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O v e rb o a rd in the Mojave 20 million years of lakes and wetlands edited and compiled by Robert E. Reynolds and David M. Miller and Abstracts of Proceedings: the 2010 Desert Symposium compiled by Robert E. Reynolds Desert Studies Consortium California State University, Fullerton April, 2010 FRONT COVER : The Troy Lake arm of Manix Lake laps against the Newberry Mountains, January 24, 2010. BACK COVER : Above: The Barstow Formation in the Mud Hills is the type locality for the Barstovian land mammal age of the North American continent. Biostratigraphic ranges of taxa are constrained by dated volcanic ashes and magnetostratigraphic polarity. Below: Strata of the Barstow Formation have been folded, faulted, and planed by erosion in the last 10 million years. The colorful Miocene sediments are unconformably overlain by flat-lying tan arkosic sandstone. TITLE PAGE : Rob Fulton kayaked on Silver Lake in 2005. 2 2010 Desert Symposium Table of contents Overboard in the Mojave: the field guide ......................................................................................................................... 7 Robert E. Reynolds and David M. Miller Environments of nearshore lacustrine deposition in the Pleistocene Lake Manix basin, south-central California ............................................................................................................................................................24 Marith C. Reheis and David M. Miller Stratigraphy and paleontology of the middle to late Pleistocene Manix Formation, and paleoenvironments of the central Mojave River, southern California ....................................................38 George T. Jefferson An interview with Elmer Ellsworth, the first researcher to study the Pleistocene deposits in Afton basin .................................................................................................................................................................................57 Norman Meek A brief comparison of central Mojave Desert lakes: Miocene Barstow Formation and Pleistocene Lake Manix ......................................................................................................................................................................................66 Robert E. Reynolds and George T. Jefferson Reconnaissance geochronology of tuffs in the Miocene Barstow Formation: implications for basin evolution and tectonics in the central Mojave Desert .............................................70 D. M. Miller, S. R. Leslie, J. W. Hillhouse, J. L. Wooden, J. A. Vazquez, and R. E. Reynolds Stratigraphy, age, and depositional setting of the Miocene Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill, central Mojave Desert, California ...................................................................................................85 Shannon R. Leslie, David M. Miller, Joseph L Wooden, and Jorge A.Vazquez Correlation of the Miocene Peach Spring Tuff with the geomagnetic polarity time scale and new constraints on tectonic rotations in the Mojave Desert, California ............................................105 John W. Hillhouse, David M. Miller, and Brent D. Turrin John C. Merriam and the Barstow Syncline .................................................................................................................122 Thomas Schweich The mammalian litho- and biochronology of the Mojave Desert Province ................................................124 Michael O. Woodburne and Robert E. Reynolds Extending the boundaries of the Barstow Formation in the central Mojave Desert .............................148 R. E. Reynolds, D. M. Miller, M. O. Woodburne, and L. B. Albright Miocene and Late Pleistocene stickleback spines from the Mojave Desert, California ......................162 Michael A. Bell and Robert E. Reynolds 75 years of fieldwork in the Barstow Formation by the Raymond Alf Museum of Paleontology ....169 Don Lofgren and Rajsavi Anand Paleomagnetism of Miocene volcanic rocks in the Newberry Mountains, California: vertical-axis rotation and a polarity transition ...........................................................................................................177 John W. Hillhouse, Ray E. Wells, and Brett F. Cox Geology and tectonic development of Alvord Mountain, Mojave Desert, CA ...........................................196 John H. Foster, Ph.D. Camel tracks from the Early Miocene Hector Formation, Cady Mountains, California .....................206 Robert E. Reynolds The Palm Borate Company operations, Calico ..........................................................................................................209 Larry M. Vredenburg 2010 Desert Symposium 3 Geology and ore genesis of epithermal silver–barite mineralization in the central Mojave Desert, California .....................................................................................................................................213 David R. Jessey Biota of the Willow Tank Formation, late Early Cretaceous (Albian) from southern Nevada ..........224 Joshua W. Bonde, David J. Varricchio, and Frankie D. Jackson New marine sites from Member 4D of the Goler Formation of California ...............................................232 Donald L. Lofgren, Brent A. Silver, Theodora A. Hinkle, and Faizan Ali-Khan A juvenile specimen of Archaeohippus mourningi (Perissodactyla: Equidae) from the Cajon Valley Formation (Middle Miocene) of California ......................................................................................241 Darrin C. Pagnac and Robert E. Reynolds Early Pleistocene range extension for Microtus mexicanus in the southwestern Mojave Desert ...248 Robert E. Reynolds The first tungsten-mining boom at Atolia, as recorded in the Randsburg Miner,1904–1907 .........253 Alan Hensher, compiler Thermal infrared airborne hyperspectral detection of ammonia venting on the Calipatria fault in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, Imperial County ...........................................................................................273 David K. Lynch, David M. Tratt, Kerry N. Buckland, Jeffrey L. Hall, Brian P. Kasper, Michael G. Martino, Luis J. Ortega, Karl Westberg, Stephen J. Young, and Patrick D. Johnson Abstracts of proceedings: the 2010 Desert Symposium .......................................................................................280 Robert E. Reynolds, compiler Desert preservation: when is enough enough? ...................................................................................................280 Richard Crowe Geochronology and paleoenvironment of pluvial Harper Lake, Mojave Desert, California ......281 Anna L. Garcia, Jeffrey R. Knott, Jordon Bright, Shannon Mahan Coalescent analysis of fifteen nuclear loci reveals low genetic diversity and Pleistocene speciation in the Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard, Uma scoparia .......................................................................282 Andrew Gottscho Water on the Moon: how we know and what it means ...................................................................................282 David E. Harker Expanding the late Oligocene/early Miocene tectonic, magmatic and sedimentary history in the South Bristol Mountains ....................................................................................................................................283 Janet Harvey, Joann Stock, and David Miller The effects of drought on host plant canopy condition and survival of the endangered Astragalus jaegerianus (Fabaceae) ...........................................................................................................................284 T. R. Huggins, B. A. Prigge, M. R. Sharifi, and P. W. Rundel Pliocene and Pleistocene lakes of Death Valley, California .........................................................................284 Jeffrey R. Knott, Joseph C. Liddicoat, Elmira Wan, David Wahl, and Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki Paleomagnetic and radiocarbon record of the Searles Lake Formation (subunits A and ab) at Poison Canyon, San Bernardino County, California....................................................................................285 Jeffrey R. Knott, Joseph C. Liddicoat, and Robert S. Coe Stratigraphy, age, and depositional setting of the Miocene Barstow Formation at Harvard Hill, central Mojave Desert, California ................................................................................................285 Shannon R. Leslie, David M. Miller, Joseph L. Wooden, and Jorge A Vazquez A preliminary review of the effects of utility-scale renewable energy development on terrestrial wildlife in the desert southwest with emphasis on the desert tortoise ...........................286 Jeff Lovich 4 2010 Desert Symposium Aerial surveys using consumer electronics: fast, cheap and best of all: useful! ..............................288 David K. Lynch, Kenneth W. Hudnut, and David S. P. Dearborn Comparison of two Pliocene (Blancan) vertebrate fossil assemblages: Panaca Local Fauna (Lincoln County, Nevada) and Hagerman Local Fauna (Twin Falls County, Idaho) ........................288 Vicki Meyers and Stephen Rowland Reconnaissance geochronology of Miocene basins in the central Mojave Desert; implications for basin evolution and tectonics....................................................................................................289 D. M. Miller, S. R. Leslie, J. W. Hillhouse, J. L. Wooden, J. A. Vazquez, and R.E. Reynolds Physiological responses of Mojave Desert shrubs to simulated summer stream channel
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