Tectonic map of the Death Valley ground-water model area, Nevada 

and California 

By Jeremiah B. Workman, Christopher M. Menges, William R. Page, E. Bartlett Ekren, Peter D. 

Rowley, and Gary L. Dixon 

Prepared in cooperation with the 

Nevada Operations Office

National Nuclear Security Administration 

U.S. Department of Energy

(Interagency Agreement DE-A108-96NV11967)

Pamphlet to accompany

Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2381-B 

2002 

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION -----------------------------------------------------------------------

PRE-CENOZOIC TECTONIC STRUCTURES ----------------------------------

INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------

DEATH VALLEY THRUST BELT ------------------------------------------

SEVIER OROGENIC BELT ---------------------------------------------------

CENTRAL NEVADA THRUST BELT --------------------------------------

THRUST FAULTS IN ESMERALDA COUNTY, NEVADA ------------

CENOZOIC TECTONIC FEATURES ---------------------------------------------

PRE-BASIN-RANGE EPISODE FEATURES ------------------------------

INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------

EARLY CALDERA MAGMATISM --------------------------------

Mount Helen Caldera ------------------------------------------

Cactus Range Caldera -----------------------------------------

Quinn Canyon Range Caldera --------------------------------

Bald Mountain Caldera ----------------------------------------

Kawich Range Caldera ----------------------------------------

Goldfield Caldera ----------------------------------------------

Cathedral Ridge Caldera --------------------------------------

STRUCTURES ----------------------------------------------------------

Timpahute Transverse Zone ----------------------------------

Bellehellen Lineament -----------------------------------------

BASIN-RANGE EPISODE FEATURES -------------------------------------

INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------

SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN ----------------------------------------

Yucca And Carpetbag Faults ---------------------------------

Belted Range Fault ---------------------------------------------

Pahranagat Shear Zone ----------------------------------------

THE WALKER LANE BELT ----------------------------------------

Eastern Limit Of Walker Lane Belt -------------------------

Sarcobatus Flat-Goldfield Hills Fault Zone ----------------

Thirsty Canyon Lineament -----------------------------------

Beatty Wash Transverse Zone --------------------------------

Bare Mountain Fault -------------------------------------------

Highway 95 Fault ----------------------------------------------

Gravity Fault ----------------------------------------------------

Rock Valley Fault Zone ---------------------------------------

Mercury Valley Fault Zone -----------------------------------

Las Vegas Valley Shear Zone --------------------------------

Pahrump-Stewart Valley-Central Amargosa Fault Zone -

EASTERN CALIFORNIA BASIN AND RANGE ----------------

Death Valley-Furnace Creek Fault System -----------------

Southern Death Valley Fault Zone ------------------

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Death Valley Fault Zone ------------------------------

Furnace Creek Fault Zone ----------------------------

Grandview and Sheephead Faults ----------------------------

Panamint Valley-Hunter Mountain-Inyo Fault System ---

Panamint Valley Fault Zone --------------------------

Hunter Mountain Fault Zone -------------------------

Inyo Fault Zone ----------------------------------------

Garlock Fault Zone ---------------------------------------------

Detachment Faults ---------------------------------------------

LATE CALDERA MAGMATISM -----------------------------------

Silent Canyon Caldera Complex -----------------------------

Claim Canyon Caldera ----------------------------------------

Timber Mountain Caldera Complex -------------------------

Black Mountain Caldera --------------------------------------

Stonewall Mountain Caldera ---------------------------------

REFERENCES CITED ----------------------------------------------------------------

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2 
INTRODUCTION 

The purpose of this map is to provide tectonic interpretations in the Death Valley 

ground-water model area to be incorporated into a transient ground-water flow model by 

the U.S. Geological Survey (D'Agnese, 2000; D'Agnese and Faunt, 1999; Faunt and 

others, 1999; and O'Brien and others, 1999). This work has been conducted in 

collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy in order to assess regional groundwater flow near the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and the potential radioactive waste 

repository at Yucca Mountain. The map is centered on the NTS and its perimeter 

encircles the entire boundary of the numerical flow model area, covering a total area of 

57,000 km2

. 

