Silver Peak Hot Springs are located near the edge of the playa (Clayton Valley) just north of the community of Silver Peak (shown at NW¼ SE¼ SE¼ Sec. 15, T2S, R39E on the Goldfield 30´x60´ topographic map). Spurr (1906) reported that the local residents described hot waters underlying the upper crust of the whole playa or marsh, especially at certain seasons of the year. Based on data from wells drilled for lithium production, hot groundwater is apparently confined to the basin margins, with cold waters in the central playa area (Davis and others, 1986); brine temperatures typically do not exceed 26.7ºC (Zampirro, 2003). The springs have a maximum reported temperature of 47.8°C (Waring, 1965). Eleven springs were originally reported, and the water was once used for the town water supply (Waring, 1965). The springs were reported to be dry in about 1980 (Trexler, Koenig, Flynn, and others, 1981; Table E2). In 1974, Phillips Petroleum Co. drilled 17 boreholes ranging in depth from 39.6 to 93 m and encountered temperatures up to 50.4ºC (Sass and others, 1999). Mariner and others (1983, p. 105) estimated the reservoir temperature to be 140ºC and 142ºC using silica and Na-K-Ca geothermometers, respectively, and Reed and others reported a flow rate of 1890 L/min (1983, p. 40).
Silver Peak Hot Springs were reportedly quite radioactive, but contained very small amounts of uranium (Garside, 1973). Three mixed sinter-travertine terraces are outlined by anomalous radioactivity along a 1.5 km zone just east of State Route 265 and beginning just north of the community of Silver Peak (Henkle and others, 2005). These are apparently the former sites of flowing springs, and active fumaroles are found at some (Henkle and others, 2005a, b). The springs are probably along a north-trending fault located along the west side of Clayton Valley; it may extend to the north 6 km to control emplacement of a Quaternary basaltic cinder cone (Henkle and others, 2005). Clayton Valley is one of the world's principal sources of lithium. Chemetall Foote Corporation has been producing lithium since 1967 from brines pumped through numerous wells from depths of 100 to 300 m in Quaternary sediments (Papke, 1976, Davis and others, 1986; Zampirro, 2003). Brine temperatures in wells range from 19.5 to 36°C (Davis and others, 1986). The sodium-chloride brines with high lithium are believed to result from the dissolution of salt layers in playa sediments (Davis and others, 1986). The ultimate source of the lithium may be lithium-rich rhyolitic volcanic rocks (Papke, 1976; Price and others, 2000). The hot springs are also highly anomalous in lithium. Additional information on the hydrology and saline minerals in Clayton Valley can be found in Dole (1913) and Meinzer (1917)