Lake Lahontan: Geology of southern Carson Desert, Nevada

Abstract

Geographic setting. _ ________________________________ Major landforms_____ ___________________________ Carson Desert and adjoining basins.--.-______ Highlands bordering the basins-T __ ___________ Climate _______________________________________ Drainage ______________________________________ Vegetation. _ ___________________________________ Economic geography ____________________________ Tertiary stratigraphy and structure_____________ ______ Stratigr aph y.___. ______________________________ Basalt of Rainbow Mountain _ ______________ Dacite of Rainbow Mountain. _______________ Eagles House rhyolite _______________________ Truckee formation. _________________________ Bune jug formation. _________________________ Structural features. _ ____________________________ Pre-Truckee faults. _________________________ Faults of post-True kee and early Bune jug age__ Structural features of post-Bunejug pre-Paiute age______ Basin-and-range faults. _ __________.__.._.___.___. General features. ___________________________ Faulting in specific areas_____________________ Configuration of the bedrock floor of the basin _____ Quaternary stratigraphy.. _ __________________________ Methods of study_____ __________________________ Stratigraphic usage _____________________________ Soils. _________________________________________ Definition and general features _______________ Soil profile. _ _______________________________ Classification. ______________________________ Descriptive terminology _____________________ Great soil groups ___________________________ Pre-Lake Lahontan erosional features _____________ Pre-Lake Lahontan Quaternary stratigraphy _______ Basalt of Rattlesnake Hill ___________________ Pre-Lake Lahontan lacustrine sediments___.___ Paiute formation ___________________________ Buried pre-Lake Lahontan Quaternary sediments -_-__-__-------____________________ Cocoon soil-_______________________________ General features and relations. ___________ Profile characteristics ___________________ Age__ _________________________________ Lahontan Valley group.

Case study of the Wendel-Amedee Exploration Drilling Project, Lassen County, California, User Coupled Confirmation Drilling Program

“…The most common l e v e l of mound development, however, i s 4020 t o 4190 f t e l ev a t i o n (Morrison, 1964).…”

“…Lake Lahontan a l g a l mound d e p o s i t s are widespread i n t h e L i t c h f i e l d t o Wendel area and occur throughout t h e r e g i o n f o r m e r l y occupied by Lake Lahontan. Morrison (1964) made an However, Morrison (1964) e x t e n s i v e study o f t h e a l g a l mounds i n t h e Carson Desert area a t t h e southern end of Lake Lahontan, and l i s t e d occurr(mces from 3880 t o 4355 f t e l e v a t i o n .…”

“…3:1. The a l g a l mounds of t h i s l e v e l a r e o f t h e d e n d r o l i t e a l g a l s t r u c t u r a l c l a s s and are "formed by algae growing i n t u f t e d mats'' (Morrison, 1964). Jones (11925) has described s i m i 1 a r a1 gal mounds a t Pyramid Lake, a few m i l e s east of Honey Lake.…”

The Conterminous United States Mineral Assessment Project; background information to accompany folio of geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral resources maps of the Reno 1 by 2 degree Quadrangle, Nevada and California

“…In addition to the county reports, previous regional geologic and mineral deposit studies in the Reno quadrangle include Russell (1885), Hill (1911), Vanderburg (1940), Bailey and Phoenix (1944), Schrader (1947), Lawrence (1963), Morrison (1964), Southern Pacific Company (1964, Silberman and others (1976), Hurley and others (1982), Bell (1984), Oldow (1984), Deino (1985), Sidder (1986Sidder ( , 1987, Quade and Tingley (1987), Stewart (1988), Stager and Tingley (1988), Cox and others (1991), Seedorff (1991), Schweickert and others (in press), and Doebrich and others ( 1991, in press). Regional geophysical studies include Thompson and Sandberg (1958), Thompson (1959), Erwin (1970), Stanley and others (1976), Nevada Bureau of Mines (1977), Erwin and Berg (1977), Schaefer (1983), Tabor and others (1983), Kucks and Hildenbrand (1987), Hildenbrand and Kucks (1988), and Blakely and Jachens (1991).…”

Preliminary paleolimnologic data for the Walker Lake subbasin, California and Nevada

“…2). During the Pleistocene large pluvial lakes occupied the Lahontan basin several times (Russell, 1885;Broecker and Orr, 1958;Kaufman, 1964;Morrison, 1964;Broecker and Kaufman, 1965;Kaufman and Broecker, 1965;Benson, 1978;Benson, 1981;Davis, 1982;Morrison and Davis, 1984;Thompson and others, 1986;Benson and Thompson, 1987a). For the most part, the prehistoric record of lake-level variation in the Lahontan basin generally was the result of climatic change.…”