This tectonic map is a derivative map of the geologic map of the Death Valley 

ground-water model, Nevada and California (Workman and others, 2002). Structures 

portrayed on the tectonic map were selected from the geologic map based upon several 

criteria including amount of offset on faults, regional significance of structures, fault 

juxtaposition of rocks with significantly different hydrologic properties, and the 

hydrologic properties of the structures themselves. Inferred buried structures in the 

basins were included on the map (blue and light blue dotted lines) based on interpretation 

of geophysical data (Ponce and others, 2001; Ponce and Blakely, 2001; Blakely and 

Ponce, 2001). In addition, various regional trends of fault zones have been delineated 

which are composed of multiple smaller scale features. In some cases, these structures 

are deeply buried and their location is based primarily on geophysical evidence. In all 

cases, these zones (shown as broad red and blue stippled bands on the map) are 

significant structures in the region. Finally, surface exposures of Precambrian crystalline 

rocks and igneous intrusions of various ages are highlighted (red and blue patterns) on the 

map; these rocks generally act as barriers to groundwater flow unless significantly 

fractured. 

The following text is subdivided into a discussion of pre-Cenozoic tectonic 

features, characterized by repeated episodes of compression producing regional thrust 

faulting and arc magmatism, and Cenozoic tectonic features characterized by extensional 

normal and strike-slip structures and widespread caldera magmatism. Two stages of 

Cenozoic extension are discussed. The earlier stage, from Paleocene to Miocene, was 

dominated by calc-alkaline caldera magmatism and secondary faulting. The later stage, 

from Miocene to the present and here referred to as the basin-range episode, was 

dominated by normal and strike-slip faulting and secondary bimodal magmatism. There 

are significant variations in the topographic expression, character, and timing of late 

Cenozoic basin-range deformation across the region of the map, and three broadly 

defined physiographic subregions can be defined and are summarized below with respect 

to major structures within each subregion. They are (a) the southern Great Basin, 

characterized by the classically expressed north-trending basins and ranges in the 

northern and northeastern part of the map area; (b) the Walker Lane belt, a variably 

oriented and irregular set of ranges and basins adjoining the Nevada-California border in 

the northwestern, central, and southeastern areas; and (c) eastern California basin and 

range, an extremely rugged system of northwest to north-trending basins and ranges in 

the western and southwestern parts of the map (figure 1). The topography of these 

subregions mostly reflects variations in both structural style and rates of neotectonic 

3 
MAP AREA BOUNDARY

EASTERN CALIFORNIA

BASIN AND RANGE

W A L K E R L A N E B E L T

SOUTHERN

GREAT

BASIN NEVADA

TEST

SITE

Figure 1: Three major Basin-Range extensional episode physiographic subregions discussed within the

map area. Major structures grouped within each region are shown by colored solid lines.
deformation. Rocks involved in the structures, for the most part, will not be described. 

For detailed lithology descriptions, the reader is referred to the description of map units 

accompanying Workman and others (2002). 

5
PRE-CENOZOIC TECTONIC STRUCTURES 

INTRODUCTION 

Early Proterozoic tectonic history and associated structures are not discussed in 

this text because the ground-water model does not extend into Early Proterozoic rocks. 

Any structures confined to these units exist below the floor of the ground-water model 

and are therefore beyond the intended scope of this study. 

Major recognizable post-Early Proterozoic structural activity in the area of the 

Death Valley ground-water model began with episodic uplift and probable thrust faulting 

during the Antler orogeny, starting in Late Devonian time with the highland persisting at 

least into Late Mississippian time (Kleinhampl and Ziony, 1985). Although no thrust 

faults of Antler age have been identified in this region, the effects of the orogeny are 

evidenced in the presence of coarse conglomerate and chert-rich sandstone and 

intercalated slide masses in the Eleana Formation on the NTS and equivalent age rocks in 

the Cactus Range. Other evidence for the Antler orogeny in the map area is the 

Ordovician Palmetto Formation in Esmeralda County. Rocks of the Palmetto Formation 

are eugeosynclinal and part of the western siliceous assemblage of rocks (Stewart and 

Carlson, 1978) which were interpreted as upper plate rocks of the Antler orogen (Albers 

and Stewart, 1972; McKee, 1985). Both upper and lower contacts of the formation are 

almost everywhere marked by a fault. 

