Middle and Lower Ordovician Formations in Southernmost Nevada and Adjacent California
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Middle and Lower Ordovician Formations in Southernmost Nevada and Adjacent California GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1180-C Middle and Lower Ordovician Formations in Southernmost Nevada and Adjacent California By REUBEN JAMES ROSS, JR. With a section on PALEOTECTONIC SIGNIFICANCE OF ORDOVICIAN SECTIONS SOUTH OF THE LAS VEGAS SHEAR ZONE By REUBEN JAMES ROSS, JR., and C. R. LONGWELL CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHIC PALEONTOLOGY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1 1 80- C UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1964 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director The U.8| Geological Survey Library catalog cards for this publication appear after index. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 CONTENTS Abstract.. _ ______________________________________________________ Cl Introduction. ____________________________________________________ 1 Scope and extent of investigation,. _ _ _ _ ________________________ 1 Acknowledgments. _ ___________________________________________ 5 Pogonip Group and Eureka Quartzite _ _________________________ 6 Stratigraphic sections.. ____________________________________________ 8 Arrow Canyon Range, Nev_ _ _ ________________________________ 8 Black Gate Canyon, Sheep Range, Nev- _--__-__--__--_-____-____ 14 Nevada Test Site.___________________ _ _______________________ 16 Meiklejohn Peak, Bare Mountain quadrangle, Nevada. _._________« 24 Quartz Spring area, California- ___-_---____--_____--_______-____ 32 Northern Inyo Mountains, Calif _ _-_-__-___--__-__-_-______-____ 35 Panamint Butte quadrangle, California- _________________________ 41 Apex siding, Nevada- ___-________---_---__----_--_--_.___--___ 44 Spotted Range, Nev., southwest end- -_------___---____________- 47 Southern Specter Range, Nev_ _______-------__--__-_-______--__ 50 Eastern La Madre Mountain, Nev__ _ ___________________________ 53 West of Red Rock Canyon, Nev_ _ ______________________________ 55 Upper part of Lucky Strike Canyon, Nev_ _______________________ 56 Lower part of Lucky Strike Canyon, Nev_ _______________________ 59 West-northwest of Lee Guard Station, Nev_ ____-___-________---__ 61 Rawhide Mountain, Nev __ _____--_--_--_-_____--_---____--___ 64 West side of Antelope Valley, Nev_ ____--_-________-_--_________ 69 Beaver Creek, Utah---___--_-____--------_--__----_-__--__--__ 70 Stratigraphic summary. ____________-_-________---_---_--.__.-_____ 72 Continuity of lithic units. ____________________________________ 72 Middle Ordovician stages. _____________________________________ 73 The Whiterock Stage_-_____-_________-_-__-_-_..-_-_----__-____ 74 Faunal zones and anomalies in the Antelope Valley Limestone. _____ 78 Desmorthis Zone. _______-_____-_-_---__________-______-_-_ 78 Orihidiella Zone. __________________________________________ 78 Anomalorthis Zone_ _______________________________________ 79 Palliseria Zone_ __________________________________________ 79 Rhysostrophia Zone_ _______________________________________ 80 Anomalies in f aunal zones. _ ________________________________ 83 Evidence of the corals. _____-__--_________-.._-_-______---_- 84 Age of the Eureka Quartzite--___-----------_---..___--_-__-_---_ 85 Age of Pogonip-Eureka boundary.. __________________________ 86 Age of the Eureka-Ely Springs boundary ____________________ 86 Conclusions. _____________________________________________________ 87 Paleotectonic significance of Ordovician sections south of the Las Vegas shear zone, by Reuben James Ross, Jr., and C. R. Longwell __ _______ 88 References cited __________________________________________________ 93 Index. .___ __________ ____ __ _________________ ____ -.__-_- 97 m IV CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS Page PLATE 1. Stratigraphic sections of Ordovician rocks, showing position of fossil collections from the Arrow Canyon Range, Nevada, on the east, to the Inyo Mountains, California___________ In pocket FIGURE 1. Index map____________________________________________ C4 2. Diagrammatic stratigraphic section at Apex siding, Nevada. _ 46 3. Partial stratigraphic section in the Spotted Range, Nev______ 50 4. Partial stratigraphic section in the southern Specter Range, Nev________________________________ 51 5. Diagrammatic stratigraphic section at Rawhide Mountain, Nev__-_______________________-__ __ 65 6. Partial stratigraphic section on the east side of Martin Ridge, west side of Antelope Valley, Nev_______-____-___-_-_-_- 70 7. Partial stratigraphic section on Beaver Creek, Utah.________ 71 8. Correlations within the Middle Ordovician according to Cooper (1956). __________________________________ 74 9. Revised correlations within the Middle Ordovician of central Nevada. _________________________ _ 77 10. Hypothetical representation of the shift of Middle Ordovician facies across southern Nevada and adjacent California_____ 81 11. Map showing positions of measured sections relative to struc tural elements near the Las Vegas shear zone.