These events include exhumation of the detachment surfaces now exposed in the Black Mountains (Holm et al., 1992; Holm and Dokka, 1993) and, outside Death Valley, extension in the Cottonwood Mountains (Snow and Lux, 1999), the Inyo Range (Lee et al., 2009), and the Kingston PeakTecopa Basin area (Calzia and Rm, 2000). Cretaceous (67 Ma, 87 Ma) Structural inferences from younger formations include: (1) two correlated outcrops of the Greenwater Formation in the Natural Bridge area are separated by a normal fault with 2000 m of throw (Greene, 1997); (2) conglomerates in the lower Furnace Creek Formation include granite boulders derived from the northwest, possibly Hunter Mountain (Hunt and Mabey, 1966; Wright et al., 1999), suggesting that the Death Valley basin did not yet exist at 5 Ma; (3) fan-deltas in the upper part of the Funeral Formation are offset 8 km by dextral strike slip along the Furnace Creek fault zone, implying this much strike slip in the last 2 m.y. The Panamint Range, rather than being a large fault block detached from above the Black Mountains, is a core complex like the northern end of the range at Tucki Mountain. Cichanski (2000) suggests that the higher-angle faults are part of the Panamint Valley strike-slip fault. In some places the dolomite has transformed into marble by heat . The wetland lies at the southern tip of the Ibex Hills, on the floor of Death Valley and just northeast of the Amargosa River. On the alluvial fan above the springs there are 2-3 thousand year old petroglyphs from the extinct Mesquite Spring culture. To understand more about structural evolution of Death Valley, it is useful to consider the area's position in relation to structural provinces that have been defined in western North America. 14 Skidoo Granite Formed of steep cliffs, it is composed of red colored oxidized rocks and is visible from Zabriskie point and the Golden Canyon trail. 4), on the flanks of the Black Mountains, the Copper Canyon formation preserves 1800 m of mostly fluvial to lacustrine sediments, including some distinctive tufa mounds (Nyborg and Buchheim, 2009). Vegetation in the area is sparse, largely confined to hearty sagebrush. The highest strandline is one of the principal clues that geologists use to estimate the depth of the lake that once filled Death Valley. Locally metamorphosed to subgreenschist to lower greenschist facies south of NTS in Funeral Mountains and Specter Range. The Basin and Range is characterized by block faulting and, in areas of large-magnitude extension like Death Valley, by exhumation of middle and lower crustal level rocks in core complexes (Davis, 1980; Armstrong, 1982; Stewart, 1998; Dickinson, 2002). 3). *3 Members* upper member (Papoose Lake Member) is a fossiliferous shale containing trilobites of Glossopleura middle member (Informal Middle Member)contains trilobite "hash beds" with fragments of Ehmaniella and with linguloid brachiopod beds within a shale layer lower member (Banded Mountain Member) contains no fossils. Other sedimentary formations that contain structurally relevant data are found along the Black Mountains. See Table 1 for data and explanations of abbreviations used. South of Mormon Point, another important data point for structural evolution is in the Confidence Hills (CH, Fig. Total Driving Time: 8 hours. Hornblende quartz monzonite with variations. Prior to recognition of low-angle extensional faulting in Death Valley, Burchfiel and Stewart (1966), on the basis of the morphology of the valley and occurrence of strike-slip faults, suggested that Death Valley was formed as a strike-slip pull-apart basin, with the basin forming between the Northern Death ValleyFurnace Creek fault to the north and the Southern Death Valley fault zone to the south (Fig. Erosion over the millennia since the eruption revealed multi-colored stripes on the crater walls dating to the Miocene. Late Precambrian Death Valley National Park CA, NV Mosaic Canyon Topographic map (600kb PDF) for Mosaic Canyon NPS - Dan Kish Distance: 4 mi (6.4km) out and back, round trip. 3.0 Hours of Monument Valley's Sunrise or Sunset 44 Tour. Over time the small amount of solutes in the water accumulate to form this linear salt pan. Pennsylvanian Non-stop winds on this ridge are concentrated and compressed at the top of the hill and are very fast