Uplift of the western part of the mapped area associated with arc magmetism may 

have occurred in Jurassic and Cretaceous time during the Nevadan orogeny. Sierra 

Nevada batholithic activity is reflected in numerous dioritic to granodioritic intrusive 

masses within the map area. According to Kleinhampl and Ziony (1985), folding and 

thrusting associated with the orogeny was directed southward and eastward in northern 

Nye County, but no thrusts of Nevadan age are known within the map area. The strata 

are, however, locally intensely folded. 

Most exposed thrust faults in the map area correspond with the cordilleran fold 

and thrust belt of the western U.S. Three regional orogenic belts, the Death Valley thrust 

belt (Snow, 1992), Sevier orogenic belt (Armstrong, 1968; Fleck, 1970a), and the Central 

Nevada thrust belt (Taylor and others, 1993) exist within the map area (figure 2). Most 

of these thrusts were emplaced during the Mesozoic, but some may be as old as Permian. 

A majority of the thrusts are east-directed, and are shown on the map as isolated fault 

segments in widely separated ranges. Prior to Cenozoic extension, many of the thrusts 

were continuous structures across the region. Their current configuration across the map 

area resulted from movement along regional structures that laterally offset and rotated 

them during episodes of Cenozoic crustal extension and strike-slip movement. Isolated 

thrust fault segments within the three belts have been correlated and used as structural 

markers for paleogeographic reconstruction and estimating rates of extension across this 

part of the Basin and Range province (Wernicke, Axen, and Snow, 1988; Wernicke, 

Snow, and Walker, 1988; Snow and Wernicke, 1989; Snow, 1992). Correlations were 

based on stratigraphic throw, thrust vergence, and fault spacing and style. Individual 

thrust correlations are discussed below. 

6 
thrust faults associated with the Death Valley thrust belt

thrust faults associated with the Sevier orogenic belt

thrust faults associated with the central Nevada thrust belt

thrust faults in Esmeralda County and other locations

associated with Tertiary extension

MAP AREA BOUNDARY

NEVADA

TEST

SITE

Figure 2: Distribution of the three major Mesozoic (to Permian?) orogenic thrust belts

discussed in the text and younger thrust faults associated with Tertiary extension.
DEATH VALLEY THRUST BELT

(central, western, and southern sections of the map area) 

Thrust faults in the central and western part of the map area are part of the Death 

Valley thrust belt (Snow, 1992). In the Death Valley area proper, these thrusts include 

from west to east, the Last Chance and Marble Canyon thrusts in the Cottonwood 

Mountains and Last Chance Range, and the Grapevine and Schwaub Peak thrusts in the 

Grapevine and Funeral Mountains, respectively. In the NTS area, they include the 

Meikeljohn and Panama thrusts at Bare Mountain, and the Belted Range, CP, Specter 

Range, and Spotted Range thrusts. 

The Last Chance thrust (Stewart and others, 1966; Snow, 1992) juxtaposes 

Precambrian, Cambrian, and Ordovician rocks in the upper plate against Devonian to 

Permian rocks in the lower plate. The hanging wall ramp of the thrust is exposed in the 

southernmost Last Chance Range and is concealed along the west side of Dry Mountain. 

Klippen in the central Cottonwood Mountains were interpreted as part of the Last Chance 

allochthon (Stewart and others, 1966; Snow, 1992). Stewart and others (1966) originally 

mapped structural windows in the northern Last Chance Range, Saline Range, and 

Jackass Flats as part of the Last Chance thrust, but Corbett and others (1988) interpreted 

these thrusts to be part of a structurally higher Eureka thrust plate, based on dissimilar 

Paleozoic facies and isopachs in the two plates, and differences in structural style. Snow 

(1992) correlated the Last Chance thrust with known Permian-age thrusts in the Darwin 

Plateau region of southeastern California, west of the map area. 