____________ 89 12. Isopach map of the Eureka Quartzite._____________________ 91 TABLE Page TABLE 1. Location of measured sections__________________________ C2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHIC PALEONTOLOGY MIDDLE AND LOWER ORDOVICIAN FORMATIONS IN SOUTHERNMOST NEVADA AND ADJACENT CALIFORNIA By REUBEN JAMES Ross, JR. ABSTRACT Physical and paleontologic stratigraphy of the low Middle Ordovician strata of southern Nevada and adjoining California indicates that only the OrtMdiella and Anomalorthis Zones of the Whiterock Stage have significant time value. The Palliseria Assemblage Zone is younger on the west of the report area than on the east. It is related to a migrating lithic facies that crosses other time zones. The RhysostropJiia Zone is removed from the Whiterock and is assigned to the Marmor Stage. Whiterock, Marmor, and Porterfield strata are considered conformable with a transition zone possibly representing the Ashby Stage. Physical stratigraphy corroborates LongwelFs estimate of 25^0 miles of right lateral movement on the Las Vegas shear zone and of several thrust plates shingled to the south of the shear. In this southern area, evidence suggests that the upper sands of the Eureka Quartzite had a northerly source. INTRODUCTION This report summarizes the distribution of rock types and enclosed fossils of Early and Middle Ordovician age in southern Nevada and adjacent California. It is based in large part on six sections measured along an east-west line from the Arrow Canyon Range, Nev., to the Inyo Mountains, Calif., (fig. 1; table 1). The infor mation from these sections has been supplemented by data from others both to the north and to the south. SCOPE AND EXTENT OF INVESTIGATION Attention has been given primarily to the upper part of the Pogo- nip Group and its relation to the overlying Eureka Quartzite. Several problems involve correlation of the faunas of the Antelope Valley Limestone of the Pogonip and have continentwide significance. These problems cannot be solved with the information presented here. Not only is additional collecting of fossils needed in some of the localities already visited, but additional regional data on lateral Cl C2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHIC PALEONTOLOGY a ^ a ej o» ssa>a> ssoo s => g-cs OW zz I so a> ,I-H . fitiy M 3"S ect he i <» « ^ Ss i ,i ^| « i fl v. i _^ I t 11 ^ .E31 C3 © 1 o ^ 1 ^^ 0 § PRO: i § >Oi "* I. a 3 ^ ^ « ^H Z H 2 43" 43 / * % IT S § 03 QQ 03 ^ ^ * ^ fc S CO 10 ^ V ' CO O> O rH COC4 CO rH ORDOVICIAN FORMATIONS, NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA C3 D. j 1 o § ft i i Cs i §§3 o> iRoss,R.J, n O d is-1 I 2 § O "as., £ 1 n . a . a> d ^3^ at fcOsis cB fill mi? liilf 1° O "20 -g.a S'i "M (-r ^ s *j 1d "sGM aisi 5 Hi ! ffi <1 EHfq f 6s MN Oa oci "" tosection! 1aeareaas tD IO ^ ScD C g g s"S S 03 H W 03 DQCQ CQ CQ CQDQDQ CQ i^HGQ COCO OS O OC^tO CC 51-1 CO ri P cf -2.2 II OO OO O>O »-l CO CO COCO CO CO* * C4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHIC PALEONTOLOGY extent of both faunas and lithologies are required. Sections are needed for the western Spring Mountains and the Pahrump area of Nevada and for the Grapevine Mountains and the area near Pyramid Peak in California. This is, therefore, a progress report in which I have attempted to present some of the bothersome problems in regional correlation and to make available the stratigraphic data obtained to date (1962). OREGON j IDAHO ___________ j N 1 .5 .4 I .6 * M n ' .9 -0 .39 .11 .1 10 ^o 12 .88 7 .4'3 .^5 *16 40. *M .13.17 i ^t^23 20-18-19 &.£- w NEVADA '6 .9 .10 2624 12- .11 - ?7 1C, 14J 28. 29 18 »15 30^35 16. Qc^i \ \ .19 34 -J/ N .20 .22 21^33 17 38 .24 35* -23 v 25» oc 49 UTAH r N v -*.26 .28 . V .29 \ \x 2 31. .44 *51 _ _ - .if-'-r.-7^f^47f438° X4^'«V-v; C A L I F 0 R N I A ARIZONA N\ ) 0 50 100 200 MILES N N i i i ^ \' FIGURE 1. Index map, showing positions of Ordovieian sections in the Basin Ranges. The area covered by this report is outlined. Numbers indicate the localities discussed in this report and listed in table 1. Numbered stratigraphic localities not discussed in table 1 are discussed in another report (R. J. Ross, Jr., 1964, table 1). Line along which lie sections for plate 1 is indicated. ORDOVICIAN FORMATIONS, NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA C5 Without the two-volume monograph on "Chazyan and Related Brachiopods" by Cooper (1956), 155 genera and hundreds of species would have remained obscure or unknown. The availability of an authoritative work covering one of the most important elements of the fossil fauna permitted a much greater proportion of time to be devoted to stratigraphy than would otherwise have been possible. A few undescribed species have been found in this study as might be expected, but they are to be covered in a later taxonomic report. In connection with his study, Cooper revised the old threefold division (Chazy, Black Eiver, and Trenton) of the Middle Ordovician to accommodate several f aunal zones that seemed to be intermediate between them. His revision resulted in six stages (p. C73). The Chazy was retained but renamed the Marmor, and the Whiterock was interposed between it and the Early Ordovician.