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(Telescope Peak Quadrangle), Death Valley Area, California: Summary

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(Telescope Peak Quadrangle), Death Valley Area, California: Summary Stratigraphy, structure, and metamorphism in the central Panamint Mountains (Telescope Peak quadrangle), Death Valley area, California: Summary THEODORE C. LABOTKA* 1 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, ARDEN L. ALBEE J California 91125 MARVIN A. LANPHERE Branch of Isotope Geology, U.S. Geological Survey, 245 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 S. DOUGLAS McDOWELL Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan 49931 INTRODUCTION Spring Dolomite, and Kingston Peak Formation — are recognized in the central Panamint Mountains, but the thicknesses and The Telescope Peak quadrangle is located in the central Pana- lithologies of these units show considerable variation along strike, mint Mountains, which form the western boundary of the central and this variability indicates that the Pahrump Group was depo- part of Death Valley, California. The central Panamint Mountains sited in a topographically irregular and tectonically active basin. are composed of lower Precambrian gneiss and schist and upper The Crystal Spring Formation rests depositionally on lower Pre- Precambrian sedimentary rocks. These rocks were metamorphosed cambrian rocks and generally consists of siliceous, calcite marble during late Mesozoic time and deformed during late Mesozoic and overlain by argillite, micaceous schist, and arenite. Dolomite mar- Cenozoic time. The stratigraphy of the upper Precambrian rocks ble occurs on Sentinel Peak and in Jail Canyon, and garnet-chlorite indicates a tectonically active depositional environment during the schist makes up the upper part of the formation in Tuber Canyon. initiation of the Cordilleran geosyncline; the petrology of the The Crystal Spring Formation is 200 to 300 m thick throughout metamorphic rocks indicates that the metamorphism occurred most of the quadrangle, but it is greater than 1,000 m thick in along a gradient with a low dp/dT; and the structure suggests an Tuber Canyon, where the base is not exposed. The formation also evolution from a compressional to an extensional tectonic regime thins toward World Beater dome and is absent from the west and during late Mesozoic and Tertiary time. south sides of the dome. This report summarizes the results of geologic mapping in the Beck Spring Dolomite conformably overlies the Crystal Spring Telescope Peak quadrangle, and Figure 1 is a generalized version of Formation and generally consists of thick-bedded to massive the geologic map of the Telescope Peak 15' quadrangle by Albee, dolomite marble, ~200 m thick. Thin laminae and stromatolites Labotka, Lanphere, and McDowell (1980). A more complete dis- are preserved on Sentinel Peak, and the upper part of the formation cussion of the geology occurs in Part II of this article. locally contains intraformational conglomerate and oolite beds. The dolomite is absent in Tuber Canyon and is replaced by a se- STRATIGRAPHY quence of clastic, siliceous, calcite marble interbedded with argillite and metasiltstone. This sequence grades upward with no apparent The oldest rocks in the Panamint Mountains consist of an stratigraphic break into rocks of the Kingston Peak Formation, and l,800-m.y.-old complex of augen gneiss, quartzofeldspathic gneiss, it is here included within the Kingston Peak Formation. Beck Spring and muscovite-biotite-quartz schist. Lower Precambrian rocks Dolomite also thins toward World Beater dome and is absent from consist of quartz schist along the western margin of the range south the west and south sides of the dome. of Happy Canyon; quartzofeldspathic gneiss occurs in the core of Along the western margin of the north-northwest—trending an- the north-northwest—trending anticline north of Happy Canyon; ticline, Beck Spring Dolomite interfingers with overlying clastic and augen gneiss occurs in World Beater dome, which is at the rocks of the 800- to 1,000-m-thick Kingston Peak Formation, but south end of the anticline in Happy and Pleasant Canyons. The locally the Kingston Peak Formation lies disconformably on Beck augen gneiss was intruded by a l,400-m.y.-old porphyritic quartz Spring Dolomite, Crystal Spring Formation, and lower Precam- monzonite in the World Beater dome area. brian rocks. The lowest part of the Kingston Peak Formation con- These lower Precambrian rocks are nonconformably overlain by sists of argillite and arenite interbedded with locally derived con- the upper Precambrian Pahrump Group. The formations that con- glomerate and minor dolomite. The thickness of this lower member stitute the Pahrump Group — the Crystal Spring Formation, Beck is highly variable along strike, and these rocks appear to fill de- pressions between locally uplifted areas which are now represented by World Beater dome and the north-northwest—trending anticline * Present address: Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State Uni- versity of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794. (Fig. 2). The complete article, of which this is a summary, appears in Part II of the Bulletin, v. 91, no. 3, p. 843-933. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part 1, v. 91, p. 125-129, 2 figs., March 1980, Doc. no. S00301. 125 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/91/3/125/3418872/i0016-7606-91-3-125.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 Figure 1. Geology of the Telescope Peak quadrangle, California, generalized after Albee and others, 1980. The symbols for the Ter- tiary monolithologic breccia indicate the clast type. Tbh: granitic clasts derived from the Hall Canyon pluton; Tbn: dolomitic clasts derived from Noonday Dolomite; Tbk: metasedimentary rock clasts derived from the Kingston Peak Formation; Tbb: dolomitic clasts derived from Beck Spring Dolomite. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/91/3/125/3418872/i0016-7606-91-3-125.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 EXPLANATION FOR FIGURE 1 Qq 01 QUATERNARY a.alluvium I: landslide min ffi^fiii* TO6:.- monolithologic breccia, symbol indicates clast-type TERTIARY Little Chief stock CRETACEOUS Hall Canyon pluton CAMBRIAN - PRECAMBRIAN Wood Canyon Formation Stirling Quartzite . (säf. Johnnie Formation Noonday Dolomite PRECAMBRIAN Kingston Peak Formation Pahrump Beck Spring Dolomite Group - c ^ diabase Crystal Spring Formation i^rz J World Beater Complex Quartzofeldspathic gneiss fault scarp in alluvium, ball on downthrown side low-angle fault, hachures on downthrown side LOCATION OF x TELESCOPE PEAK QUADRANGLE slide surface, beads on downthrown side 0 2 miles - —«— Tremolite + calcite isograd —Diopside isograd -— Sillimanite isograd Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/91/3/125/3418872/i0016-7606-91-3-125.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 Figure 2. Geologie features in the cen- trai Panamint Mountains. A. Interfingering of Beck Spring Dolomite (light) with the overlying Kingston Peak Formation on the west flank of the west-northwest-trending anticline. B. Zone of disharmonic folding within the Limekiln Spring Member of the Kingston Peak Formation on the west flank of the anticline. C. Low-angle normal fault which places Kingston Peak Formation (dark, top left) on top of Beck Spring Dolomite and older rocks. D. Late Tertiary slide mass near the mouth of Surprise Can- yon. The contact between Kingston Peak Formation (dark) and Hall Canyon pluton (light) is displaced from upper left to lower right. E. Wildrose graben represents the dis- continuous, normal faults that make up the Panamint Valley fault zone adjacent to the central Panamint Mountains. These photo- graphs appear in Part II of this article as Figures 6B, 13A, 14B, ISA, and 15B. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/91/3/125/3418872/i0016-7606-91-3-125.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 PANAMINT MOUNTAINS, CALIFORNIA: SUMMARY 129 These relations indicate that before deposition of Kingston Peak Mesozoic folding episode. This folding episode was accompanied strata, the central Panamint Mountains were underlain by a rela- by retrograde metamorphism, and a north-northwest—trending tively elevated platform of lower Precambrian rocks which stood lineation that is defined by retrograde minerals and stretched cob- above sea level in the vicinity of World Beater dome and which had bles was developed. a northern margin near Tuber Canyon. At the end of Beck Spring The compressional tectonic regime which influenced the forma- Dolomite deposition, portions of this platform were rejuvenated, tion of the anticlines during late Mesozoic time was replaced by an and clasts were supplied to the locally down-dropped areas. Clastic extensional regime during Tertiary time. Faults with shallow west sediments filled the topographic irregularities, but "World Beater dips and normal displacements occur in the northeast part of the Island" continued to be a source for the overlying members of the quadrangle. These faults are intruded by dikes related to the intru- Kingston Peak Formation. sion of the Miocene Little Chief granite stock, and they are offset Upper members of the Kingston Peak Formation include diamic- by faults which developed during the emplacement of the stock. tite and pebbly mudstone that grade northward to thin-bedded Faults with similar geometries and senses of displacement cut the arenite and argillite. These rocks are overlain by a thin, but persis- north-northwest—trending anticline, but later erosion has isolated tent, gray, banded limestone, a cobble conglomerate
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