THE HOT SPRINGS AT OJO CALIENTE AND THEIR

DEPOSITS. •

WALDEMAR LINDGREN.

In view of-the general interest which attachesto the relation

betweenmineraldepositsand hot springsthe followingnotesare
publishedas a smallcontribution
to t.he subject.
The thermalspringsof Ojo Caliente,situatedabout5¸ miles
north of Santa Fe, are well known in New Mexico for their
curativepower and figure in the earliestrecordsof the territory.
They issuein the valley of Ojo Caliente Creek, a t.ributary to
the Chama River, which finds its sourcein the southernslopeof
the Hopewell Mountains. The easiestaccessto the springsis
from the Barranca station on the Denver and Rio Grande Rail-
road, about xo miles east-southeast
of Ojo Caliente.
Barranca
is sitre{ted
on thebasaltic
plateaux,ooofeetabove
and 2 miles west of Rio Grande. Below the basalt flow lie the
white sandy and even-graineddepositsof the Santa Fe marl.
The road to the springs soon descendsthe escarpmentof the
basalticmesa,and from this point to the springsextendsa wide
sandyvalley, merging on the southwith the valley of the Chama.
It is entirely coveredby the Santa Fe marl, which underliesthe
basalt and which presentsthe uniform and thinly beddedcharac-
teristics of lacustrine beds. At every favorable exposurethis
thin beddingis observedand it has usually a well-defineddip
of 2oø to 35ø. At the springs,which issueon the westernbank
of the stream,theselakebedsare distinctly
):uffaceous,
sandy
and gravelly; the tuff appearsto be of andesiticcharacter.
Immediatelybehindthe springsrisesa bluff of gneissoidred-
dish rock, Ioo feet high. After ascendingthis the trail to the
mineral deposit crossesa little flat mostly covered with sand
and about 4,ooo feet wide. Beyondthis risesboldly a range of
• Publishedwith the permissionof the Director of the Geological Survey.
22
 THE HOT SPRINGS AT OJ'O CALIENTE. 23

hills of reddishgneiss,forming a southerlyoutlier or extension

of the HopewellMountains,whichconsistof pre-Cafnbrianrocks.
The highest points are probably at least I,ooo feet above the
springs. The trail follows up a prominentgulch in thesehills
and the spring depositis reachedat an elevationof about 5oo
feet abovethe springs. A small shaft is locatedon the brow of
the hill, south of the gulch, and about 20o feet higher than its
bed. A tunnel is driven in the side hill I5 o feet lower than the
shaft and only a few hundred feet distant horizontally. This
tunnel has not yet reachedthe deposit. Nearby are someirreg-
ular excavationswhich are believedto have beenmade by aid of
fire settingduring the early part of Spanishoccupancy. These
openings,it is stated, were driven on a stringer of the main
deposit.
The countryrock of the bluff behindthe springsand the whole
range of hills so far as examinedis a reddishfine-grainedgneis,,
with fo.liationstrikingN. 45¸ E. and traversedby dikesof coarse
pegmatite. The microscopeshowsit to be a mosaicof quartz
and othoclasewith a few larger quartz grains; in placesit con-
tains microcline,albite, and microperthitein small grains. The
gneissoidstructureis shownin the parallel arrangementof small
flakesof greenishbrown biotite or small foils of muscovite.
The shaft is sunk on a distinctvein, in gneissoidrock. The
strike of the vein is N. 7øø E. and the dip 7ø0 N. N. W.; its
width is 2 to 3 feet, and it is traceablefor about200 feet on each
side of the shaft. The walls are fairly defined,but the fissure
is full of rockfragmentswhichare 1oose.lycemented by crustsof
colorlessfluorite. The mineral is not readily recognized,for
besides beingcolorless
it hasa coarselyfibrousstructure,perpen-
dicular to the fragments of rock which it encrusts;it looks some-
what like aragonite. The vein matter is oxidized,containing
limoniteand oxide of manganese,the latter reportedto contain
silver. Two stringersfilled with fluorite comein from the foot-
wall side. From the dump.of the tunnelwere obtainedsomelittle
stringersin gneiss,filledwith greenishfluoriteof normalappear-
anceand occasional crystalsof barite (oxx.xxo.xooaccordingto
ß
24 I4ZALDEMAR LINDGREN.

