Бристол көлі: Калифорния шөлінің құрғақ көлі

Lake in United States of America

Bristol Lake is a dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Twentynine Palms. Bristol Lake is located southeast of Amboy and U. S. Route 66, and is also south of Cadiz. Amboy Crater and the Bullion Mountains are to the west, and Old Woman Mountains to the east. The lake is approximately long and at its widest point.

Bristol Lake is located in San Bernardino County's Mojave Desert. It is a playa lake in the Basin and Range Province and is the northernmost member of a northwest southeast trending playa lake system that includes Cadiz Lake and Danby Lake.

Bristol Lake's mineralogy is described as having a bullseye pattern of minerals with lithofacies consisting of halite at the center surrounded by mud, gypsum, and finally a sand flat playa margin. These minerals also have vertical lithofacies which resemble the horizontal facies stratification with gypsum occurring deeper in the playa followed by mud halite and halite on top. The mud lithofacies consists of thick detrital mud, and the halite lithofacies is defined by giant hopper shaped crystals. microorganisms have the potential to rework large lenticular crystals, high concentrations of NaCl in inflow waters can decrease nucleation density of minerals resulting in larger crystal sizes. It is likely that a combination of these processes was needed in order to form the gypsum crystals mentioned because gypsum crystals formed from low Ca/SO4 ratios or from microbial activity alone would not result in gypsum crystals large enough, and because gypsum crystal size increases toward the center of the playa where sodium chloride concentrations are greatest.

The brine chemistries at Bristol Lake are different from those predicted to form by the evaporative concentrations of the two inflow waters currently accounted for. Na HCO3 SO4 will precipitate CaCO3 which will deplete the water in calcium. These waters evolve into Na HCO3 CO3 Cl SO4 brines with minor magnesium and potassium. They will precipitate halite, Na Sulfate, and Na carbonate mineral upon further evaporation. Cl SO4 is predicted to precipitate calcite and then gypsum and form neutral Na SO4 Cl brines with subordinate K and Mg. These brines are predicted to precipitate halite and sodium sulfate salts during further evaporative concentration. The basin center brines of BDL (saline mudflats and saline pan areas) are Na Ca Cl rich with lower concentrations of potassium and magnesium and little sulfate and bicarbonate. Differing from their predicted chemical composition mostly by lacking sulfate, carbonate and bicarbonate and having high levels of chlorine. Rosen 1991 attributed increased concentration of chlorine to be from atmospheric precipitation, however the Ca Cl concentrations present at Bristol Lake are not compatible with normal low temperature surface weathering and evaporative concentration processes. It is speculated that a magma chamber drives the formation of Ca Cl brines at elevated temperatures and drives the transportation of these brines to the surface. Other evidence of a magma chamber in the area is the Amboy Crater and its associated lava flows, which occur directly North of Bristol Lake.

A salt evaporator operation is situated on the dry lake bed just east of Amboy Road.