $.

Sec. 22, 20 acres in SW. i, NW. \, and SE. ±.

Sec. 23, thin; various parts.

Sec. 25, 3 acres in SW. \.

Sec. 26, small amount in NE. £ and NW. £.

Sec. 27, 4 acres in NE. \.

Sec. 28, 30 to 150 feet wide, runs north-south in E. £ of E. ^, the whole length.

Sec. 29, small amount in SW. J; several acres good gypsum in SE. |, reaches

thickness of 4 feet. . 

Sec. 30, small bed good gypsum in southeast corner. 

Sec. 34, small bed good gypsum in northwest corner. 

Sec. 35, good bed 100 feet wide'in SE. J, one-fourth mile long; small bed in

NE. i 

Sec.. 36, small beds in all but NE. i.

Mr. William Taylor, of Dudley, stated to the writer that gypsite 

deposits also exist in the NE. £ sec. 3, T. 26 S., R. 18 E., in Antelope 

Valley, the next large valley south of McLure Valley.
14 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFOKNIA.

LOST HILLS.

In the San Joaquin Valley, a few miles south of Tulare Lake and 

about 25 miles west of Wasco, on the Santa Fe Railway, is a low 

range of hills, running northwest and southeast, probably a continuation of a range somewhat higher and broader, known as the 

Kettleman Hills, which separates the Kettleman Plains from the 

San Joaquin Valley. The Kettleman Hills are said by Arnold and 

Anderson0 to be of anticlinal structure, and it is probable that the 

Lost Hills are formed by the southern extension of the anticline 

which here disappears under the floor of the valley. The rocks in 

place in the Lost Hills are probably a part of the Etchegoin formation, of upper Miocene age.

The country, like the foothills, is exceedingly dry, having an 

average annual rainfall of probably not more than 2 or 3 inches, and 

is even drier than the adjacent hills, the nearest of which are 8 or 

10 miles to the west.

A county road from Wasco, the nearest shipping station, to Antelope Valley passes about 2 miles south of the Lost Hills. A traveler 

approaching the country from this road, when within half a mile or 

more of the hills, may notice gypsite in the piles of dirt thrown from 

holes dug by kangaroo rats and other rodents. In the W. £ sec. 30, 

T.26S.,R.2lE., many such places were seen, and also in the western 

part of sec. 19. At a number of points the writer dug through the 

soil, which was from 6 to 24 inches thick. Below this earth covering 

the gypsite is generally soft- and powdery, and of a creamy buff 

color, though at one or two places it was brownish and granular. It 

was not practicable with the tools at hand to dig to any considerable 

depth, so that the thickness of the gypsite was not determined. 

Mr. Orlando Barton stated that he had at a number of places dug

into the gypsite to a depth of 4 feet without passing through it.

On the tops of the hills there is also a coating of gypsite, at many 

places without the usual covering of soil, which has probably been 

blown off, as the ground is dry and powdery and easily moved by the 

winds, which during a day sometimes pile it in drifts several feet 

deep. At tone place in sec. 19, where a northeast-southwest draw 

cuts through the hill, the gypsum appeared to be from 6 to 8 feet 

thick.

On the south side of the draw, standing on a rather abrupt northern 

slope, is a mound known as "The Oil Bubble." (See PI. II, A.) 

The mound, which is 10 to 15 feet high and about 65 feet in diameter, 

is composed of small crystals of gypsum, most of them less than onequarter inch in length, mixed with enough clay to permit the mass to 

be easily kneaded. This mound also contains a small amount of

oBull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 357,1908, p. 65.
- EFFLORESCENT DEPOSITS. 15

material resembling greatly oxidized asphalt, stained slightly with 

native sulphur. At.the time it was visited the mound was wet and 

sticky, and it is said to remain moist throughout the summer. It is 

reported to give off bubbles of gas, whence the name "Bubble," the 

supposed asphalt suggesting the name "Oil." The mound is formed 

by the evaporation of water carrying gypsum in solution, the clay 

probably being brought to the place by winds. The excessive dryness of the surrounding country makes it seem probable that the 

water comes from a considerable depth, rising through the Tertiary 

gypsiferous sandstones.

On the north side of the draw is a dark, fine-grained sandstone 

cemented by gypsum, of which it carries considerable amounts. It 

dips toward the northeast at a low angle, closely following the contour of the hill, and that it is of Pleistocene age, formed by the cementing of wind-blown sand by gypsum, is suggested, though there

is a strong possibility that it is a phase of the Pliocene sandstones 

met in the Kettleman Hills farther to the northwest.

Above the sandstone lies about 2 feet of gypsite, and this is said 

to extend 6 or 7 'miles northwestward along the hills. If the Lost 

Hills are to be regarded as an extension of the Kettleman Hills anticline from which the upper, nongypsiferous beds have been eroded, 

it seems probable not only that the hills contain other such beds of 

gypsite, but that alongside them, for their whole length, such deposits 

as were noted in sec. 30 will be found. It is not to be supposed that 

these beds will be equally thick or good in all places, and in spots 

the gypsite may be entirely lacking.

The beds in this locality are the most extensive that were seen by 

the writer in California. Whether they will be workable is problematic. At present the nearest shipping point is Wasco, on the Santa 

Fe Railway, 25 miles to the east. Water could probably be obtained 

by boring deep enough almost anywhere in the region. The deposits 

would need careful prospecting to ascertain their thickness and area, 

but this would not be difficult, as it could all be done with a shovel 

or a shovel and mattock. The ground could be easily stripped with 

teams and scrapers and the gypsite loaded into wagons directly from 

the scrapers by erecting a platform under which the wagons could be 

driven.

It seems possible that a railroad may be built along the base of the 

foothills of the Coast Range, in which case transportation would not 

be a serious matter, and if the deposits proved to be of sufficient extent the manufacture of cement plaster might then be undertaken.
16 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

Analyses of gypsum from sec. 30, made by E. C. Sullivan and R. C. 

Wells, of this Survey, are as follows:

Analyses of gypsite from south side of the Lost Hills, Kern County, Cal. 

[Ground quickly to 40-mesh.]

«

Lime (CaO).................................... .........................

Sulphur trioxlde (SOs). ................................................

Chlorine (Cl) ...........................................................

Carbon dioxide (C02). .................................................

Silica (SiOa) - ........................................................

Potassium oxide (KjO) . ...............................................

1.

25.3

35.1

g

16 9

1.1

2.

29.9

42.8

.2

19.3

.3

3.

29.5

40.7

| 19.1

.4

.7

5.3

1.7

1.2

.6

4.

29.9

40.8

19.4

.3

0.1

1.4

2.0

.5

Analyses 1 and2 by E. C. Sullivan; 3 and 4 by R. C. Wells.

The first analysis shows an equivalent of 75.5 per cent of gypsum, 

so that about one-fourth of the material is foreign matter; the second 

sample contains the equivalent of 91.2 per cent, of gypsum. The 

analysis shows a slight excess (0.6 per cent) of calcium sulphate, which 

may indicate the presence of either anhydrite (calcium sulphate not 

combined with water) or partially dehydrated gypsum. The third 

and fourth analyses are fuller and show the- character of the impurities better. The amount of gypsum indicated is nearer the amount 

shown by the second analysis than the first.

DEPOSITS NEAR M'lvITTRICK, KERN COUNTY.