W. T. Schaller). The fissure-fillingis reportedto containgold

and silver. The owner, Mr. Antonio Joseph,who also is the
proprietorof the springs,statesthat the best assayreturnsyield
$75 in silverand $3ø in gold to the ton, other returnsgiving, for
instance,$4 in gold and $• in silver, and there is no reasonto
doubt that these figures are authentic. Samplesof the crusted
fluorite ore were assayedwith great care by Ledoux and Com-
pany of New York, and yieldedtracesof gold and silver.
Five hundred feet southwestof the shaft and directly in the
line of the vein which can be traced in this direction for 200 feet,
is a small hill about75 feet verticallyabovethe shaft. The top
of this hill is covered to the extent-of about half an acre by a
tufaceoushot spring deposit,probablyonly a few feet deep. A
pit 3 feet deephasbeensunkin it. It is a looselycoherentcellu-
lar mass,mainly composedof calcitewith somelimonite. Ac-
cording to Mr. Joseph it contains traces of gold and silver.
Threespecimens,
from the surface,and2 and 2½ feet belowthe
surfacerespectively,were assayedby Ledoux and Companywith
,

specialprecautions,and yielded as follows per ton: number68

Au 0.0008ounces,
Ag 0.08ounces;
number
69 Au o.0025ounces,
Ag o.• ounces;number7ø Au 0.0o08 ounces,Ag 0.05 ounces.
A sampleof the tufa was analyzedby Mr. GeorgeSteigerwith
the following approximateresult:
Insoluble3 per cent.; Fe20.•, A1203,2.9 per cent.; CaO 50.8
per cent.; MgO none; CO• (calculated)39.6 per cent.; P205
none; Fluorine0.44 per cent.; Arsenicnone; barium none. The
determinationof fluorinewas made with particular care. This
composition corresponds to about89.60 per cent. of calciteand
0.9 per cent. of fluorite.
The bluff of gneissimmediatelyback of the hot springswas
found to containat severalplacesnarrow, filled seamsof a white
mineral which proved to be fluorite.
The conclusions drawn in the field from the facts observed
were:

t. That the tufa depositon top of the hill has been accumu-
lated by the evaporationof hot watersreachingthe surface.
 THE HOT SPRINGS AT OJO CALIENTE. 25

2. That the vein formed the conduit through which the hot
waters reached the surface and in which calcium fluorite was
deposited,while the remaining calcium was held in solutionas
bicarbonateuntil reachingthe surface. The evidenceupon this
point is strong, but perhapsnot absolutelyconclusive. The
peculiarstructureof the fluorite itself tendsto show that it has
been depositedunder unusualcircumstances and probablyclose
to the surface.
3. That the tufa depositand the fluorite vein had beenformed
by the Ojo CalienteSpringswhile issuingat a level severalhun-
dred feet abovethe presentsprings.
4. That the gulch adjacent to the vein and the whole valley
had been eroded sincethe time when the springsissuedat high
level.
5. That the fluorite veinlets in the bluff back of the springs,
and about lOO feet abovethem, were formed during thd gradual
recessionof the thermal waters, keeping step with the excava-
tions of the valley.
It is needlessto say that the assaysand analysisof the spring
deposit strengthenedthese conclusions.
Upon the return from the field it was found that a very care-
ful analysisof the waters of the Ojo Caliente Springshad been
made a numberof years ago, by Dr. V•r. F. Hillebrand. Several
older analyses,evidently of less accuracyand detail were made
by Oscar Loew, analyst of the Wheeler Survey, and they agree
well, within limits, with Dr. Hillebrand's work, and show that the
compositionof the springs is approximatelyuniform. Their
temperatureis said to vary from 9ø0 to 122ø F.
The analysisfollows:
Thewater
also
contains
traces
ofarsenic,
nitrates,
iodine
(?),
barium and ammonium. No organic matter is present. Tita-
nium, bromine, manganeseand sulphideswere looked for but
not found.
This analysis shows that the water is of the sodium carbo-
nate type with minor amountsof chlorideand sulphateof sodium.
Particularly remarkableis the large and unusualcontentof fluo-
26 W./ILDEMAR LINDGREN.

