Surficial geologic map of the Bare Mountain quadrangle, Nye County, Nevada

Abstract

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Characterization of Quaternary and suspected Quaternary faults, regional studies, Nevada and California

“…However, Minor and others (1993) map these gravels as Tertiary gravels of Oasis Valley (Miocene and Pliocene), and we found no evidence of scarps in well-preserved alluvial surfaces along several washes that cross the projection of this fault to the south. These surfaces have well-developed desert pavements and soils similar to nearby deposits mapped as middle Pleistocene Q2c deposits by Swadley and Parrish (1988). We did find abundant evidence of displacement in Tertiary volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks along the trace of this fault.…”

“…LOCATION: The RWBW of Piety (1994) Most of the RWBW is located in Tertiary bedrock (Cornwall and Kleinhampl, 1961;Lipman and others, 1966;Swadley and Parrish, 1988;Minor and others, 1993), except where the fault traces project across drainages containing fluvial gravel of Quaternary age. No unequivocal evidence of faulting was found in any Quaternary deposits examined in this study.…”

“…An 8-to 10-m-thick sequence of gravelly alluvium with at least three stage-IV petrocalcic horizons is exposed at the surface in the western part of the mine. These deposits are mapped as Q2c alluvium (middle Pleistocene) by Swadley and Parrish (1988) and as Qif alluvium (late Pleistocene) by Monsen and others (1992). Recent soils analysis and uranium-series dating in nearby Crater Flat (Peterson and others, 1995) also yielded middle Pleistocene ages (>160 ka) for deposits that correlate with Q2c deposits of Swadley and Parrish (1988).…”

“…These deposits are mapped as Q2c alluvium (middle Pleistocene) by Swadley and Parrish (1988) and as Qif alluvium (late Pleistocene) by Monsen and others (1992). Recent soils analysis and uranium-series dating in nearby Crater Flat (Peterson and others, 1995) also yielded middle Pleistocene ages (>160 ka) for deposits that correlate with Q2c deposits of Swadley and Parrish (1988). The thick, well developed soils exposed in the pit preclude a late Pleistocene age for these deposits, so we conclude that they are middle Pleistocene or older.…”

“…Soils in these deposits are similar (weak Bt and stage II carbonate horizons), so they may represent similar-aged deposits. Swadley and Parrish (1988) map the terraces in Beatty Wash as Q2c deposits; Hoover and others (1981) suggest that Q2c deposits have ages of 270-750 ka, and recent studies in nearby Crater Flat suggest that deposits with similar soils are >160 ka (Peterson and others, 1995). Such ages imply that latest movement on the RWBW predates the middle Pleistocene.…”