Show POTASH IN GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT the department of the interior announces the public publication a of the results of an investigation of potash bearing brines in the great salt lake desert made by the geological b survey in operation cooperation co fo with the general land office and the bureau of mines the work was conducted and the report prepared by T B nolan an assistant geologist of the geological survey these brines were utilized as a source of potash during the world war and have since been the subject of much interest because of their relatively simple character and their resemblance to artificial brines of the Strass furt region germany and because solar evaporation may be employed in recovering 6 potash and magnesium b salts from them the investigation included the boring of shallow test holes and the making of many chemical tests and analyses it shows that the shallow brines near the surface are not as abundant as has been supposed and that any large scale commercial utilization of them would also necessitate consideration of deeper brines the nature and abundance of which can be ascertained only by further and deeper prospecting pec ting moreover the composition of the shallow brines is found to vary with the nature of the rocks exposed in the regions adjacent to the places from the samples were taken the modifying influence of buried hills or mountains within the desert region the exact location of which must be determined by drilling will therefore have to be considered in the study or attempted utilization of the deeper brines the report includes a map showing the location of the test holes together with the analytical results obtained |