CGprecamb
PRE-CAMBRIAN (P-C)
1.Southern Death Valley
a. Black mts, Panamint mts
b. both contain Lower and upper P-C rocks
2. Rock Types
a. Early to mid P-C in age
b. Consist of schists and gneisses plus amphibolites and granites (1.8 billion years)
(1) Absolute dates (radiometric) indicate mountain building event-date the metamorphism
(2) extreme folding and faulting
3. Above the P-C lies an unconformity (Great unconformity)
Long period of erosion
a. Rock lying above the unconformity > 7,000 ft thick PAHRUMP SERIES
4. Pahrump Series
a. Crystal Spring Formation-Coarse grained Sedimentary Rocks
Sandstones and Conglomerates with intruded sills
Diabase- coarse grained basalt or fine grained gabbro
b. Beck Spring Dolomite--Limestone and Dolomites
c. Kingston Peak Formation
Quartzite-derived from Sandstones and Conglomerates
d. Depositional Environments
(1) Marine-Shallow
(2) Geosyncline (trough shape) (Miogeocline)
(3) source of sediment was from the E and N.E.
5. Noonday Dolomite (unconformable above the Pahrump series)
6. Sedimentary Rocks lie above the Noonday Dolomite (about10,000
Sandstones, Shales, Dolomites
Stirling Formation
Johnie Formation
thick)
CGprecamb
Transitional through the P-C to Cambrian (Eocambrian)
CGprecamb
PALEOZOIC AGE ROCKS
7. Earliest Cambrian Strata found in Wood Canyon Formation (Contain Trilobites)
8. Mojave Desert-75 miles to SE in Providence mountains is found 1000'of Hard sandstones
Prospect Mountain Quartzite
a. shallow marine deposit
b. lies with great angular unconformity on lower P-C schist, granite and gnesses
c. Prospect mt. Quartzite is latest P-C or Early Cambrian
d. On top of Prospect mt. Quartzite is Latham shale- (mid-Cambrian trilobites)
CORRELATION BETWEEN MOJAVE AND DEATH VALLEY
PROVIDENCE MTS. AND MOJAVE DESERT
(Marble Mountains)
DEATH VALLEY
MOJAVE DESERT