Page 148 - 1915, Springs of CA.

136 SPRINGS OF CALIFORNIA.
line that, if extended southeastward, would pass 8 miles north of the
Mono Basin Warm Springs (Mono 8, p. 145).
BENTON HOT SPBING (MONO 12).
About 300 yards northwest of the store and post office at Ben ton, at
the base of slopes that border an area of meadowland, is a spring that
forms a shallow pool approximately 10 feet in diameter in which the
water has an observed temperature of 135°.1 It has furnished a sup-
ply of water for the town for domestic and irrigation uses since the
sixties, and in the early days it also furnished power for a small stamp
mill. Its discharge is approximately 400 gallons a minute. The
water as it rises effervesces with a gas that is probably carbon dioxide.
A small amount of an efflorescent salt probably Epsom salt forms
near the margin of the pool. A quantitative analysis of the water
is not at hand, but the total amount of solids in solution has been given
as 260 parts per million.2
The surrounding region is mainly granitic, but the slopes immedi-
ately north of the springs are of white volcanic ash or tuff that con-
tains rounded lava gravel. This material lies nearly horizontal on
weathered gray granite. In a canyon half a mile west of the spring
are numerous bands of dark basaltic material, up to 2 feet in thick-
ness, that are, however, considered to be inclusions and not intru-
sions in the granite. The ultimate association of lava with the gran-
ite, both of the tuff and the inclusions, suggests that here again the
lava offers an explanation for the existence of the spring and also for
the quantities of carbon dioxide that rise with the water.
WARM SPBING IN SALINE VALLEY (INYO 12).
There are a few thermal springs of minor importance in the desert
region of eastern California. One of these springs is at the northeast
side of Saline Valley, about 25 miles in a direct line east of Independ-
ence. It yields a small flow, and its water is not of high temperature.
There are several cool springs a short distance westward from it and
also to the southeast that form watering places in this part of the
desert.
WABM SPBING IN PANAMINT VALLEY (INYO 29).
About 4 miles north of Ballarat, on the eastern edge of Panamint
Valley, is a spring similar to the one in Saline Valley. Its water is
tepid and is noticeably sulphureted, and its yield is only about 40
barrels a day (1 gallon a minute). It forms a small watering place
on a road leading northward from Ballarat.
1 A temperature of 138° was recorded in this spring in 1876 by the Wheeler Survey (U.S. Geog. Surveys
W. 100th Mer., 1876, p. 196), where it is stated that the temperature is considered to vary 5°. In the
Eighth Report of the California State Mining Bureau, 1888, pp. 356 and 357, temperatures of 135.5° in 1870
and 134.6° in 1888 are recorded.
2 Wheeler, G. M., U. S. Geog. Surveys W. 100th Mer., 1876, p.. 196.