Rock-Floor of Intermont Plains of the Aeid Region1
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BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA ROCK-FLOOR OF INTERMONT PLAINS OF THE AEID REG IO N 1 BY CHARLES E. KEYES (Read before the Society December SO, 1907) CONTENTS I’age Introductory ................................................................................................................ 03 Foundation of the arid plains................................................................................ 64 Definition of “bolson”........................................................................................ 64 Jornada del Muerto as the type................................................................. .. 65 Substructure of the Estancia plains.............................................................. 67 Las Vegas of N evada....................................................................................... 68 Inter-relationships of intermont plains of California.............................. .. 69 Course of the Colorado river.......................................................................... 70 Surface of the Colorado plateau.................................................................... 72 Bolsons of northern Mexico......................................................... .................... 72 Debris of the bolson plains.............................................................................. 73 Significance of a thinly mantled rock-floor...................................... ................... 74 Origin of the rock-floor surface.......................................................... ................... 74 Peneplanation .................................................................................................... 74 Planation independent of sealevel................................................................. 76 Sheetflood erosion ............................................................................................. 78 Eolian erosion in arid regions........................................................................ 81 Playa deposits ................................................................................................... 83 Arid plains of other regions............................................................................ 85 Plauorasion ......................................................................................................... 86 Geographic cycle in an arid climate...................................................................... 86 Recapitulation ........................................................................................................... 91 I ntroductory The geologic structure oF the arid region comprising the Great Basin oF western America and the northern part oF the Mexican taBleland is sup posed to Be characteristic oF that anomalous class oF geotectonics known as the Basin Range, or Block Mountain, type. Its distinctive Feature is commonly considered as the product oF normal Faulting on a prodigious 1 Manuscript received By the Secretary oF the Society January 11, 1908. VIII— Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 19, 1907 (63) Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/19/1/63/3412223/BUL19-0063.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 6 4 C. R. KEYES----INTERMONT PLAINS OP THE ARID REGION scale. Lately, the long accepted opinions regarding the Basin Range structure have Been Brought seriously into question. As a result a new interest in the suBject has Been kindled. That the tectonics oF the regions mentioned have never received the careFul consideration that the natural advantages For study would seem to demand is due partly to a singular notion which has prevailed From the First, that these regions present structures oF great simplicity and hence require little detailed.examination. Physiographically the dominant Feature oF the Great Basin and the Mexican taBleland is the plain. The most conspicuous Features are the mountains. These, like isolated, loFty piles, rise aBruptly aBove the even, sea-like plains as do volcanic isles out oF the ocean. Areally the highlands occupy much the less space. One-FiFth oF the surFace oF the region is mountain; the plains cover Four-FiFths. To the casual oBserver the smooth surFace oF the plains appears to have Few exposures oF Bedrock and to Be everywhere deeply mantled By loose, and For the most part rather coarse, rock-waste. The mountains, on the other hand, are Bare and Free oF vegetation, permitting their structure to Be displayed as nowhere else in the world outside oF arid countries. The geologic structure oF these regions has Been in the pa^t largely inFerred From the parts protruding aBove the level oF the plains, while those por tions Beneath that level have Been generally regarded as inaccessiBle and have Been almost altogether neglected. The general tectonics oF the two regions under consideration and the Basin Range structures need not Be taken into account now, For the reason that they will receive special attention in another place. In the present connection only the characters oF the suBstructure oF the plains is to Be considered. F o u n d a t io n o p t h e a r id P l a in s DEFINITION OF “BOLSON” Although views regarding the geologic structure oF the Great Basin region and oF the Mexican taBleland have diFFered more or less in details, there has Been a consensus oF opinion that the mountains are Being worn down to Build up the intervening plains, and that Finally the Former will Be all carried down into the latter. A common opinion is the one ad vanced By Le Conte, which regards the mountains as the elevated margins oF huge tilted Blocks and the plains the depressed and Buried portions oF the same Blocks.2 Starting with this conception, it is an easy step to the 2 American Journal oF Science (3), vol. xxxviii, 1889, p, 259; also Elements Geology, 5th edition, 1904, p. 242. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/19/1/63/3412223/BUL19-0063.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 DEFINITION OP “BOLSON” 6 5 conclusion that the plains are all deeply covered By mountain waste, even to depths oF thousands oF Feet. At First glance on the ground such an explanation oF the phenomenon presented seems to leave little room For reFutation. So Firmly has this notion prevailed that Hill, in 1900, in descriBing the physiographical Features oF the Greater Texas region (including New Mexico and Colorado east oF the Rio Grande), gave it technical Fixity By calling the intermont plains in the New Mexican part oF the district “bolsons,” deriving the name From the Spanish title For these plains, which signiFies a purse, or Basin without outlet. Hill’s deFinition is essen tially as Follows: “These plains, or basins, as they are sometimes called, are largely structural in origin. Bolsons are generally floored with loose, unconsolidated sediments derived from the higher peripheral region.. Along the margins of these plains are talus hills and fans of boulders and other wash deposits brought down by the mountain freshets. The sediments of some of the bolsons may be of lacus trine origin. It is essential, in both the geographic and the geologic discussion, to bear in mind the distinction between bolson plains and plateau plains. The plateau plains and the mountains are genetically related, the strata composing the one being bent onto or flexed out of the other. The bol son plains, on the other hand, are newer and later topographic features, con sisting of structural valleys between mountains or plateau plains, which have been partially filled with debris derived from the adjacent eminences. The plateau plains are usually destructional stratum plains. The bolson plains are constructional detritus plains filling old structural troughs.” The types which Hill selected to illustrate his deFinition and which he speciFically descriBed were the Hueco, Sandoval (Estancia plains), and the Jornada del Muerto Basins, all oF which are in eastern New Mexico. Some minor Basins Farther to the southward were also BrieFly mentioned. JORNADA DEL MUERTO AS THE TYPE ABout the time oF the appearance oF the Hill memoir I was engaged in making geologic inquiries into the underground water supplies oF the region occupied By the three great Bolsons mentioned. These investiga tions were undertaken For three diFFerent railways, and were soon aFter ward supplemented By similar inquiries For several mining companies. This work was not hurried geological reconnaissance, But careFul investi gation extending over a period oF several years with residence in the region. Its results were .measuraBle quantities, demanding expression in Feet and dollars. Some oF the more important oF these results have Been already puBlished in a memoir on the “Underground water conditions oF Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/19/1/63/3412223/BUL19-0063.pdf by guest on 01 October 2021 6 6 C. R. KEYES---- INTERMONT PLAINS OP THE ARID REGION the Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico,”3 “Geotectonics oF the Estancia plains/’4 and other shorter papers, to which reFerence may Be made For many details Bearing upon the suBjects here discussed. As early as 1903 I endeavored to show,5 in a BrieF article on the “Geo logical structure oF New Mexican Bolson plains,” that (1), so Far at least as the Jornada del Muerto and Estancia plains were concerned, Hill’s in terpretations were wholly incorrect; (2) instead oF Being structural val leys deeply covered By mountain waste, the rock surFace oF the two Basins reFerred to was worn out on the Beveled