The Tufas of Pyramid Lake, Nevada
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Prepared in cooperation with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Pyramid Lake Museum Visitor Center The Tufas of Pyramid Lake, Nevada U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1267 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey The Tufas of Pyramid Lake, Nevada By Larry Benson Prepared in cooperation with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Pyramid Lake Museum Visitor Center U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1267 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey ii U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Charles G. Groat, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, 2004 Free on application to: U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/ Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Suggested citation: Benson, L.V., 2004, The Tufas of Pyramid Lake, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1267, 14p. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Benson, Larry V. The tufas of Pyramid Lake, Nevada I by Larry Benson p. em/ -- (U.S. Geological Survey circular ; 1267) "Prepared in cooperation with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Pyramid Lake Museum Visitor Center." ISBN 0-607-97555-5 (alk. paper) 1. Rocks, Carbonate--Nevada--Pyramid Lake. 2. Calcium carbonate--Nevada--Pyramid Lake. 3. Geology, Stratigraphic--Quaternary. 4. Geology--Nevada--Pyramid Lake. 5. Petrology--Nevada--Pyramid Lake. 6. Pyramid Lake (Nev.)--Geology. I. Title. II. Series OE471.15.C3B46 2004 552' .5--dc22 2004049410 iii Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Tufa Varieties and Forms ............................................................................................................................. 3 The Elevation of Tufa Deposits And Their Relation To Overflow Points ............................................ 10 The Terraces of Anaho Island .................................................................................................................. 10 Elevational History of Pyramid Lake/Lake Lahontan ............................................................................. 12 Recent Tufa Formation ............................................................................................................................... 12 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................. 13 References ................................................................................................................................................... 14 Figures Figure 1. Photo of Pyramid Island along the east shore of Pyramid Lake ........................................ 1 Figure 2. Schematic of Pluvial Lake Lahontan at its highstand about 15,000 years ago ................ 2 Figure 3. Graph of lake elevation in the Pyramid Lake subbasin between 35,000 and 9,500 calen- dar years before present (cal. yr. B.P.) .................................................................................. 2 Figure 4. Map of locations of tufa sites described in this report ........................................................ 2 Figure 5. Photo of dense tufa coating volcanic cobbles in the Terraced Hills area ........................ 3 Figure 6. Photo of tubular tufas from the Popcorn Rocks site ............................................................ 3 Figure 7. Photo of tufa pillows at Doghead Rock composed of branching tufa (B) and dense (D) tufa pendants and nodules ......................................................................................................... 3 Figure 8. Photo of thinolite crystals exposed atthe base of the Blanc Tetons site ......................... 4 Figure 9. Photo of calcium-carbonate cemented thinolite crystals at the Pelican Point site ....... 4 Figure 10. Photo of large mushroom tufas at the Pelican Point site composed of layers of broc- coli-like branching tufa and dense tufa nodules .................................................................... 5 Figure 11. Photo of layers of beachrock adjacentto and north of Indian Head Rock ....................... 5 Figure 12. Photo of the southern Blanc Tetons mound .......................................................................... 6 Figure 13. Photo of tufa pillows making up a reef-like tufa on Anaho Island ..................................... 6 Figure 14. Photo of tufa tubes at the base of Dog Head Rock .............................................................. 6 Figure 15. Photo of broken tufa barrel at Needles Rocks site .............................................................. 6 Figure 16. Photo of reef-like tufa sheets and drapes near the summit of Anaho Island ................... 6 Figure 17. Photo of multiple generations of thinolite crystals inside an overturned tufa barrel at the Needles Rocks site ............................................................................................................... 7 Figure 18. Photo of the Indian Head Rock tufa mound ........................................................................... 7 Figure 19. Photo of a tufa mound at the Needles Rocks site composed of interlocking spheres and barrels ................................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 20. Photo of the Pyramid Island tufa mound ............................................................................... 8 Figure 21. Photo of the tufa reefs coating Marble Bluff ......................................................................... 8 Figure 22. Photo of cross-sectional view through a tufa reef at Marble Bluff .................................. 8 Figure 23. Schematic sequence of tufa deposition at the Blanc Tetons site .................................... 9 Figure 24. Photo of the Needles Rocks site at the north end of Pyramid Lake .................................. 9 iv Figure 25. Schematic of the relation of tufa dome heights and Marble Bluff tufa varieties and forms to overflow (sill) elevations .......................................................................................... 10 Figure 26. Photo of Anaho Island ............................................................................................................ 11 Figure 27. Photo of broken tufa mound at Dog Head Rock showing tubes and surrounding tufa that have been thoroughly cemented with younger calcium carbonate .......... " ............. 12 Figure 28. Photo of tufa mound at the Needles Rocks site, whose base has been heavil ... cemented with younger calcium carbonate .......................................................... " ............ 13 The Tufas of Pyramid Lake, Nevada By La rry Benson ABSTRACT Pyramid Lake is the site of some of the Earth's most spectacular tufa deposits. The tufas are com ). posed of calcium carbonate (CaC03 The large tufa mounds, reef- and sheet-like tufas formed within Pyramid Lake, between 26,000 and 13,000 years (yr) ago, when the lake was part of pluvial Lake Lahontan. The mounds are composed of large interlocking spheres that contain multiple genera tions of a crystalline (thinolite) variety of tufa. Over time many of the mounds have fallen apart, exposing an internal network of tubes. The tubular structures are thought to have been created when springs discharged from the bottom of Pyramid Figure 1. Pyramid Island along the east shore of Pyramid Lake. The Lake, supplying calcium that combined with car white band along the shore is composed of calcium carbonate bonate dissolved in lake water to form the mounds. that precipitated from the lake when its level was at or near its The reef- and sheet-like deposits contain pillow and overflow point to the Winnemucca Lake subbasin. pendant forms made up of a branching variety of tufa that often grades into dense layers or nodules. Dense layers of tufa also coat cobbles and boulders 1995). When the jet stream passes over the basin, that were deposited in near-shore shallow-water Pyramid Lake increases in size in response to the areas. The thickest tufa deposits formed at lake-bot increased precipitation that accompanies the frontal tom sites of ground-water discharge and at overflow systems that define the boundary of the jet stream elevations' where the lake was held at near-constant (Benson and others, 1995). The tufa deposits that levels for long periods of time. border Pyramid Lake are unique in terms of their size and beauty. By drawing attention to their his tory of formation we hope to alert the public to their special nature and the need for their preservation. Tufa is a rock composed of calcium carbonate ) INTRODUCTION (CaC03 that forms at the mouth of a spring, from lake water, or from a mixture of spring and lake water. Tufas in the Pyramid Lake subbasin were The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation first mentioned in the literature by Fremont (1845), with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, has obtained who erroneously believed they had formed above radiocarbon ages of