The same Tertiary sandstones and shales that are so prominent 

in the southern part of the Coast Range are als.o the prevailing rocks

near McKittrick, and as w6ulcl therefore be expected gypsite deposits 

are found in many places in this neighborhood.

CALIFORNIA GYPSUM AND MINERAL COMPANY'S DEPOSIT.

This property is located on the north slope of a rather low hill in 

the S. * sec. 21, T. 30 S., R. 22 E., about one-half mile from McKittrick railroad station. The gypsite is overlain by 6 inches to 2£ 

feet of soil and is of a buff color. It has been mined at a number of 

places to a depth of about 2 feet, below which it contains too much 

of the country rock to be profitably worked. The rock beneath the 

gypsite is a fine-grained shale. In places the gypsite is somewhat 

hardened for 2 or 3 inches on the top, but the mineral below that 

can be easily handled with a shovel. Altogether, perhaps 3 or 4 

acres have been exposed.
EFFLORESCENT DEPOSITS. 17

A partial analysis by George Steiger.in the chemical laboratory 

of the United States Geological Survey of a specimen collected by the 

writer was as follows:

Partial analysis of gypsite from deposit one-half mile southeast of McKittrick, Cal.

Lime (CaO).................................................. 31. 05

Sulphur trioxide (S03).. ...................................... 42.19

Water driven off at 60° C...................................... 1.49

Water driven off at 300° C...................................... 17. 80

Chlorine (Cl).................................................. Trace.

Iron oxide (Fe203 ).............................................. .56

This analysis gives an apparent equivalent of 85.2 per cent of 

gypsum. Some hundreds of tons of gypsite for use as land plaster 

had been shipped from the deposit, and there is a small plant on the 

property for the preparation of the material.

ABBOTT & HICKOX DEPOSITS. i

At the time of the writer's visit (January 8,1907) Messrs. Abbott & 

Hickox held a gypsite claim in the NE. £ SW. £ sec. 30, T. 30 S., R. 22 K, 

about 2£ miles southwest of McKittrick. The deposit most worked is 

on the summit of a hill between 50 and 75 feet high. It is about 500 

feet long by 200 feet wide at the widest point and is oval in shape. 

The gypsite is from 2 to 4 feet thick and is overlain by soil that is in 

places. 2 feet thick, although in other places gypsite forms the surface. 

The average covering is probably 10 to 12 inches thick. The gypsite 

is passed through screens running 3 or 4 meshes to the linear inch. 

About 4,000 tons are said to have been shipped from the spot up to the 

time it was visited.

A partial analysis by George Steiger of gypsum from this deposit 

is given below:

Partial analysis of gypsite from deposit near McKittrick, Cal.

Lime (CaO)................................................... 30.32

Sulphur trioxide (S03)........................................ 43. 09

Water driven off at 60° C...................................... .25

Water driven off at 300° C..................................... 19. 75

Chlorine (Cl)..............'...........'........................ Trace.

Iron oxide (Fe2 03)............................................. .34

This gives an equivalent of 92.5 per cent of gypsum. On several 

of the hilltops near at hand the gypsite outcrops were accompanied 

by carbonate of lime, which seemed to be a replacement of the gypsite, and the two are in places more or less mixed. 

11461 Bull. 413 10 '-2
18 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

OTHER DEPOSITS.

Considerable gypsite of character similar to that described above 

occurs in the SE. | sec. 30, and some has been shipped. In places 

it reaches a thickness of 3^ feet.

About 1 mile south of the locality just mentioned, on the north 

side of a small gulch, is a deposit which is 9 feet thick and considerbly hardened, but which does not seem to be of great extent. Parts 

of it are bleached almost white. This deposit also overlies a finegrained shale which is in places much colored by iron oxide. The 

shale is yellowish gray, of low specific gravity, and contains many 

casts of foraminifers. It was carefully examined for diatoms, but 

none were found. The shale contains a very high percentage of 

silica, some calcium sulphate, a little iron oxide, and a very small 

percentage of clay. Borings made about 100 feet from the gulch are 

said to have shown the gypsite to be about 2 feet thick. A number of 

other deposits exist in sees. 28 and 29, T. 30 S. The gypsite and the 

underlying shales are at some places almost of the same color, so that 

it is not easy to tell where one leaves off and the other begins, since 

the gypsite is powdery and sifts down, disguising the appearance of 

the underlying rock. It was reported that on one claim the gypsite 

was 90 to 100 feet thick, but it is probable that the soft underlying 

shale has been supposed to be gypsite, as it does not seem possible, 

from the mode of formation of the gypsite, that it could'have been 

so thick.

At the time of the writer's, visit Mr. H. F. Brinkman, of Pasadena, 

Cal., was examining the deposits to determine their commercial value. 

Mr. Brinkman made the following estimate of the area and thickness 

of gypsite deposits in the neighborhood. The writer had no opportunity of verifying the figures outside of the areas given above.

Gypsum in the McKittrick district.

No.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Section.

' SE. Jsec. 8.

SE. Jsec. 6.

SW. J sec. 6.

NW. £ sec. 14.

SW. i sec. 30.

SE. i sec. 3.

SW. \ sec. 3.

NW. Jsec. 3.

NE. i sec. 3.

NW. i sec. 4.

NE. Jsec. 4.

SE. J sec. 4,

SW. J sec. 4.

SW. i sec. 2.

SE. isec. 2.

NE. Jsec.'l. '

Range.

22 E.

22 E.

22 E.

21 E.

22 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

21 E.

Township.

30 S.

30 S.

30 S.

80S.

SOS.

SOS.

30 S.

30 S.

30 S.

308.

30 S.

SOS.

SOS.

80S.

SOS.

308.

Acres.

2

2

10

2

3

8

10

20

10

10

10

10

10

4

10

10

Thickness.

Feet.

2

2

2

2

2

2-4

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2-3

2-3
EFFLOBESCENT DEPOSITS. 19

According to Mr. Brinkman deposits Nos. 1 and 2 contain about 

4,000 tons and deposit No. 3 about 20,000 tons. Deposit No. 5 

consists of powdery gypsite. No estimate was made of the extent 

of the deposits in sees. 30, 31, and 32, T. 30 S., R. 22 E., or in sec. 

29. That in sec. 5, T. 31 S., R. 22 E., contains about 5 acres, and 

there is a little in sec. 4, T. 31 S., R. 22 E.

Samples of plaster of Paris made by Mr. Brinkman from gypsite 

from different localities in the neighborhood were all of a creamy to 

buff color, varying somewhat in shade, and a number of the shades 

would make attractive tints for wall coverings. The gypsite deposits 

follow the Tertiary sandstones and shales to the southwest, and many 

patches are reported to occur between McKittrick and Midway.

Mr. E. H. Andrews, of Midway, reports gypsite in the following

sections in the area between McKittrick and Midway:

T. 30 S., R. 22 E., sees. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35.

T. 31 S., R. 22 E., sees. 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 34, 35,11. 

T. 32 S., R. 22 E., sees. 2, 2, 3, 11, 12, 6, 7, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 34. 

T. 32 S., R. 24 E., running diagonally from northwest to southeast.

Owing to lack of time the writer was unable to visit these localities.

DEPOSITS NEAll SUNSET.

In the country closely adjacent to Sunset are a number of small 

areas carrying thin deposits of gypsite, associated with shales like 

those found farther north along the Coast Range. None were seen or 

heard of that seemed to be of importance.

DEPOSITS NEAK BAKERSFIELD.