as a result. This eastward propagation continues today with strike slip in the ECSZ, which will become the full plate boundary if the San Andreas fault ceases activity in western California and the plate boundary continues its eastward migration (Faulds et al., 2005). Here, detachment faults that dip to the west, like the Emigrant fault at Tucki Mountain, have been mapped by Cichanski (2000). As discussed earlier, the present-day contact between the Artist Drive Formation and basement of the Badwater surface is faulted, but the geometry shown in this restoration shows that the Artist Drive Formation could have been originally deposited on basement, with faulting seen today a result of postdeposition emergence of the Badwater turtleback. Between the Last Chance Range and Saline Mountains is the graben Eureka Valley. I would like to thank Dave Reynolds and Stefan Boettcher for introducing me to Death Valley geology. Mon-Fri 7am-5pm PT. (1999) question the correlation because the Funeral Mountains section is underlain by a Miocene conglomerate unit that does not occur at Tucki Mountain and there are differences in structures in the underlying Paleozoic section (a thrust fault in the Mississippian strata in the Funeral Mountains is not seen at Tucki Mountain). Uper part is mostly cliff-foming, orange to gray silty limestone, and lower part contains mostly clastic rocks. The pull-apart concept has also been applied to the Panamint Valley, the basin on the west side of the Panamint Range, which links via the Hunter Mountain strike-slip fault northwards into Saline Valley (Burchfiel et al., 1987; Lee et al., 2009). North of Copper Canyon turtleback (CC, Fig. When Burchfiel and Stewart (1966) first suggested that Death Valley was formed as a pull-apart basin, little was known about timing of tectonic events in the region. c. Includes (from top to base) Smoky, Halfpint, and Dunderberg Shale members. Examination of structural, stratigraphic, and timing relationships in the region suggests that this interpretation needs revision. *9 Members* alternating siliciclastic and carbonate facies lower four (of the nine) members and the lower part of the fifth member contain Early Cambrian olenellid trilobites. Devil's Golf Course can be reached from Badwater Road via a 1.3-mile (2.1km) gravel drive, closed in wet weather. 3; Snyder and Hodges, 2000). No fossils. Pressure and heat transformed the stone into the metamorphic rock we call marble. This interpretation is similar to one shown by Hunt and Mabey (1996) in a cross section near Hanaupah Canyon (their fig. Jurassic (134 Ma, 156 Ma, 178 Ma, 182 Ma) Varnish does not normally form on carbonate rocks because their surfaces weather too easily. 4) commenced prior to intrusion of the 10.6 Ma Little Chief stock, which was intruded to 3 km below the contemporary surface. Occur in small bars and embankments; locally cemented with lime carbonate caliche. "[12] While the origin of the name is unknown, it has become a tradition for visitors to attach teakettles to the sign with messages written on them. Places of interest in the Death Valley area are mostly located within Death Valley National Park in eastern California. (2005). As summarized in Figure 6, interpretations of the extensional structures at Tucki Mountain show that the footwall of the detachment surface consists of Proterozoic basement and metasediments. Interbedded shale, quartzite, and dolomite in the upper part of the Wood Canyon Formation in the ridge along the north side of Blackwater Wash.Circa 1960. 2 Playa Salt Deposits This page is not available in other languages. Walking into Mosaic Canyon is like walking into a museum. No fossils reported At the junction where the unimproved road from Ubehebe Crater meets roads to the Racetrack Playa and Hunter Mountain (364537N 1173233W / 36.76028N 117.54250W / 36.76028; -117.54250), there is a sign reading "Teakettle Junction. Basement geometry below Death Valley shows a steep-sided basin nearly 5000 m deep. Fundulus and Cyprinodon osteichthyes fish and a number of turtle scutes and rodent teeth and skull have been found. Lack of preserved basinal section equivalent to the Black Mountains Artist Drive Formation and younger formations across the top of the Panamint Range suggests that the range was a high by 8 Ma, although the northwestern flanks were low enough at 10 Ma to begin accumulation of Nova Basin sediments (Fig. This two-stage structural evolution of extensional faulting followed by strike slip is also seen in the Panamint Valley (Andrew and Walker, 2009) and, north of the Inyo Range, in the White Mountains (Stockli et al., 2003) and central Walker Lane belt (Oldow et al., 2008). 