It is an indicator of possible gold and silver deposits, as they can become concentrated by hydrothermal processes.
[6] Clear Lake is at the north end of The Geysers geothermal area.
It has also been reported from the sedimentary Phosphoria Formation in Idaho,[9] South Dakota,[10] Wyoming, and Montana.
It occurs in the oil shale deposit, near Proserpine, Queensland, Australia.
[11] It was named for Arthur Francis Buddington (1890–1980), a petrologist at Princeton University.