Kenya Lake Magadi

Property Seawaterb Seawater at -20°C Orca Basin, Gulf of Mexico0 Great Salt Lake, USAd Dead Sea, Israel Don Juan Pond, Antarctica1 Basque Lake, Canadad Mono Lake, USAd Lake Magadi, Kenya ... 

Jones BF, Eugster HP, Rettig SL (1977) Hydrochemistry of the Lake Magadi basin, Kenya. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 41 53-72... 

Monnin C. and Schott J. (1984) Determination of the solubility products of sodium carbonate minerals and an application to trona deposition in Lake Magadi (Kenya). Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 48, 571-581. 

Sodium carbonate bearing deposits and brines exist around die world. Locations are known in die United States, China, Turkey, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, India, Pakistan, USSR, Kenya, Australia, and Botswana (14—20). The overwhelming majority of natural ash production comes from die Green River Basin in southwestern Wyoming. Significant amounts are also produced at Searles Lake in California lesser amounts at Lake Magadi in Kenya. Minor quantities are reportedly produced in Pakistan, die USSR, and China and small amounts of impure trona come from Owens Lake, California. A plant is currently under construction to recover soda ash from brine at Sua Pan, Botswana. Each deposit has its own distinctive characteristics and each requires different processing techniques. 

Behr H.-J. (2002) Magadiite and magadi chert a critical analysis of the silica sediments in the Lake Magadi Basin, Kenya. In Sedimentation in Continental Rifts (eds. R. W. Renaut and G. M. Ashley). Society for Sedimentary Research (SEPM), Tulsa, pp. 257-273. 

EugsterH. P. (1970) Chemistry and origin of the brines of Lake Magadi, Kenya. Min. Soc. Am. Spec. Paper 3, 213 -235. 

Eugster H. P. and Jones B. F. (1968) Gels composed of sodium-aluminum silicate, Lake Magadi, Kenya. Science 161, 160-163. 

Schubel K. A. and Simonson B. M. (1990) Petrography and diagenesis of cherts from Lake Magadi, Kenya. J. Sedim. Petrol. 60, 761-776. 

Manufacture. Sodium carbonate is an important product of the alkali industry. It is obtained naturally by the purification of sal soda which is found in the water of lakes Magadi of Kenya in East Africa, Owens of California in the USA etc. Industrially it is obtained by the Solvay process (ammonia-soda process) sodium chloride solution is saturated by ammonia which is forced into the solution. Carbon dioxide gas is then blown into the solution to form the bicarbonate (NaHCO 3) and ammonium chloride (NH<,.C1). When the bicarbonate is separated and heated, water and carbon dioxide are driven off and sodium carbonate is obtained. The ammonium chloride is mixed with milk of lime and distilled to form calcium chloride and ammonia solution. The recovered ammonia is used repeatedly. 

Eugster, H. P., 1980. Lake Magadi, Kenya, and its precursors. In Nissenbaum, A. (ed.) Hypersaline Brines and Evaporitic Environments (Developments in Sedimentology 28). Elsevier, Amsterdam 195-232. 

The evaporite minerals described by Fitzpatrick et al. (1990) are noteworthy because they include salts of boron and potassium which were identified by x-ray diffraction supplemented by chemical analyses. The results, compiled in Table 17.11, indicate that the minerals are primarily carbonates, bicarbonates, sulfate, and borates of sodium. These salts have also formed in Searles Lake and Deep Springs Lake in California and in Lake Magadi in Kenya. The brines in these lakes... 

Smith, B.J. and McAlister, J.J. (1986). Observations on the occurrence and origins of salt weathering phenomena near Lake Magadi, southern Kenya. Zeit. fiir Geomorph., 30 445-460. 

Figure 2,2 Vast quantities of naturally occurring trona deposits are found in Lake Magadi, Kenya.

A special case of continental surface waters are brines formed by hydrolysis and oxidation of rocks by atmospheric water and evaporation of the resulting solution in runoff-free lakes. In this way salt brine with a predominance of Na and Cl ions is formed in the Magadi Lake (Kenya) (total mineralization more than 300 g kg ). 

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