2) at 15.6 Ma, followed by a period of slow uplift then renewed normal slip at 2.8 Ma. 25 Hidden Valley Dolomite The Panamint Range is more symmetric, with perhaps a slightly steeper western flank. The change from Basin and Range extension to strike slip between 8 and 3 Ma seen in the Death Valley region is very close to age ranges of changes in similar tectonic settings seen in several other localities in the ECSZ (Stockli et al., 2003; Faulds et al., 2005; Oldow et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2009; Andrew and Walker, 2009). 4), several outcrops of Proterozoic gneissic basement were mapped by Hunt and Mabey (1966) as the footwall of the Amargosa Thrust. This Proterozoic gneiss is overlain by east-tilted Basin and Range fault blocks consisting of Wood Canyon Formation through Ordovician section, like other extensional allochthons in the region and also structurally similar to the east flank of Tucki Mountain (Fig. Their cross section across Tucki Mountain nevertheless remains a classic illustration of the geometry of a core complex. As the resort grew, the marshes and wetlands around it shrank. Unit is 580 m to 1,700 m thick in the NTS area, about 1,000 m thick in the Cottonwood Mountains, 1,150 to 1,350 m thick in the Montgomery Mountains and Nopah Range respectively, about 610 m thick in the norther Last Chance Range, 445 to 900 m thick in the Spring Mountains and southern Sheep Range, and reaches a maximum thickness of 1,633 m in the Groom Range area, Lincoln County. b. Polished marble, chiseled dolomite, and the canyon's namesake mosaic-like fragment formations . Booming Dunes: For reasons not yet fully understood, sand sliding down the slipface of a dune can produce booming noises at startling volumes. (1976) relate to a Proterozoic aulacogen. Contained within its boundaries is a diverse rock record stretching throughout most of geologic time. The dip of the steeper portion of the west side of the basin is 30, and the surface projection of this portion is close to faults at the base of the alluvial fans on the west side of Death Valley (Hunt and Mabey, 1966; USGS Quaternary faults database), again suggesting that the basin is fault-bounded, as shown in Figure 9. Unnamed limestone formation, 725 feet thick, consists of interbedded chert and limestone in thin beds and in about equal proportions. This paper established a robust stratigraphy, including detailed relative stratigraphy of Neogene sediments. This formation contains one of the best stratigraphically documented trilobite faunas in North America. Rocks along the highest points of the northern Black Mountains are volcanics of the Artist Drive formation, including 6.5-m.y.-old rhyolite at the popular tourist overlook, Dantes View (Greene, 1997). The mountain that Dante's View is on is part of the Black Mountains which along with the parallel Panamint Range across the valley from what geologists call a horst and the valley that is called a graben. No fossils. Unlike at the Devils Golf Course, significant rainstorms flood Badwater, covering the salt pan with a thin sheet of standing water. c. White, pink, and red orthoquartzite; laminated to thick-bedded, commonly cross-bedded, and well cemented; has skolithos. 18 to 5 Ma, low-angle Basin and Range extension transported allochthons consisting of Late Proterozoic through Early Paleozoic miogeoclinal section along detachment surfaces that, as extension continued, were exhumed from mid-lower crustal levels to the surface. Miocene The first restoration at 3 Ma removes the graben formed as a result of pull-apart basin formation; strike slip, which would be perpendicular to the page (Topping, 1993), is not incorporated. Total Round Trip Distance: 260 miles. The depth of the sand at its crest is 130140 feet (4043 metres) but this is small compared to other dunes in the area that have sand depths of up to 600700 feet (180210 metres) deep. Hunt and Mabey (1966) summarize data from three borax exploration wells, the deepest reaching 300 m, drilled in Death Valley. Cambrian The NevadaCalifornia state line is labeled NV/CA. Cemen et al. It features megabreccia and other rock formations, petroglyphs, and wildlife of various kinds, including bighorn sheep. Stewart (1983) proposed that the Panamint Range forms the hanging wall of an extensional system that transported the Panamint Range westward from on top or east of the Black Mountains, with the latter forming the footwall of this extensional system. 