Deposits of gypsite occur on both sides of Cottpnwood Creek, 16 

miles east of Bakersfield. They are reached from Edison, on the 

Southern Pacific Railroad, by following the main road 4£ miles to the 

creek, and then traveling up the creek for 3£ miles. The deposits 

may also be reached from Pampa, from which they are about 5 miles 

distant. The deposits occur on the northeast side of the creek at the 

top of a steep slope, between 50 and 75 feet above the creek bed. A 

more gentle slope rises from the top of the steep bank, and on this 

slope gypsite may be found at a number of places, covering altogether 

several acres. At the edge of the slope the gypsite is 2 to 3 feet thick, 

grading into soft, earthy material below, probably the equivalent of 

the shales over which the gypsite lies in the McKittrick and other districts. The deposit is in the SE. £ SE. I sec. 20, T. 29 S., R. 30 E., 

Mount Diablo base and meridian. A small amount of gypsite was 

shipped from this deposit several years ago for use as a fertilizer.

A number of claims on the southwest side of the creek are held by 

Mr. William Harmon. One of these is in sec. 28, where deposits have 

been opened to a small extent on the top of a hill about 200 feet above
20 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

the creek. The deposits are small and of no great value. In the 

narrow gulch east of the hill there is a deposit of impure, soft, powdery 

gypsite 6 to 8 feet thick, which is exposed for several hundred feet 

along the gulch. Its width and its thickness away from the creek 

are unknown: On the top of the hill east of the gulch, in the NW. | 

sec. 28, there are other gypsite deposits similar to those on the west 

side.

A partial analysis by E. C. Sullivan of a specimen from this deposit 

is given below:

Partial analysis of gypsite from deposit near Pampa, Col.

Lime (CaO)................................................... 28.1

Sulphur trioxide (S03)........................................ 34. 8

Water driven off at 60° C...............................'....... .5

Water driven off at 300° C..................................... 16.0

Chlorine (Cl)................................................. Trace.

Iron oxide (Fe203)...................................;......... .8

The analysis shows an apparent equivalent of 74.8 per cent of 

gypsum. In another gulch in the southeast corner of the NE. \ 

sec. 28, about one-quarter mile east of Mr. Harmon's cabin, gypsite 

from 10 to 2-5 feet thick is exposed on both sides for a distance of 100 

yards. The gypsite is of about the same quality as that in the gulch 

already mentioned.

These gulch deposits are probably formed by the washing down of 

the gypsite from the hills above and are mixed with considerable 

earth. The deposits are about one-quarter mile from the contact of 

the soft Tertiary rocks with old crystalline rocks, which are here 

andalusite schists. Mr. Harmon states that much better deposits 

of gypsite occur near Caliente.

OTHER DEPOSITS IN THE COAST RANGE.

Along the west side and middle of the Coast Range many deposits 

of gypsite that are in all essential respects similar to those on the 

eastern slopes have been reported. They are particularly numerous 

along the east side of Salinas Valley.

The deposits east of Metz and Kings City, most of them in San 

Benito County but a few in Monterey County, have been briefly described in various reports of the California State Mining Bureau. a

SAN BENITO COUNTY.

The following descriptions are taken from a report entitled "Structural and industrial materials of California," published under the 

direction of Lewis E. Aubury, state mineralogist, 1906, pages 286- 

287:

a See bibliography at beginning of this bulletin.
EFFLORESCENT DEPOSITS. 21

In Bitterwater Creek canyon a number of detached gypsum deposits are found, 

running from Lewis Creek, in sec. 5, T. 19 S., R. 10 E., M. D. M., to sec. 17 or 18, T. 

18 S., R. 9 E. The quality of the gypsum differs materially in the various exposures. 

[See also Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 223, 1904, p. 120.]

F. Q. Alvarez, Bitterwater post-office: In sec. 5, T. 19 S., R. 10 E., and sec. 32, 

T.-18 S., R. 10 E., on the east side of the lower Bitterwater. The gypsum lies in 

or in close contact with a belt of serpentines which runs along the east rim of Bitterwater Valley. It is mixed with clay and often of a grayish color; some bowlders 

of white gypsum are, however, found on the surface. Several, years ago some was 

excavated and hauled to San Francisco, but in later years the deposit has been idle.

Mrs. S. Chambers, Bitterwater post-office: In sec. 15, T. 18 S., "R.Q E., on the west 

side of Bitterwater Valley, some gypsum bowlders were excavated some years ago. 

In a well dug near the house a bed of gypsum about 3 feet thick was passed through. 

Three hundred yards northeast of the house some open cuts have exposed two beds 

of a fair quality of gypsum. The country rock is shale, but the gypsum is accompanied 

by a light-gray sandstone containing inclusions of gypsum.

J. F. Dunn, Hollister: On the Topo ranch, in sec. 17 or 18, T. 18 S., R. 9 E., on the 

divide west of Bitterwater Valley, a deposit of gypsum lying in a horizontal bed 

3 to 4 feet thick has been opened for about 100 feet. It has only a solid overburden 

of 2£ to 3 feet, and is underlaid by shale. The gypsum is of fairly good quality. The 

deposit is 12 miles from railroad. [See Thirteenth Rept. California State Min. Bur., 

p. 504.]

J. C. Tully, Bitterwater post-office: In sec. 32, T. 18 S.', R. 10 E. [See Alvarez 

deposit, of which it forms part.]

R. R. Tully, Bitterwater post-office: In sec. 11, T. 18 S., R. 10 E. Some detached 

bodies of grayish-colored gypsum, somewhat mixed with clay.

Estate of T. Williams (deceased), 1003 First street, San Jose: In the southwestern 

part of T. 19 S., R. 12 E., and the northwestern part of T. 17 S., R. 12 E., M. D. M., 

on Silver Creek, indications of gypsum have been found.

CARRIZO PLAIN.o

Gypsite occurs at numerous places on the southwest flank of the 

Temblor Range, immediately east of the Carrizo Plain, from the 

vicinity of sec. 16, T. 31 S., R. 21 E., to the Kern and San Luis 

Obispo county line, near sec. 36, 'T. 32 S., R. 22 E. The deposits 

are of the efflorescent type and most of them are of poor grade. 

They overlie the soft Miocene sandstones exposed on this flank of 

the range. Only assessment work has been done on these deposits. 

The gypsite is of so low a grade that under present costly methods 

of working and lack of adequate and cheap transportation facilities 

it is practically valueless. The locators make no secret of the fact 

that the work is done for the purpose of meeting the assessment 

requirements on their oil claims, so that these occurrences can in 

no sense be considered as actual gypsite prospects.

Plate IV, A, a view taken in sec. 7, T. 32 S., R. 22 E., shows one 

of the many gypsite workings in the Carrizo Plain on which work 

has been done to meet assessment requirements.

» Notes furnished by Ralph Arnold.
22 " GYPSUM DEPOSITS OP CALIFORNIA.

CORONA.

Unimportant amounts of gypsum occur on both sides of Gypsum 

Canyon, about 2 miles south of Corona. The larger deposits, from 

which between 200 and 300 tons have been shipped, are on the east 

side of the canyon, a short distance from its mouth, in a small gulch 

that lies between 50 and 100 feet above the floor .of the canyon. 

