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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  17-Feb-2003 by Ron McMillan (RHM)

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NMI
Name LIBERTY LAKE, CROWN GRANTS 968, 7693, 7362 Mining Division Clinton
BCGS Map 092P022
Status Showing NTS Map 092P05E
Latitude 051º 17' 22'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 121º 42' 39'' Northing 5682802
Easting 589895
Commodities Sodium Carbonate Deposit Types F09 : Playa and Alkaline Lake Evaporites
Tectonic Belt Intermontane Terrane Overlap Assemblage
Capsule Geology

Liberty Lake is located 1 kilometre west of Little White Lake (EMPR Bulletin #4)and 22 kilometres west of 70 Mile House.

The lake is a semi-evaporitic playa lake. It is located in the "Green Timber Plateau" area (EMPR Bulletin 4), a semi-arid plateau area averaging 1130 metres elevation which is part of the Cariboo Plateau and host to several playa lakes. The area is underlain by alkaline plateau basalt flows of the Miocene to Pleistocene Chilcotin Group, mantled by a thin cover of glacial till and glaciofluvial sediments. Annual precipitation averages between 300 and 400 millimetres (EMPR Paper 1991-1).

Liberty Lake contains sodium carbonate-rich brine and "winter crystal" (natron or hydrated sodium carbonate). At the end of the dry season in 1937 (EMPR Bulletin 4) brine covered approximately 5 hectares to a depth of 20 centimetres. A white encrustation approximately 2.5 centimetres thick (EMPR Bulletin #4) had acumulated on the northern shore of the lake. The mud surrounding the lake was heavily encrusted with white efflorescence and "winter crystal" was in the process of formation. The brine has a specific gravity of 1.1255 and contains 13.78 per cent total solids which were composed of 81.5 per cent sodium carbonate, 11.7 per cent sodium sulphate and 6.5 per cent sodium chloride (EMPR Bulletin 4). Canadian Occidental Petroleum collected two water and two winter crystal samples in 1989 and completed analyses for sodium carbonate and other alkalai salts (Assessment Report 20080). Canoxy also completed an airborne infrared survey to test for dissolved solids in the lakewaters.

Bibliography
EMPR BULL *4-11
EMPR P 1991-1
EMPR AR 1967-222
EMPR ASS RPT 20080
EMPR EXPL 1978-E186
GSC MEM 363, 118
GSC MAP 1278A
EMPR PFD 507209, 681630

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