3 Ma, initiation of the East California Shear Zone started development of the present-day topographic depression of Death Valley, formed as a pull-apart basin associated with this strike slip. Late Proterozoic sediment in the hanging wall of the detachment consists of Wood Canyon Formation. Recommended. It should be noted that 3 formations have been given unofficial names: Warm Spring Granite, Skidoo Granite, and Strozzis Ranch Rhyolite. No fossils. The turtlebacks are megamullions very similar to megamullions adjacent to seafloor spreading centers. The end result of these forces was the formation of marble that was smoothed over thousands of years by wind and water. Modern geologists have documented four major deformational events that faulted and folded the Amargosa Chaos. The main extensional detachment surface is gently folded into the arched topographic surface of Tucki Mountain (Wernicke et al., 1988b). The Noonday Dolomite ( Fig. In the 1930s, geologist Levi F. Noble studied the faulting and folding in the area, dubbing it the "Amargosa chaos" due to the extreme warping of the rock. Dates Date Taken 1960 Summary Death Valley National Park, California. Faulting broke the older, inactive, Basin and Range detachment surfaces, with high-angle transtensional faulting along the Black Mountains front. It was named after a line in the 1934 National Park Service guide book to Death Valley National Monument, which stated that "Only the devil could play golf" on its surface, due to a rough texture from the large halite salt crystal formations.[5]. $85.00. Difficulty: Easy/Moderate. b. Limestone in light and dark beds 1-10 feet thick give striped effect on mountainsides. Areas below sea level are in blue. Shaly and silty units increase in abundance in the upper part of the formation. Telescope Peak can also be seen from here which is 11,331 feet (3,454m) above sea level. CA Death Valley, Gear List. A more recent drill hole near Badwater reached a total depth of 187 m (Lowenstein et al., 1999). Its summit rises 11,331 feet (3,454m) above Badwater Basin, the lowest point in Death Valley at 282 feet (86m). Round Trip Length: 2-7.8 miles (3.2-12.6 km) depending on route. Scolithus ? A better interpretation is that the Hanaupah detachment does indeed correlate with the Tucki detachment and that this detachment tracks up the flank and over the top of the Panamint Range, just like the Tucki detachment tracks over the top of Tucki Mountain. The Neoproterozoic-Cambrian section in Death Valley consists of (in ascending order) the Pahrump Group (Crystal Spring Formation, Beck Spring Dolomite, and Kingston Peak Formation), the Noonday Dolomite, the Johnnie Formation, the Stirling Quartzite, the Wood Canyon Formation (with the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary), the Zabriskie Quartzite, and part of the Carrara Formation (Nolan, 1924 . This relative timing can be seen in Figure 3, where events associated with Basin and Range extension predate deposition of most of the Artist Drive through Funeral Formations. Also in the last few years, several important data sets relevant to a regional understanding of the geology of the Death Valley area have become available. Upper 20 to 25 m consists of slope-forming, light-olive-gray to light-grey weathering, aphanic to finely crystalline dolomite with sparse pelmatozoan fragments; contains zones of yellow-ish-gray silty dolomite; beds are locally ookitic and contain oncoids. This set of narrows is only about a quarter mile in on foot. Data from Smith and Sandwell (1997). [9] There is a parking area and hiking paths.[10]. Interpretations of tectonic settings in Figure 3 come from Snow and Lux (1999) for formations in the Cottonwood Mountains (Tub, Tpn, Tnv), from Knott et al.

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