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Two methodologies for assessing boron in quaternary salar and lacustrine settings Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Orris, Greta Jean Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 03/10/2021 19:39:43 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282560 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Ait)or MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 i TWO METHODOLOGIES FOR ASSESSING BORON IN QUATERNARY SALAR AND LACUSTRINE SETTINGS by Greta Jean Orris A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF MINING AND GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN MINERAL ECONOMICS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1997 DMI Number: 9817331 UMI Microform 9817331 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microfcrm edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Gr^ta Jean Orris entitled Two methodologies for assessing boron in Quaternary salar and lacustrine settings and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of n^r^n^ of Philnsnphy Date j/m Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Dissertation Director Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interest of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people who contributed to the accomplishment of this major goal. I wish to extend my gratitude to Dr. DeVerle P. Harris for his patience and support in seeing me through this study. As one of his students, I found a world beyond geology. I am also deeply indebted to Dr. Norman J Page for his unfailing support and the gift of time; his support was above and beyond the call of duty. A smiling thank you is offered to Dr. Michael Rieber for his extremely practical, no-nonsense advice and wonderful sense of humor. I am also grateful for Dr. Charles Glass for being there Thank you to the U.S. Geological Survey for supporting this project. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Jerry Aiken and Barry Watson of U.S. Borax; Jim Bliss, Keith Long, and Steve Ludington of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); Sigrid Asher-Bolinder, George Ericksen, Robert Learned, and Greg McKelvey, formerly with the USGS; Marcelo Claure Zapata, Eduardo Soria-Escalante and Rene Enriquez-Romero of Servicio Geologico de Bolivia; Oscar Ballivian and Mac Taylor. Without their help this project would not have been possible. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF HGURES 8 LIST OF TABLES 9 ABSTRACT 12 L INTRODUCTION 14 USGS AND ASSESSMENTS 14 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF MINERAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT 16 CHOOSING AN APPROACH 23 II. LITERATURE REVIEW OF BORON GEOLOGY AND DEPOSITS 27 UNITED STATES 28 SOUTH AMERICA 31 Argentina and Chile 32 Bolivia 34 Peru and Ecuador 35 EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST 36 Turkey 37 ASL\ 38 in. MINERAL ECONOMICS AND GENERAL GEOLOGY OF BORON 39 MINERAL ECONOMICS 39 Consumption 39 Production History 43 Current Production 47 Reserves 50 GENERAL GEOLOGY 51 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Geochemistry 51 Distribution and Concentration of Boron 55 Boron in Water 57 Mineralogy 58 Types of Borate Deposits 65 Lacustrine Borates and Other Deposit Types Related to Volcanism 65 Marine Borate Deposits 71 Intrusion-Related Deposits 72 Other Deposits 73 Distribution of Deposits 73 IV. QUATERNARY LACUSTRINE-RELATED BORATE DEPOSITS 75 BASIC GEOLOGY 75 Lakes, Basins, and Salines 75 Formation of Borates 79 REGIONAL REQUIREMENTS 81 LOCAL FACTORS 85 QUATERNARY DEPOSITS 87 V. DATA AND ANALYSIS 89 DATA COLLECTION 89 EXPLORING BORATE CLASSIFICATION 92 Categorical Data for all Borate Deposits 94 Categorical Data for Quaternary Borate Deposits 100 QUANTIFIED ANALOGUES 102 Quantified Geology 102 Discriminant Analysis 107 Statistical Distribution of Contained Boron in Basins Known to be Mineralized 117 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Regression Analysis 119 A Probability Model for Boron 124 VI. A PROCESS MODEL FOR BORON 134 REQUIREMENTS 134 MODEL FACTORS 139 Climate and Inflow 139 Volcanic Component 148 Factors Not Explicitly Considered 152 Determination of B Endowment 154 VIL DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 159 APPENDIX A: BORATE MINES AND MINERAL OCCURRENCES OF THE WORLD 164 APPENDIX B: CATEGORICAL CLASSIFICATION OF VARIABLES FOR BORATE DEPOSITS 191 Borate Minerals 192 Non-Borate Minerals 199 Lithology 206 APPENDIX C: ANALOGUE DATA SET 213 APPENDIX D: STEPWISE DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS 220 APPENDIX E: PRECIPITATION/RUNOFF CALCULATIONS ... 234 REFERENCES 245 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Outcrop area and environs of the borate-rich Sijes Formation 70 Figure 2. Sketch map of worl distribution of Cenozoic lacustrine and playa borate deposits relative to plate boundaries and arid areas 74 Figure 3. Geologic map of Coyote Lake drainage basin, California 93 Figure 4. Plot of the logs of the drainage areas vs. logs of the salar areas 106 Figure 5. Plot of drainage area vs. number of springs 107 Figure 6. Plots of logged areas of Quaternary and Tertiary volcanic rocks vs. logged drainage areas 108 Figure 7. Plots of logged Quaternary and Tertiary volcanic areas vs. number of springs 109 Figure 8. Distribution of contained boron in Quaternary basins 118 Figure 9. Probability distribution for boron in Koehn Lake basin 130 Figure 10. Probability distribution for boron in Salar de Coipasa basin 131 Figure 11. Probability distribution for boron in Laguna Ramaditas basin 132 Figure 12. Models of the atmospheric circulation at about 18,000 BP, 13,000 BP, and today 141 Figure 13. Hydraulic conductivity, K, distributions for a variety of lithologies 150 9 LIST OF FIGURES- Continued Figure 14. Distribution of B in volcanic rocks 153 Figure 15. Distribution of B in springs and rivers 155 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Principal borate products 40 Table 2. World borate production by country 48 Table 3. World reserves in metric tons of B2O3 51 Table 4. Some properties of boron 52 Table 5. Average B content of different geologic environments ... 56 Table 6. Relative contributions of rock type to water chemistry.... 59 Table 7. Major and significant boron minerals 60 Table 8. Deposit types 66 Table 9. Variable names used in data analysis 90 Table 10. The percentage of the variance of each borate mineral that is explained by the four common factors 96 Table 11. Factor analysis of transformed borate minerals and features 97 Table 12. The percentage of the variance of each non-borate mineral that is explained by the single common factor 98 Table 13. The percentage of the variance of each lithology or related variable that is explained by the three common factors 99 Table 14. Factor analysis of transformed boron deposit lithologic variables 101 Table 15. Generalized geologic units used for analysis of analogue basins 103 Table 16. T-test statistics on the differences between lithologic unit means for B-mineralized basins (1) and nonmineralized basins (2) 104 LIST OF TABLES - Continued Table 17. Discriminant function coefficients (non-standardized). 112 Table 18. Discriminant function analysis summary statistics 113 Table 19. Discriminant classification functions 114 Table 20. Classification of four "unknown" basins by the previously calculated discriminant function 116 Table 21.