The gypsite is at most 4 feet thick, and is overlain by 1 to 2 feet of 

soil. Its color is creamy, like that of the San Joaquin Valley, and 

it grades into the rock below in the same manner. The rock that 

it overlies is andesitic, but is so badly decomposed that its nature 

can not readily be told. Its appearance in the field suggests that 

it may be a tuff. In thin sections it shows considerable iron pyrites, 

together with some calcite, and it is possible that the gypsum is 

derived directly from this rock through the interaction of weathering 

pyrite and plagioclase feldspars. However, close by, on the side 

nearer the mouth of the canyon, are soft sandstones from which the 

gypsite may have come. These sandstones may outcrop above the 

deposit on the hillside, and the gypsum may have been carried to 

its present place by the stream that flows in the gulch in wet weather. 

Near the mouth of the canyon a tunnel run into the west side has 

4 to 5 inches of efflorescent salts on the floor, while on the walls 

there is an inch or more. The efflorescence is composed largely of 

iron sulphate. Other small gypsum deposits are said to occur in 

neighboring canyons.

PERIODIC-LAKE DEPOSITS. 

E. D. JONES DEPOSIT.

The E. D. Jones gypsum deposit is in the Kettleman Plains, Kings 

County, 200 yards north of an old schoolhouse in the NW. £ sec. 

13, T. 24 S., R: 18 E., Mount Diablo base and meridian,® 5£ miles 

by road northeast of Dudley. It is in the flat floor of the valley, 

between half a mile and a mile from the nearest hills on the northeast 

and still farther away from those on the southwest. It presents 

some features that are so much different from the deposits in the neighborhood that it is placed tentatively among the periodic-lake deposits.

An excavation about 30 by 50 feet and 3 feet deep has been made. 

The bottom of the hole is on gypsum, so that the depth of the deposit 

can not be told. The gypsum is said to be found over an area of 80 

acres, although it was seen by the writer only at the excavation. 

The gypsum, which is coarsely granular, is composed of an aggregate 

of small crystals up to one-half or three-fourths of an inch broad, 

is rather firmly coherent, and is overlain by a few inches of soil. 

Between the crystals the spaces are filled with material apparently

a Land description is taken from Thirteenth Ann. Kept. California State Mineralogist, 1896, p. 503.
PERIODIC-LAKE DEPOSITS. 23

less pure. The comparatively large size of the crystals indicates that 

the deposit was laid down in a periodic lake rather than by efflorescence. The presence of considerable quantities of water seems necessary for the formation of gypsum crystals of easily visible size. 

Robert Anderson, of the United States Geological Survey, has informed the writer that in the surrounding hills there seems to be 

evidence that this portion of the Kettleman Plains was at one time 

covered by a lake or an arm of Tulare Lake.

This deposit was worked for land plaster in the early nineties. 

A small mill for grinding was put up, but the wagon haul of nearly 

40 miles to Huron, the nearest railroad point, makes production too 

expensive to be profitable. It is stated that selected samples from 

this deposit contained 94 per cent of gypsum. a A partial analysis 

by E. C. Sullivan of a specimen collected by the writer was as follows:

Partial analysis of gypsum from Kettleman Plains, California.

Lime(CaO)................................................... 19.1

Sulphur trioxide (S03 )....................................... 27. 3

Water driven off at 60° C..................................... .8

Water driven off at 300° C.................................... 15. 3

Chlorine (Cl).................................................. Trace.

Iron oxide (Fe203 )............................................ 1.1

This analysis gives an equivalent of only 59.2 per cent of gypsum. 

The specimen collected was thought to be representative, but hand 

sampling is almost invariably uncertain, owing to the small size of the 

specimen, to the narrow area from which it is taken, and to vagaries 

connected with the personal equation of the collector. In order to 

get reliable results a sample taken from such a deposit must be very 

large, and must be collected with some sort of system that will enable 

the sampler to reach all available parts of the deposit, and the sample 

must then be carefully mixed and quartered to a convenient size for 

analysis. It is therefore entirely probable that either or both of the 

specimens analyzed may give a wrong impression of the deposit. 

They are both <of value, however, in giving some idea of the purity 

of at least portions of the gypsum.

KERN LAKE GYPSITE DEPOSIT.

In what was once the bed of Kern Lake, but is now a part of a large 

farm belonging to the Kern County Land Company, gypsite has been 

exposed'in sees. 26 and 27, T. 32 S., R. 27 E., Mount Diablo base and 

meridian, by an irrigating ditch that runs through the deposit for 

about three-quarters of a mile along the line between the north and 

south halves of the sections. The point is about 20 miles southwest 

of Bakersfield, but only 5 miles from the railroad station known as

o Thirteenth Kept. State Mineralogist California.
24 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

"Conner." Gypsum is also reported from a point one-half mile 

farther south, but none has been found nearer the center of the old 

lake, a point west of this locality. The ditch'is 2| feet deep, and 

gypsite forms its bottom and sides for a large part of the distance 

mentioned. The soil covering the gypsite is thin and very light and 

porous when dry. Over a large part of the known area the gypsum 

is less than a foot below the surface. The gypsite is creamy in color, 

finely granular, and in places is very free from dirt and foreign 

matter. Water from the irrigating ditch has cut channels from 8 

inches to more than a foot in diameter through the gypsite, and they 

can be followed more than 50 feet on each side by the caving of the 

earth. Near the ditch the gypsite is reported to be 4 feet thick. 

The composition of a picked sample is shown by the following analysis 

by E. C. Sullivan, of the United States Geological Survey:

Analysis of gypsum from old bed of Kern Lake.

Lime(CaO).................................................... 33.2

Sulphur trioxide (S03 )........................................ 47. 3

Water driven off at 60° C.......................................None.

Water driven off at 300° C..................................... 19. 7

Iron oxide (Pe203 )............................................. .1

The lime and sulphuric anhydride are both too high for pure 

gypsum, which contains 32.6 and 46.5 per cent, respectively, while 

the water is low (20.9 per cent in pure gypsum). Analysis apparently .shows the presence of nearly 6 per cent of anhydrite (anhydrous 

calcium sulphate), which would leave about 94.3 per cent of gypsum. 

It is possible, however, that instead of containing anhydrite tjie 

material may include some partially dehydrated gypsum which would

in no way be hurtful to plaster manufactured from it. It is remarkably free from other impurities. At some other points the gypsite 

is more or less mixed with earth. The lake received its drainage 

from the Tehachapi Mountains, on the south, which are composed 

largely of Tertiary rocks, presumably similar to those along the Coast 

Range and also to the rocks a few miles farther east. (See p. 6.) 

These rocks are highly gypsiferous, so that considerable amounts of 

gypsum would be carried into the lake, which was of great periodic 

variation in size owing to the unequal distribution of rainfall from 

season to season and from year to year, though it was at all times 

shallow. The saturation point for gypsum would possibly never be 

reached by the lake, even when the level of the water was near or 

below the surface of the soil, which, owing to its great porosity, will 

hold large quantities of water.

The deposition of gypsum from such a lake is apparently much 

the same phenomenon as the deposition of gypsite from rocks by 

the evaporation of water drawn to the surface by capillarity. The
PERIODIC-LAKE DEPOSITS. 25

shallow water near the shore line would be more highly saturated 

with gypsum than the deeper water, as the portion evaporated would 

be a much larger proportion of the mass. The hot sun would at the 

same time evaporate great quantities of water from the shore itself, 

which is formed of fine, porous silt. The water would come, at least 

in part, from the already somewhat concentrated water along the 

edge of the lake, and as the water evaporated gypsum would be left 

behind in crystalline form. The flow of water once established would 

continue until capillary attraction could no longer lift the water from 

the depth to which it had sunk. In the absence of definite data, it 

may be supposed that the longer established channels by which the 

water escaped into the atmosphere would act much more rapidly 

than the newer ones that were allowed to form by the retreating 

shore line; that there would therefore be a movement of the water 

toward the side; and that there would be deposits of gypsite under 

certain, areas from which evaporation was greatest and near which 

the shore most often lay. In the middle of the lake, where water 

stood oftenest and longest, probably no considerable deposits would 

form, as they would be again dissolved by floods in succeeding years. 

