Chapter 2 - Borax and Sassolite Deposits

Abstract

This chapter gives a striking account of borax and sassolite deposits in various countries. The Puna region in the South American high Andes is a major borate province. It includes the northwestern corner of Argentina, the southwestern corner of Bolivia, the southeastern corner of Peru, and the northeastern edge of Chile. There are more than 57 borate containing Tibetan lakes to the southwest of the Qinghai–Xizang (Tibet) Plateau. World's oldest commercial borate deposits are in Puga, Kashmir, India. Studies by the Royal Society of London identified hot lakes in Nepal that crystallize borax near their edges and from which borax could be harvested in a pure form. The world's largest reserves of borates occur in western Turkey. There is a small lake in San Francisco, which is the first commercial borate deposit in the United States. Lake Searles contains three types of borax deposits: mixed surface salts, near-surface crystals in the mud, and brine and crystals in upper and lower salts. There are three boron-containing “solfataric” springs in Venezuela. Vulcano, in the Lipari Islands near Sicily, emitted abundant boric acid that reacted with the surrounding rocks and crystallized hydrogen, sodium, and calcium borates in its vents and mantles. Sassolite is common at Mount Vesuvius, Italy, and is found in the fissures after the 1851 eruption. Sassolite has the appearance of white and shifting clouds, hissing and blasting from the ground with a rumbling noise and smell of rotten eggs.