Roadside Geology of Nevada

by Frank DeCourten, Norma Biggar

Overview

Driving through Nevada, you may be miles from nowhere, but you are never far from an interesting rock, the shoreline of an ice age lake, or an active or historic mine. The Silver State has some of the most diverse geology in the United States, and much of it lies in plain sight thanks to the arid climate of the Great Basin. Geologic forces continue to shape Nevada, stretching it apart and bringing magma near the surface. Earthquakes periodically rock its lonely outposts, creating some of the biggest fault scarps in the world. With the help of Roadside Geology of Nevada, you can appreciate geologic features along more than thirty of Nevada s highways.
Some of Nevada s Geologic Highlights
Great Basin National Park s limestone caverns
Virginia City and the Comstock Lode
Tule Springs Fossil Beds
Valley of Fire s bright red rock
Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park s fossil reptiles
Lake Tahoe s granitic eastern shore
Pyramid Lake s tufa towers
Ruby Mountains glacially carved Lamoille Canyon
Red Rock Canyon s Jurassic sandstone
Alamo s extraterrestrial impact
Virgin Valley s fossils and opal
Cathedral Gorge s lakebed badlands
Frenchman Mountain s Great Unconformity
Hoover Dam s tough tuff

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780878426720
Publisher:	Mountain Press
Publication date:	03/15/2017
Series:	Roadside Geology
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	213,824
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Since mapping the geology of the Roberts Mountains as a college student in the 1970s, Frank DeCourten has been fascinated by geology and landscapes of the Basin and Range region. For more than four decades he has taught geology and conducted geological research in and around the Great Basin of northern Nevada. Since 1994, Frank has been Professor of Earth Sciences at Sierra College in Grass Valley, California. He currently lives in Penn Valley, California, with his wife, Becky, and dog, Blue.


Norma Biggar graduated from Antioch College and went on to earn a Masters degree at the University of Alaska. She went to work for a consulting company, first evaluating the seismic hazards along the Alyeska pipeline and later evaluating seismic hazards in such far-flung places as Iran, Colombia, and Israel. The latest project was on the high-level nuclear waste project in Nevada, on which she worked for fifteen years from her home in Las Vegas. Upon retirement, her attention turned to hiking, dancing, propagating native plants, and compiling Roadside of Geology of Nevada.

Table of Contents

Acknowlegments iv

Geologic time Chart x

Introduction to Nevada's Magnificent Landscape 1

The Basin and Range Province 1

The Tectonic Forces Tearing Nevada Apart 4

Earthquakes in Nevada 8

Rocks of Nevada 9

Minerals and Mining 13

Mineral Trends 21

Overview of Nevada's Plate Tectonic History 22

Proterozoic Eon 22

Paleozoic Era 24

Antler Orogeny 25

Alamo Impact Event 28

Humboldt and Sonoma Orogenies 28

Mesozoic Era 30

Thrust Faults and the Sevier Orogeny 31

Cenozoic Era 33

Supervolcanoes and Their Calderas 33

Ancestral Cascade Arc 38

Biomodal Volcanism 38

Metamorphic Core Complexes 39

Ice Age Nevada 42

Mountain Glaciers 42

Ice Age Lakes 43

The Future 47

Las Vegas Area 48

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument 49

Spring Mountains 50

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (NV 159) 52

Lee Canyon (NV 156) 54

Kyle Canyon Road to Mt. Charleston (NV 157) 56

Lone Mountain 58

Pahrump Road 58

Sheep and Las Vegas Ranges 60

Valley of Fire State Park 62

Frenchman Mountain via Lake Mead Boulevard 66

Hoover Dam 71

Northshore Road: Las Vegas Bay-Overton 73

1-15: Primm-Las Vegas 84

1-15: Las Vegas-Arizona Border 86

The Bowl 89 US 95: California Border-Las Vegas 90

Techatticup Mine at Nelson 95

NV 163: US 95-Laughlin 96

Petroglyphs and Dikes at Grapevine Canyon 97

Northern and Central Nevada Federal Highways

Interstate 80: California Border-Reno-Winnemucca 104

Interstate 80: Winnemucca-Battle Mountain-Elko 119

Beowawe Geyser Field 127

Interstate 80: Elko-Utah Border 134

Secret Pass through a Metamorphic Core Complex 136

US 6: California Border-Coal dale Junction 143

US 6: Tonopah-Ely 146

Lunar Crater Volcanic Field 151

US 50: Lake Tahoe-Carson City-Fallon 158

Daggett Pass of the Kingsbury Grade 160

US 50: Fallon-Austin-Eureka-Ely 165

Scarp of the 1954 Fairview Peak Earthquake 174

NV 722 through the Desatoya Caldera 175

US 50: Ely-Utah Border 192

Snake Range Metamorphic Core Complex 195

Great Basin National Park 198

US 93: Las Vegas-US 50 near Ely 199

Cathedral Gorge State Park 210

US 93: Ely-Wells-Jackpot 217

Ruby Mountains and Ruby Marshes 221

US 93 Alternate: US 93 at Lages Station-West Wendover 227

US 95: Indian Springs-Beatty-Tonopah 231

US 95: Tonopah-Hawthorne 238

US 95: Hawthorne-Fallon-Interstate 80 244

US 95 Alternate: Schurz-Yerington-Fernley 249

Wilson Canyon 252

US 95: Winnemucca-Oregon Border 253

US 395: California Border-Reno-Topaz Lake 256

Genoa Fault Scarp 263

State Highways

NV 140: US 95-Denio-Oregon Border 266

NV 225: Elko-Idaho Border 274

NV 227: Elko-Lamoille Canyon 280

NV 231: Wells-Angel Lake 284

NV 266 and NV 264: US 95-Fish Lake Valley 289

NV 278: Carlin-Eureka 293

NV 305: Battle Mountain-Austin 298

NV 318: Hiko-Lund 302

NV 338: Smith Valley-California Border 306

NV 341 and NV 342: Virginia City Loop 309

NV 361: Middlegate (US 50)-Liming (US 95) 316

Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park 319

NV 375: Hiko (US 93)-Warm Springs (US 6) 326

NV 376: US 50 near Austin-US 6 near Tonopah 331

NV 431: Reno-Lake Tahoe 338

Lake Tahoe Basin 342

NV 445: Sparks-Pyramid Lake 345

NV 447: Wadsworth-Gerlach-California Border 351

Glossary 360

References 368

Index 387