It is probable that gypsite will be found at a number of points 

around the old medial shore of the lake that is, around the shore 

which was its normal edge between the highest and lowest stages. 

If the deposits are of sufficient extent they would form a basis for 

the profitable manufacture of hard plaster, particularly as much of 

the land is not under cultivation.

BUENA VISTA LAKE.

Bueria Vista Lake lies 5 or 6 miles west of the Kern Lake gypsum 

deposit, in the same shallow depression. A cut for the Sunset Railroad as it turns to the southwest to follow the shore of the lake 

exposes gypsite similar in appearance to that of Kern Lake. Nothing is known of its extent or thickness.

AMBOY.

Amboy, a station on the Santa Fe Railway in the Mohave Desert, 

San Bernardino County, about 225 miles from Los Angeles, is on the 

shore of a periodic lake, along the north side of which the railway 

extends'in an east-west direction for 6 or 8 miles. The gypsum 

deposits are in the lake bed, probably stretching nearly around it. 

This lake bed is of a type common in the Mohave Desert and is a 

number of mile's in extent. The surface soil is salty, so that almost 

no vegetation grows on it. The lake receives drainage from mountains on both the north and the south, but it is rarely that sufficient 

rain.falls in the mountains, to furnish the streams enough, water to 

cover the surface of the dry bed. At the time of visit (January 22,
26 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

1907) a strong brine was reached in the lake bed at a depth of about 

8 feet.

A small volcano rises 3 miles west of the lake, and from this streams 

of basaltic lava have run over the lake bed. In the bays between 

these flows gypsum is found throughout the area, and the winds have 

blown it up into small drifts across the tongues of lava. Over a 

portion of the area a light volcanic ash forms the surface soil, a foot 

or more thick, and below this soil gypsum is found to a depth of 6 

to 8 feet, at which point the water level is reached. It is not known 

how far the gypsum may extend below water level. Many prospect 

holes have been dug along the north and east shores of the lake and 

gypsum was found only within about half a mile or a mile of the 

shore line.

The gypsum varies considerably in character, both longitudinally 

and vertically. In many places the gypsum nearest the surface is 

rather dirty, while below that is a stratum, 14 inches to 2 feet thick, 

of clean, white granular gypsum. In places the gypsum is cemented 

into a clean, spongy mass, which has little solidity but can be broken 

out in chunks a foot or more in diameter. At other places the 

gypsum crystals 'reach an inch or more in breadth but are thin in 

proportion. There is also considerable variation in the amount of 

dirt present. It is reported that gypsum occurs on the south side 

of the lake bed, and the probability is that the deposits will be found 

along a considerable proportion of its circumference. The character 

of the rocks in the hills is unknown, but there are crystalline rocks 

on both sides and more than likely young sedimentary rocks also.

In a prospect hole 2 miles east of Amboy no water appeared at a 

depth of 9^ feet and the gypsum does not have the salty taste which 

is common to the gypsum on the west side of the lake. Gypsum is 

found all the way to the bottom. The uppermost 2 feet is rather 

dirty. Below this is 2 feet of much cleaner material, while the lower 

4£ feet is iron stained and dirty. The gypsum is coarse grained, the 

crystals reaching one-fourth inch across, and in general is loose but 

includes some hard layers and seams.

A sample of the lower 4£ feet of the gypsum exposed in the hole 

was taken by cutting a narrow strip from the top to the bottom of 

the stratum. A partial analysis of the sample by George Steiger 

is as follows:

Partial analysis of gypsum from a point 2 miles east of Amboy, Cal.

Lime(CaO)..................................,.................. 28.1

Sulphur trioxide(S08 )........................................... 34.9

Water driven off at 60° C..'...................................... .8

Water driven off at 300° C...................................... 15. 2

Chlorine (Cl).................................................. 1. 4

Iron oxide (Fe203 )........;..................................... 1.0
PERIODIC-LAKE DEPOSITS. 27

The water driven off at 300° C. is sufficient to hydrate a total of 

72.7 per cent of gypsum. It is probable, however, that the rest of the 

calcium sulphate present, amounting to nearly 2 per cent, represents 

a larger portion of gypsum partly dehydrated by the fierce desert 

sun. Some explanation of this action is given under the next 

analysis. At many places on the lake bed the gypsum is whitened 

as if it had been put on a hot stove. In the sample 'analyzed there 

is 3.6 per cent of lime, which is probably in the form of carbonate,, 

and a noticeable amount of chlorine, equivalent to 2.3 per cent of 

salt.

The Pacific Cement Plaster Company is operating on the west side 

of the lake, and" has erected a mill at Amboy. This company is 

drawing its supply of gypsum from a point about 2 miles south of the 

mill. The surface is stripped by horse scrapers to a depth of about

a foot, and the gypsum is then scraped up to a platform, through 

which it is dumped into tram cars below. (See PI. Ill, A.) These 

are then hauled by.team to the mill. The deposit is worked down 

to water level, a depth at this point of somewhat less than 8 feet. 

The level will undoubtedly vary from time to time. At this depth 

the gypsum is apparently of as good or better quality than at points 

above.

A partial analysis of a selected .sample by George Steiger was as 

follows:

Partial analysis of gypsum from deposit 2 miles southwest of Amboy, Cal.

Lime (CaO)...........................^......................... 32.7

Sulphur trioxide (S03 )........................................... 44. 7

Water driven off at 60° C..........'............................. .2

Water driven off at 300° C...................................... 19. 5

Chlorine (Cl) .................................................. .13

Iron oxide (Fe2 03 )............................................... .2

The water driven off at 60° C. is considered as hygroscopic. That 

driven off at 300° C. (19.5 per cent) is sufficient to hydrate fully 92.8 

per cent of gypsum. Nominally this would leave 2.7 per cent of 

anhydrite, but it is probable that this is partially hydrated calcium 

sulphate, while a portion of the 92.8 per cent is also only partially 

hydrated, so that the sum of the two, 95.5 per cent, more nearly 

represents the amount available for plaster making. There is a 

small amount of lime present, probably as calcium carbonate, in 

which form it would amount to 2.5 per cent. The gypsum from the 

top to the bottom of the deposit would probably not be as pure as 

this analysis would indicate.

There is undoubtedly enough gypsum in sight to run several such 

mills as that now working for many years. Two salt works have 

been started on the lake bed a few miles east of Amboy to make use 

of the heavy brine.
28 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFOKNlA. 

OTHER LAKE-BED DEPOSITS.

Similar periodic-lake deposits of gypsum are said to exist south of 

Danby, on the Santa Fe Railway, and near Kelso, on the San Pedro, 

Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. Similar deposits are also 

reported in the Colorado Desert.

INTERBEDDED DEPOSITS. 

SANTA BARBARA CREEK.

