There are 10 known springs at Hot Springs Point, only two of which have been chemically analyzed, but none had reported lithium. These are located near the corner of Secs. 1, 2, and 11, T29N, R48E and arise from alluvium and bedrock in a line 2.4 km long. To fill in data gaps, two springs were sampled in 2002. We sampled a 46 and 51°C spring at Secs. 1, 11, 29N 48E. The Na-K-Ca geothermometer temperature was less than the measured temperature at both sites (<30°C), but the chalcedony temperature for the area indicated temperatures between 79 and 90°C. Samples of cold waters are needed to better evaluate mixing at this and other sites.
Native sulfur occurs in the Ordovician Valmy Formation along a northwest-trending, nearly vertical fault zone (Keith Papke, personal commun., 1975) just southeast of the hot springs. The sulfur and gypsum cement colluvium, consisting of clay-altered argillite (Vikre, 2000, p. 751). Hot Springs Point itself is bounded on its northwest and southeast sides by faults. The hot springs fall along the trace of the Dry Hills fault, which extends northeast along the northwest side of Hot Springs Point for about 13 km. The deposit of native sulfur appears to be associated with the hot-springs activity, and small amounts of cinnabar and antimony occur sporadically throughout the sulfur (Olson, 1964). Spring temperatures fall between 50 and 58.9°C except for one spring on the valley floor which is 26.1°C. A 125-m-deep geothermal well drilled by Magma Power Co. encountered subsurface temperatures up to 74°C. The estimated thermal-aquifer temperature for this spring system is 115°C (Mariner and others, 1974). Spring sinter and caliche are reported from along nearby northeast-trending faults which cut Tertiary andesites (Wilson, 1960b). These deposits are in the N½ Sec. 6, T29N, R49E. Also, travertine is reportedly being deposited at the hot springs. Young north- and northeast-trending faults are also common in the alluvial deposits of Crescent Valley in this area.
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