Page 317 - 1915, Springs of CA.

SALINE SPRINGS. 297

COMPLEXION SPRINGS (LAKE 14).
In Lake County and more northern portions of the Coast Ranges
there are several springs that contain unusually large amounts of
ammonium salts. It has not been considered advisable to group them
for discussion according to this characteristic, however, as they have
other and different qualities.
Complexion Springs are perhaps remarkable chiefly because of their
high content of ammonium, but they are also strongly salty and hence
are described with the salt springs. They include three pools, which
are situated on the slope 50 yards east of the bed of a ravine about 325
yards north of the road between Leesville and Hough Springs (Lake
13, p. 197), and 2 miles west of the divide at the boundary between
Lake and Colusa counties. The northernmost pool, which is the prin-
cipal one, is about 4 feet in diameter and 2 or 3 feet deep. A few bubbles
of gas rise at its back edge, beneath a small bank, and the discharge is
perhaps a quarter of a gallon a minute of clear water that tastes strongly
of salt and ammonia and that deposits on the sides and bottom of the
pool a white curdy precipitate that is easily roiled. The analysis shows
that this precipitate consists chiefly of calcium and magnesium com-
pounds, and its similarity to the hard deposit at the hot springs at the
Elgin mine (Colusa 7, p. 104) and at Phillips Soda Spring (Napa 8,
p. 161) is worthy of note. The water contains an unusually large
proportion of ammonium and hydroxide, but analysis shows that it is
really a brine, the other constituents being in very minor amounts
compared with the sodium and chloride contents:

Analysis of insoluble deposit in Complexion Springs, Lake County.
[Analyst and authority, F. M. Eaton, 1910.]
Silica (SiO2).................................................. 18.67
Iron and alumina (Fe2O3+A1203)............................. 3. 08
Lime (CaO)................................................. 31. 90
Magnesia (MgO)............................................. 17.15
Sulphate (SO4)............................................... 0
Undetermined (H20+CO2).................................... 29. 20
100. 00