ANALYS;SOF WATERFROMOJo CALIENTE,NEW MEXICO.

x
BY W. F. HmL•RAN•.

Found. Hypothetical Combination. Per Cent. Total

Parts Per Million. Parts Per Million. Solids.

SiO• 60.2 LiC1 20. 9 .62

SO• 151.o KC1 59.9 1.76
PO• .2 NaC1 305.5 9. Ol
CO.• 2153.5 Na2B•O7 5.4 .16
B•O7 4-2 Na•SO• 223.3 6.59
C1 23x.4 NagCOa 1846.9 54.49
5.2 CaaP•O8 ß3 .Ol
Fe.,.O:? 1.6 CaF• Io. 7 .32
A1203 ß5 CaCOa 43.0 1.27
Ca
22.8 SrCO
a 2.4 .o7
Sr 33.2 .98
' 1.4 I MgCOa
Mg ' SiO• ' 60.2 1.78
K ,9-5 F%O
3 1.6 .05
Na 3I-4 A12Oa ß5 .O1
Li
995'1
[C22
3,67x.4
(bicarbonate)
l 3,389.4 I I00.00
3.4 775.6 ] 22.88

rine, correspondingto nearly • parts per million of calcium

fluoride. The contentin boronis alsonoteworthy. On the whole,
it is a strongmineral water distinctlyof the type of volcanic
springs;i.e., of hot springsthat are commonin regionsof expir-
ing volcanicactivity. No one may questionthe competency of
this water to depositfluorite and also calcite,on the evaporation
of excess carbon dioxide.
The evidence of erosion here adduced tends to show that these
springshavebeenactiveover a very considerable periodof time,
possiblysincethe middle or later part of the Tertiary. The
material eroded during the recessionof the spring level •vas
probablyin largepart the tuffs of the SantaFe formation,•vhich
oncefilled Ojo CalienteValley Near Barrancastationthe top
of these lake beds is at an elevation of about 6,8o0 feet. The
elevationat the presentspringis 6,292 feet (Wheeler); conse-
quentlyit must be admittedthat at one time, probablyat the
closeof the Tertiary, the lacustrinebedsreachedthe level of the
tuffaceousSpringand the fluorite veins.
At the presenttime the springsissueat the foot of the hill
•Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey, No. II3, p. II4.
: State of oxidation unknown; Fe_,O3all in sediment.
 THE HOT SPRINGS AT OJO CALIENTE. 27

or gneiss,but emergefrom the soft sandsand tuffs. No deposits

of consequence can now form where the springs issue, owing
to the mannerof their utilization for medicinalpurposes.
A numberof hot springs,particularlythosesimilar in composi-
tion to the type describedabovecontainfluorine. Among those
richest in this element are the Vichy Springs, some of which
contain from 7.6 parts of fluorineper million up to •8 parts per
million. The waters of the spring at Bourbon-l'Archambaultare
statedto contain2.68 partsper million of fluorine2 In very few
instances,however,has the actual depositionof fluorite by hot
waters been demonstrated. Daubrde2 mentionsonly two cases,
at the Carlsbadand at the Plombi&ressprings.
• Clarke, F. W. The data of geochemistry,U.S. Geol. Survey, Bull. No.
330, I9o8, p. •49.
2,,Les eaux souterraines /• 1%l•oqueactuelle," •887, Part II., pp. •9-2o.