The Marble Canyon thrust, exposed in the eastern Cottonwood Mountains, is 

highly modified by Cenozoic normal faults, and is deformed by the Hunter Mountain 

pluton of Jurassic age. The Schwaub Peak thrust in the Funeral Mountains juxtaposes 

Proterozoic to Ordovician rocks in its upper plate against rocks as young as Permian in its 

lower plate. It has been correlated with the Marble Canyon thrust based on stratigraphic 

throw, structural position, and presence of footwall synclines (Snow, 1992). The 

Grapevine thrust in the northern Grapevine Mountains is correlative with the Last Chance 

thrust and juxtaposes Cambrian rocks in the upper plate against rocks as young as 

Permian in the lower plate. 

The most recent summary of thrusts in the NTS area is that of Cole and Cashman 

(1999). The major thrust in the area is the east-directed Belted Range thrust, which 

juxtaposes rocks of Late Proterozoic age in the upper plate above Mississippian rocks in 

the lower plate with a stratigraphic throw on the fault of 7 km (Cole and Cashman, 1999). 

The Belted Range thrust is correlative with the Meikeljohn thrust at Bare Mountain, the 

Grapevine thrust in the Grapevine Mountains, and the Last Chance thrust (Cole and 

Cashman, 1999; Snow, 1992). At Bare Mountain, the southeast-directed Meikeljohn 

thrust juxtaposes Cambrian rocks in the upper plate against Devonian and Mississippian 

rocks in the lower plate, and the northwest-vergent Panama thrust juxtaposes mostly Late 

Proterozoic rocks in the upper plate against Lower Cambrian rocks in the lower plate. 

East of the Belted Range thrust is the west-vergent CP thrust which juxtaposes 

Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in the upper plate against Mississippian to Permian rocks 

in the lower plate. At the map scale, the CP thrust is cut out by normal faults and is 

therefore not highlighted, but is labeled where it has been mapped at larger scales in the 

southern CP Hills, south of Yucca Flat. The thrust is part of a regional zone of west8 
directed structures also present in the Cottonwood Mountains, and at Bare Mountain. 

Monsen and others (1992) correlated the CP thrust with the Panama thrust at Bare 

Mountain. Potter and others (1998) interpreted the CP thrust as a backthrust that formed 

synchronously with the Belted Range thrust. 

The Specter Range thrust (Burchfiel, 1965) juxtaposes Late Proterozoic and 

Cambrian rocks in its upper plate against Ordovician to Devonian rocks in its lower plate. 

It has been correlated with the Schwaub Peak thrust in the southern Funeral Mountains, 

and the Marble Canyon thrust in the southern Cottonwood Mountains (Cole and 

Cashman, 1999; Snow, 1992; Wright and Troxel, 1993) 

The Spotted Range thrust juxtaposes Cambrian rocks in the upper plate against 

Devonian and Mississippian rocks in the lower plate. Snow (1992) correlated this thrust 

with the Specter Range thrust, but Cole and Cashman (1999) interpreted the two as 

separate faults. 

Mesozoic thrust faults affect the Paleozoic rocks in the southeastern part of the 

mapped area. Burchfiel and others (1983) mapped and correlated several major thrusts 

that include, from north to south, the Montgomery thrust in the Montgomery Mountains, 

the Baxter and Resting Spring thrusts in the Resting Spring Range, and the Chicago Pass, 

Shaw, and Nopah Peak thrusts in the Nopah Range. Due to structural complexity, 

correlation of these thrusts with thrusts in the Sevier orogenic belt to the northeast and the 

Death Valley belt to the northwest is controversial. For example, Burchfiel and others 

(1983) and Wernicke, Snow, and Walker (1988) correlated the Chicago Pass and Shaw 

thrusts in the Nopah Range with the Wheeler Pass thrust in the Spring Mountains. 

Alternately, Snow (1992) correlated the Montgomery thrust with the Wheeler Pass thrust, 

and Abolins (1999) interpreted the equivalent to the Wheeler Pass thrust to be concealed 

in Pahrump Valley, or to be exposed in the Kingston Range. 