Deposits of alabaster described as 20 to 30 feet thick and traceable 

across the country for many miles were visited on the south side of 

an eastern branch of Santa Barbara Creek 32 miles southwest of 

McKittrick. The location of the claim was given as the SE. £ sec. 34, 

T. 9 N., R. 25 W., San Bernardino base and meridian. The outcrop 

occupies the end of a low point and is about 50 to 75 feet long by 20 

to 25 feet broad and probably somewhat less in thickness. It has an 

apparent strike along the face of the hill, but a prospect tunnel 

driven to a length of 40 feet failed to find gypsum in other than thin 

veins, the largest of which is about 4 inches thick. The outcrop is 

composed of finely crystalline material, some of which may be classed 

as alabaster. It is in irregular masses, the largest of which is probably 

not over 2 feet long, and the clear material is in still smaller pieces. 

There are small pieces of beautiful pink and clear white material, 

though only a part of it is hard enough to be useful as alabaster. It 

occurs in a soft, clayey sandstone, which is probably Tertiary in age.

FRENCH POINT.

In sec. 16, T. 8 N., R. 24 W., San Bernardino base and meridian, 

on the east side of Cuyama River, 6 miles above the mouth of Santa 

Barbara Canyon, is a hill known as French Point, which is described as being 200 to 250 feet above the river. A deposit of alabaster is reported to occur near the top of the hill, from which blocks 

a yard square and 10 inches thick are said to have been taken. An 

analysis shows that it contains over 90 per cent of gypsum. The 

locality is 25 miles from Sunset.

POINT SAL.

On Point Sal, Santa Barbara County, gypsum was mined for 

several years previous to and including 1889, at a number, of points 

1 to 2 miles from the coast. Of the former workings there now 

remain only caved open cuts and tunnels. The rocks are clayey 

shales only slightly consolidated, are overlain and underlain by 

harder rocks, and appear to be similar to those on Santa Barbara 

Creek, mentioned above. The gypsum-bearing rocks of Point Sal 

are of Miocene age. The gypsum in sight appears to be similar to 

that described near Santa Barbara Canyon, and is apparently not
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 413 PLATE I

A. GYPSUM DEPOSITS IN THE BED OF A PERIODIC LAKE AT AMBOY, 

The gypsum is dragged onto the platform by a horse scraper and dumped into the tram cars beneath.

JS. GYPSITE DEPOSIT 9 FEET THICK ON THE nno

PALMDALE.

_L 1 1 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
INTERBEDDED DEPOSITS. 29

in continuous beds, as it can not be traced into the gulches. Almost 

none is to be seen on the surface, and the beds are. probably of little 

or no economic value. From 10 to 20 carloads of gypsum remain 

unshipped on the seashore. The gypsum is well solidified and of 

rather fine grain, containing considerable clay, although a small 

part is white in color.

CASTAIC.

Gypsum was mined during 1904 and 1905 by the Fire Pulp Plaster 

Company from a deposit in Charley Canyon, 12 miles north of Castaic, 

a station on the Southern Pacific Railroad in Los Angeles County. 

It is said to occur in a vein, 2 to 4 feet wide, in a soft, much jointed 

shale. The vein runs at about a right angle to the face of the hill, 

but was found too expensive to work, as the road in the canyon 

washed out after each heavy rain. The gypsum is said to be white,

occasionally pink, in color and of excellent quality.

PALMDALE.

At Palmdale, Los Angeles County, a station on the Southern 

Pacific Railroad 69 miles north of Los Angeles, both efflorescent

FIGURE 2. Idealised section across hills 1£ miles southwest of Palmdale, Cal.. showing relations 

of gypsite and gypsum to the country rock.

and interbedded gypsum deposits are found, about 1£ miles southwest of the railroad, on a low ridge along which runs the line surveyed for the canal to bring water from Owens River to Los Angeles. 

A considerably decomposed granite occupies a portion of the outer 

side of the ridge, and on it in places is a basal conglomerate containing large bowlders of granite. Over this is a series of gypsiferous 

soft sandstones and shales. With the shales thin strata of gypsum 

are interbedded, and on these sediments gypsite has formed in 

deposits similar to those farther north, along the Coast Range. The 

gypsum deposits occur through a length of about a mile or a mile 

and a half along the top and sides of the ridge. In places they have 

been washed down the sides of the hill, so that they cover the granite 

below. The accompanying sketch (fig. 2) shows the geologic relations. Two companies, the Fire Pulp Plaster Company and the 

Alpine Plaster Company, are working the deposits, and each has a. 

plaster mill at Palmdale, to which gypsum is hauled in wagons.
30 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

The gypsite is 2 to 10 feet thick and is irregular in distribution 

and purity. At a number of places it occurs in small valleys in 

which it has been deposited by freshets that brought it down from 

the low hills above. In places it is much stained with iron, which 

has been brought in since the deposition of the gypsite, as is shown 

by stains following watercourses through the gypsite. The gypsite 

is ordinarily overlain by 6 inches to 1 foot of dirt, and excavations 

from which it is removed cover from a few hundred square feet to 

an acre or more in extent. The thickest deposits are on the brows 

of spurs of the main hill, .where they reach a thickness of 9 feet. 

(See PL III, B.} The gypsite is creamy white in color.

A partial analysis by George Steiger of a specimen from one of 

these deposits which was being worked February 1, 1907, gave the 

following result :

Partial analysis of gypsite from Alpine Plaster Company's deposit, Palmdale, Col.

^Q}. ................................................... 32.8

Sulphur trioxide (S03 ) .......................................... 45. 3

Water driven off at 60° C. ..................................... .1

Water driven off at 300° C. .................................... 20. 5

Chlorine (Cl) .................................................. .06

Iron oxide (Fe2 03 ). . ............................................ .30

This is apparently equivalent to about 77.3 per cent gypsum. 

The interbedded gypsum deposits also are worked by the Fire Pulp 

Plaster Company. The beds are not at all uniform in the quantity 

of gypsum carried and can be worked only in places. The clip is 

uneven, but is about 45° W. The gypsum strata reach in places a 

thickness of 3 or 4 inches, and all contain more or less clay. (See 

PL IV, B.) The rock is shot down with dynamite and then handled

with forks to separate the gypsum from the clay. Some hand 

picking is also necessary.

A piece of gypsum from one of the strata was partially analyzed 

by George Steiger, with the following result :

Partial analysis of rock gypsum from Palmdale, Col.

......... ......................................... 27.5

Sulphur trioxide (S03 ). . ......................................:. 33. 5

Water driven off at 60° C... ................................... .8

Water driven off at 300° C. .................................... 15. 6

Chlorine (Cl) .................................................. Trace.

Iron oxide (Fe203 )......... .................................... 1. 3

The specimen apparently carries 72.1 per cent of gypsum.

Similar beds outcrop at a point about 1-^ miles northwest of the 

workings just described. They have been worked to a certain extent 

and a face 25 feet high and 50 feet broad is exposed in an excavation 

in the side of the hill. The beds here dip northeastward. Other
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 413 PLATE IV

A. VIEW OF THE GYPSITE WORKINGS IN SEC. 7, T. 32 S., R. 22 E., ON THE CARRIZO PLAIN. 

Done to meet assessment requirements on supposed oil land. Photograph by Ralph Arnold.

B, GYPSUM INTERBEDDED WITH CLAY SHALES U MILES SOUTHWEST OF PALMDALE. 

.;,-,. . - The whiter strata are gypsum. . .--
SUMMAEY. 31

deposits of gypsum are said to occur in the higher hills 6 or 7 miles 

south of Palmdale. Similar interbedded gypsum deposits are reported to occur at Lang, southwest of Palmdale, and the deposits 

at Castaic are said to be in the same rocks.

