2009 Landscape Evolution at an Active Plate Margin
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Landscape Evolution at an Active Plate Margin edited and compiled by David R. Jessey and Robert E. Reynolds Desert Studies Consortium, California State University, Fullerton and LSA Associates, Inc., Riverside, CA April, 2009 In Memoriam This volume is dedicated to Bobbe Adams who, along with her late husband Bob, helped found the Mojave Desert Quaternary Research Conference that has evolved into the Desert Research Symposium. Bob and Bobbe’s influence continues through the schol- arship they established for the best student paper presented at each year’s symposium. Bobbe also donated her husband’s geologic field notes, maps, and photographs to the Mojave River Valley Museum in Barstow, where they are available for research. Front cover: Hot Creek, view toward the Sierra Nevada crest and detail of hot springs. Reynolds photographs. Back cover: Convict Lake. David R. Jessey photograph. Terminal and lateral moraines in the Sierra Nevada. Reynolds photograph. Title page: 1872 Lone Pine earthquake scarp. David R. Jessey photograph. Table of contents Landscape evolution at an active plate margin: a field trip to the Owens Valley .................................7 David R. Jessey and Robert E. Reynolds Stolzite and jixianite from Darwin, Inyo County, California ................................................................ 60 Paul M. Adams Geology and mining history of Cerro Gordo ghost town ..................................................................... 63 Suzanne M. Baltzer Significance of the Independence dike swarm in understanding the tectonic evolution of the Owens Valley and western Basin and Range—a summary .............................................................................. 71 Suzanne M. Baltzer Paleozoic section at Mazourka Canyon, Inyo County, California: day trip guide ............................... 82 Suzanne M. Baltzer and David R. Berry Lower Cambrian–Precambrian stratigraphy and fossil fauna of the Westgard Pass area ................. 89 Suzanne M. Baltzer and David R. Berry The Olancha Dunes, Owens Valley, California ....................................................................................... 92 Mary Bates Triassic ammonoids from Union Wash, Inyo County, California .......................................................... 95 David Berry Archaeocyathids from Westgard Pass, Inyo County, California ........................................................... 97 David Berry Basaltic volcanism in the southern Owens Valley, California .............................................................. 98 Jessica J. Bruns, Cami Jo Anderson, and David R.Jessey Vegetation of the Owens Valley and the White Mountains ................................................................ 107 Leah Gardner The rush from the Kern River mines into the Owens Valley ............................................................... 117 Alan Hensher Montgomery City................................................................................................................................... 133 Alan Hensher The Blue Chert Mine: an epithermal gold occurrence in the Long Valley Caldera ........................... 135 David R Jessey Tectonic implications of basaltic volcanism within the central Owens Valley, California ............... 140 David R. Jessey, Matthew W. Lusk, and Ashley Varnell-Lusk The Goler Club ....................................................................................................................................... 148 Don Lofgren, Randall Nydam, James Honey, Barry Albright, Carter McGee, and Stephen Manning 2009 Desert Symposium 3 Fish Creek rhythmites and aperiodic temporal sedimentation ......................................................... 159 David K. Lynch and Paul M. Adams Holocene slip rate and tectonic role of the western Garlock fault .................................................... 165 Sally F. McGill New Pleistocene faunas from Kern River terrace deposits ................................................................ 172 Robert E. Reynolds Owens pupfish: a brief overview .......................................................................................................... 176 Allan Schoenherr Recent records of fossil fish from eastern Owens Lake ...................................................................... 177 Gerald R. Smith, Robert E. Reynolds, and Richard J. Serrano Competing mesquite and creosote dune systems near Stovepipe Wells .........................................184 Richard A. (Tony) VanCuren The Oak Creek mudflow of July 12, 2008, Independence, Inyo County ............................................192 Dave Wagner, Margie DeRose, and Jim Stroh Proceedings of the 2009 Desert Symposium .....................................................................................198 Evidence that the Big Pine fault is not a segment of the Owens Valley fault and its significance for northern Owens Valley active tectonics ....................................................................................................................................198 Kim M. Bishop Microbial biomass in clays from arid/ hyper-arid regions: testing for habitability in desert Mars analogs .....198 Rosalba Bonaccorsi and Christopher P. McKay Water level monitoring in the southern Amargosa ................................................................................................199 Brian Brown Gamma-Ray measurements of fissures along the Owens Valley fault scarp at Lone Pine .................................200 George C. Copenhaver, Jr. Population dynamics of the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) .....................................................................................200 James W. Cornett A perspective on desert vehicle recreation and proposed expansion of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center .............................................................................................................................................................200 Richard Crowe A photographer’s exploration .....................................................................................................................................202 Walter Feller Geochronology and paleoenvironment of pluvial Harper Lake, Mojave Desert, California .............................203 Anna L. Garcia, Jeffrey R. Knott, Jordon Bright, and Shannon Mahan The Kit Fox Hills, Death Valley, CA: a propagating pressure ridge adjacent to the Northern Death Valley fault zone ................................................................................................................................................................................203 Jeffrey Knott, Andrei Sarna-Wojcicki, Joseph C. Liddicoat, and Alan Deino Natural formations and cultural behavior III ...........................................................................................................204 Frederick W. Lange 4 2009 Desert Symposium Evaluation of minor and trace elements of the Wilson Creek Formation ............................................................204 Daniel Lee, Elmira Wan, David Wahl, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, and Jeffrey R. Knott Reproductive ecology of female Sonora mud turtles (Kinosternon sonoriense) in Montezuma Well, Arizona: optimal egg size in a suboptimal environment? .......................................................................................................205 Sheila Madrak, Jeff Lovich, Charles Drost, Anthony Monatesti, Dennis Casper, and Mohammed Znari Chronology of pluvial Lake Coyote, California, and implications for Mojave River paleohydrology ..............205 David M. Miller and Stephanie L. Dudash Assessment of plant height and cover using LIDAR in the Mojave Desert ..........................................................206 April Newlander, Darren Sandquist, John Carroll, David Bedford, and David Miller ..................................206 America’s resources and garbage ...............................................................................................................................206 Jane Nielson and Howard Wilshire Desert writers: the conservationists ...........................................................................................................................207 Ruth Nolan The Art of Nature: images from the wildlands of southern Nevada ......................................................................208 Sharon K. Schafer The Ashford brothers, their lives as miners in Death Valley and as residents of Dublin Gulch ........................208 Susan Sorrells Medicinal plants of the Mojave Desert ......................................................................................................................208 Melody Weaver War in our back yards ..................................................................................................................................................209 Howard Wilshire and Jane Nielson 2009 Desert Symposium 5 6 2009 Desert Symposium Landscape evolution at an active plate margin: a field trip to the Owens Valley David R. Jessey, Geological Sciences Department, California Polytechnic University—Pomona, drjessey@ csupomona.edu; and Robert E. Reynolds, LSA Associates, Inc., Riverside CA 92507, bob.reynolds@lsa- assoc.com Day 1 turn the western Mojave into a solid sea of colorful Theme: Viscous volcanics and associated annuals (yellow desert dandelion, gold coreopsis, tectonic structures blue lupine, and red paintbrush). Look for kestrals, with contributions from D. R. Jessey,