PALEN MOUNTAINS.

Extensive deposits of gypsum occur in the Palen Mountains between 

the Colorado and Mohave deserts, northern Riverside County, Cal. 

At present they are of no economic importance, being 50 miles from 

Parker and 60 miles from Danby, both on the Santa Fe Railway, and 

70 miles from Mecca, on the Southern Pacific Railroad. The latter is 

the common way of approach. The new cut-off of the Santa Fe from 

Parker to Bengal will, however, probably pass within about 15 miles 

of the deposits.

The gypsum is very pure, occurring in extensive layers interbedded 

with limestone. Most of it is finely crystalline and compact and varies in color from transparent white to slightly reddish. 4. small percentage of the material is alabaster, finely granular, snow-white in 

color, and sufficiently compact for ornamental purposes. This material 

occurs in layers and lenses in the crystalline gypsum.

The gypsum beds range in thickness up to several hundred feet, 

with little or no interbedded limestone; the entire limestone-gypsum 

series is probably several thousand feet in thickness. In places the 

gypsum is the predominant formation, but elsewhere the limestone is 

by far the most abundant.

The gypsum-limestone belt is roughty about 3 miles long and from 

one-half mile to 1£ miles wide. It runs across the Palen Mountains in a 

general east-west direction, disappearing under unconsolidated desert 

deposits on both sides. It is bounded on the north by a great mass of 

granite and on the south by quartzites and shales, with intrusive 

igneous rocks of several varieties. The g}^psum beds are largest and 

most abundant in the southern part of the belt. The strike of the beds 

varies between east-west and northeast-south west, while the dip is at 

varying angles to the north.

A dark igneous rock occurs abundantly as an intrusive within the 

gypsum-limestone area, being especially abundant in the northern half 

of the belt. It cuts the gypsum beds more commonly than the limestone because of their softer nature. On account of this fact many of 

the gypsum beds are locally so intricately intermixed with igneous 

rock as to render them almost valueless. However, large portions of 

the area are free from these intrusives.

MARIA MOUNTAINS.

The gypsum-limestone series of the Palen Mountains reappears to 

the east from under the desert deposits and occurs throughout the 

extent of the Maria Mountains. In the western part of these moun-
32 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

tains limestone is predominant, but in the central portion gypsum 

deposits of even greater extent than those in the Palen Mountains are 

reported to occur.

MECCA.

In the Colorado Desert, 12 miles east of Mecca, are deposits of rock 

gypsum about the extent and purity of which reports differ considerably. Specimens seen and information obtained from various 

sources indicate that the occurrence is similar to that at Palmdale.

OTHER DEPOSITS.

At many places in the Colorado Desert the Miocene rocks carry 

interbedded strata of gypsum, which, however, are generally too thin 

to be of economic value.3

SUMMARY AND GENERAL REMARKS.

The gypsum deposits of the State may be divided into four classes 

(1) efflorescent deposits; (2) periodic-lake deposits; (3) interbedded 

deposits; (4) selenite, or crystallized gypsum veins. Of these all 

except the fourth class the veins may locally be of value.

The efflorescent deposits are widely spread over the Coast Range 

and Tehachapi Mountains from San Benito to Los Angeles counties. 

They overlie a variety of Tertiary sediments, fine and coarse sandstones, and siliceous shales. In general they are of little or no value, 

but locally, where transportation is not too difficult, the deposits may 

be workable, as at Palmdale.

At a number of places visited claims on such deposits were nominally being held for the gypsum upon them. The gypsum at many 

deposits can be of no value until transportation is very much cheaper 

than it is now or is likely to be, and that at other deposits will never 

be of value. Many a claim owner will freely admit that he is really 

holding the claim for oil, but that under the existing laws he believes 

there is no legal way of holding an oil claim against jumpers until it 

can be prospected, no matter what expenditure of time and money is 

made upon it, while if it is taken up as a gypsum claim it may be held 

until a patent is obtainable' by doing the annual assessment work.

Efflorescent deposits are formed by the evaporation of the water 

contained in porous gypsiferous rocks, which leaves its load of gypsum 

at the place where vaporization has proceeded to a point at which 

gypsum is precipitated through supersaturation.

The periodic-lake deposits are found in the San Joaquin Valley, the 

Mohave Desert, and probably in the Colorado Desert. The large 

deposit at Amboy is being exploited, and prospecting may show 

others to be of value also.- In this and other desert lake beds the

a Communicated by W. C. Mendenhall.
ERRORS IN THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF GYPSUM. 33

waters are briny, but at Kern and Buena Vista lakes gypsum has been 

deposited from comparatively fresh waters. In the desert lakes 

gypsum is probably precipitated through supersaturation brought 

about by evaporation, but in the fresh-water lakes the gypsum is 

deposited just outside the normal shore line by the evaporation of 

water from the soil, the deposit being formed similarly to the efflorescent deposits on rocks, the soil drawing its supply of water from 

the somewhat concentrated solution along the shore of the lake.

Practically all the efflorescent and lake deposits except those in the 

briny lakes are covered by soil. From those that are not thus covered the soil seems to have been removed by wind or other agencies. 

The soil is thought to be not necessarily of later deposition, but to be 

older than or contemporary with the gypsite deposits. The summer 

heat is very great in all the localities and it is probable that the moisture drawn from the rocks and soil by the sun is vaporized at a depth 

of several inches below the surface, the depth varying with the locality, 

or at least it is vaporized sufficiently to precipitate the gypsum before 

it reaches the surface.

Interbedded deposits are found in Miocene clayey sediments at 

many places from the. middle of Los Angeles County southward along 

the Colorado Desert, and at a few places northward. Locally these 

deposits may be workable, but they are generally lean. Interbedded 

deposits in the Palen Mountains are of unknown age and are reported 

to be of excellent quality and considerable size. Important veins of 

selenite are not known at any place in the State.

NOTE ON ERRORS IN THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF

GYPSUM.

By GEORGE STEIGER.

Some difficulty was experienced with the determinations of water 

in the chemical analyses of gypsum made in connection with the foregoing work,

, As is the custom in the chemical laboratory of the United States 

Geological Survey, the specimens were prepared for analysis by long 

grinding, to bring the materials to a very fine state of division. The 

water content in several specimens was so low as to throw doubt on 

the determinations; consequently the figures were checked by the 

estimation of water on the unground material. The new figures were 

several per cent higher than those previously found.

, Some experiments were then made on a sample of pure selenite, and 

on one of very pure massive gypsum, each of which contained the 

theoretical percentage of water. The results proved to be of sufficient interest to warrant their being noted in connection with the 

present paper, as they go to show the totally fallacious results which 

11461 Bull. 413 10 3
34 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

might be reported in an analysis of gypsum if proper attention is not 

paid to the preparation of the sample. Fine grinding of any rock in 

preparing the sample for chemical analysis is liable to cause serious 

error in the determination of water, though usually not to the extent 

of the one in question.0

The selenite was ground in a mechanical grinder and the water content was determined from time to time by heating a gram portion to a 

temperature of 300° or 400° C. The extent of rehydration of this 

material which had been ground and heated was then determined by 

allowing it to stand in a loosely covered crucible for various lengths 

of time. For lack of time the rehydration of the ground material 

before heating was, unfortunately, not determined.

TABLE 1. Extent of rehydration of ground and heated gypsum by exposure to air.

Tune 

ground.

Hours.

5

10

15

20

30

49

Content of 

water.

Per cer.t.

16. (.5

12. 57 .

10.25

7.74

C.95

4.11

Air 

slacked.

 Days.

2

5

8

16

3

6

14

3

11

13

6

8

Water reabsorbed.

Per cent.

1.53

1.47

1.47

1.59

1.70

1.74

1.62

2.15

1.96

2.02

1.91

1.93

Potilitzin and Van't Hoff hold that "soluble anhydrite" will unite 

with water when exposed to ordinary air in such quantity as to form 

the half hydrate (CaS04 .|H20) .and that at this point the hydration 

will cease. Cloez determined the quantity of water absorbed by soluble anhydrite to be 8 per cent, which is slightly in excess of the amount 

required to form the half hydrate, viz, 6.2 per cent.

W. A. Davis 6 has. shown the work of Cloez to be correct, but if the 

product is then exposed to dry air it .will lose water to such an extent 

as to leave a resulting material containing water closely approximating the amount required for the half hydrate. From these data it 

may be concluded that for every 1 per cent of rehydration which has 

taken place, as shown in column headed "Water reabsorbed," 15.1 

percent of "soluble anhydrite" was present, the remainder having 

been there in the nonsetting condition.

Results of the same order were obtained from the sample of massive 

gypsum, though this was not ground so long as the selenite.

a Hillebrand, W. F., The influence of fine grinding on the water andferrous-iron content of minerals and 

roots: Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 30, No. 7, p. 1120. 

6 Jour. Soc. Chem. Ind., vol. 26, No. 13, p. 727.
ERRORS IN THE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF GYPSUM. 35

The following table is given to show the extent to which the dehydration due to grinding might affect the results of the chemical 

analysis of a commercial gypsum:

TABLE 2. Extent to which dehydration due to grinding may affect analyses of gypsum.

Water in

coarse

ground.

15. GO

20.45

15.15

19.48

17.80

19.73

Water in

fine

ground.

9.78

16.12

9.90

19.90

9.19 . 19.86

Difference.

5.82

4.33

5.25

- .42

8.61

.13

The material used for the determinations contained in the first 

column was crushed in a mortar only to a rather coarse powder; no 

grinding motion was used. These figures represent the true percentages of water held by the impure gypsums. In the second column 

will be found the percentages of water retained after continued grinding of fresh portions of the same specimens, and in the third column 

the errors caused by the long grinding.

Standard methods were used for the determination of CaO, S03 , 

etc., with the usual precautions. No difficulties were experienced.

As stated by Van't Hoff, if the dehydration of gypsum takes place 

below 107° C. anhydrite is formed without going through the halfhydrate stage. If the crude gypsums referred to in the earlier part of 

this bulletin were formed by the dehydration of the dihydrate by the 

action of the desert sun, and if Van't Hoff's conclusions are to be 

accepted, we might expect to find no half hydrate, but only the 

original dihydrate and anhydrite. W. A. Davis, however, shows by 

experiments that dehydration takes place in two stages, the half 

hydrate being an intermediate product. If this theory is accepted, 

all three forms may be present.

Le Chatelier 0 showed that at 155° C. the dehydration is incomplete, 

the half hydrate only being formed at this temperature. He states 

that the reduction to anhydrite requires a temperature of at least 

163° C. Lacroix 6 claims that gypsum can be completely dehydrated 

at 80° C., while Shenstone and Cundall 6 observed that the water may 

be entirely driven off at 70° C.

The allotropic forms in which these compounds may occur, their 

relations one with another, and the contradictory results obtained by 

numerous experimenters, together with the unknown conditions 

under which the dehydration or deposition of the crude gypsums referred to took place, throw doubt on any conclusions that would be

n Experimental records on the constitution of hydraulic mortar. 

& Jour. Soc. Chem. Ind., vol. 36, p. 735.
36 GYPSUM DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

drawn from an ordinary chemical analysis as to the amount of plaster 

a particular specimen might yield.

In crude gypsums that have been produced by natural processes 

under circumstances which are not fully known, either by the dehydration of the dihydrate or by direct deposition in the partly hydrated 

state, we would expect to find mixtures containing the dihydrate, the 

half hydrate, and the anhydrite, the last being partly in the soluble and 

partly in the nonsetting form. From the bulk analysis of such material it is not possible to calculate the proportions of these compounds. All that can be done is to indicate the minimum quantity of 

plaster that might be produced by combining the entire amount of 

water (about 100° C.) a to the dihydrate, providing the material contains sufficient calcium sulphate.

Here again false conclusions may sometimes be drawn, for many 

crude gypsums contain admixed clay or other hydrated materials. In 

case impurities of this character are present the amount of plaster the 

sample will yield, as shown by the above calculation, will appear too 

high. On the other hand, if the partly dehydrated material contains 

a quantity of the half hydrate or soluble anhydrite, the figures will be 

too low, as both of these forms are capable of producing plaster.

It may be that special determinations can be made to throw light 

on the ratios of these forms, but time has prevented such work in 

connection with the foregoing analyses.

a See Clarke, F. W., The data of geochemistry: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 330,1908, pp. 178,199,494.
SURVEY PUBLICATIONS ON GYPSUM AND PLASTERS,

The more important publications of the United States Geological 

Survey on gypsum and plasters are included in the following list. 

These publications, except those to which a price is affixed, can be 

obtained free by applying to the Director, United States Geological 

Survey, Washington, D. C. The priced publications may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing 

Office, Washington, D. C.

ADAMS, G. I., and others. Gypsum deposits of the United States. Bulletin 

No. 223. 123 pp. 1904. 25c.

BOUTWELL, J. M. Rock gypsum at Nephi, Utah. In Bulletin No. 225, pp. 483-487. 

1904. 35c.

BURCHARD, E. F. Gypsum and gypsum products. In Mineral Resources U. S. 

for 1906, pp. 1069-1078. 1907. 50c.

 Gypsum. In Mineral Resources U. S. for 1907, pt. 2, pp. 643-650. 1908.

 » Gypsum. In Mineral Resources U. S. for 1908, pt. 2, pp. 621-628. 1909.

DARTON, N. H., and SIEBENTHAL, C. E. Geology and mineral resources of the 

Laramie Basin, Wyoming; a preliminary report. Bulletin No. 364. 1909.

ECKEL, E. C. Salt and gypsum deposits of southwestern Virginia. In Bulletin 

No. 213, pp. 406-416. 1903. 25c.

 Gypsum and gypsum products. In Mineral Resources U. S. for 1905, pp. 

1105-1115. 1906. $1.

ORTON, E. Gypsum or land plaster in Ohio. In Mineral Resources U. S. for 1887, 

pp. 506-601. 1888. 50c.

RICHARDSON, G. B. Salt, gypsum, and petroleum in trans-Pecos Texas. In Bulletin No. 260, pp. 573-585. 1905. 40c.

SHALER, M. K. Gypsum in northwestern New Mexico. In Bulletin No. 315, pp. 

260-265. 1907.

SIEBENTHAL, C. E. Gypsum of the Uncompahgre region, Colorado. In Bulletin 

No. 285, pp. 401-403. 1906. 60c.

 Gypsum deposits of the Laramie district, Wyoming. In Bulletin No. 285, 

pp. 404-405. 1906. 60c.

 (See also Darton, N. H., and Siebenthal, C. E.)

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