The age of thrusts in the Death Valley belt is poorly constrained. Snow (1992) 

interpreted the Last Chance thrust system as Permian in age based on correlation of the 

thrust system with Permian thrusts in the Darwin Plateau region, and intrusion of the 

thrust plate by Triassic and Jurassic plutons. In the NTS area, Cole and Cashman (1999) 

reported that thrusts were post Early Permian and pre-Late Cretaceous. 

SEVIER OROGENIC BELT

(eastern and southeastern sections of the map area) 

Major thrusts in the Sevier orogenic belt (Armstrong, 1968; Fleck, 1970a) include 

the Wheeler Pass in the northwestern Spring Mountains, the correlative Gass Peak in the 

Las Vegas and Sheep Ranges, and the Keystone thrust in the eastern Spring Mountains. 

The Wheeler Pass thrust juxtaposes Late Proterozoic and Lower Cambrian clastic and 

carbonate units in its upper plate against mostly overturned Pennsylvanian and Permian 

units in its lower plate. Stratigraphic separation on the thrust is 4.8 km (Vincellette, 

1964), and Fleck (1970a) estimated 7 km of lateral shortening. Equivalence of the 

Wheeler Pass and Gass Peak thrusts across the Miocene-age Las Vegas Valley shear zone 

is well established (Stewart, 1967; Page and others, in press; Wernicke, Axen, and Snow, 

1988). The two thrusts have been used as structural markers across the shear zone on 

which estimates of 50 km of horizontal displacement are based (Burchfiel, 1965; 

Wernicke, Axen, and Snow, 1988; Wenicke, Snow, and Walker, 1988). 

9 
Like the Wheeler Pass, the Gass Peak thrust juxtaposes Late Proterozoic and 

Lower Cambrian clastic and carbonate units in its upper plate against Pennsylvanian and 

Permian rocks of the Bird Spring Formation in the lower plate. Guth (1981) reported the 

thrust to have as much as 5.9 km of stratigraphic displacement and greater than 30 km of 

horizontal displacement. The thrust can be traced from the Fossil Ridge area of the 

southern Las Vegas Range to the northernmost Sheep Range where the thrust abuts the 

Maynard Lake fault and becomes concealed by Tertiary volcanic rocks. The fault may 

correlate with the Mount Irish thrust of the Central Nevada thrust belt in the Timpahute 

Range (see below). 

The Keystone thrust (Longwell, 1926) is the longest continuously exposed thrust 

in the entire map area and is the frontal thrust of the cordilleran fold and thrust belt. The 

thrust juxtaposes Cambrian carbonate rocks in its upper plate against upper Paleozoic and 

Mesozoic rocks in its lower plate. The Mesozoic lower plate rocks include terrigenous 

shale, claystone, and mudstone. The Pennsylvanian, Permian, and Triassic age lower 

plate rocks contain varying amounts of gypsum and anhydrite. The Keystone thrust 

correlates with the Muddy Mountain thrust exposed in the Muddy Mountains area, 

northeast of Las Vegas and east of the map area (Fleck, 1970a; Fleck and Carr, 1990; 

Wernicke, Snow, and Walker, 1988; Page and others, in press). 

The age of thrusts in the Sevier orogenic belt is poorly constrained, but most 

workers agree the major episode of compression occurred during Cretaceous time (Fleck, 

1970a). The age of the Keystone thrust is based mostly on radiometric dates of 

synorogenic deposits cut by the thrust. In the Goodsprings area of southern Nevada, for 

example, the Keystone thrust cuts deposits of the Lavinia Wash sequence (Carr, 1980; 

Fleck and Carr, 1990). Preliminary conventional K-Ar dates for the Lavinia Wash were 

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (154+/-10 Ma) and thus established a maximum age for 

the thrust. New laser-fusion 40Ar/39Ar methods yielded dates of 99+/-.04 Ma for the 

sequence, establishing a further refined maximum age for the Keystone thrust as late 

Early Cretaceous (Fleck and Carr, 1990). 

CENTRAL NEVADA THRUST BELT 

(northeastern sections of the map area) 

Thrusts of the Central Nevada thrust belt were described by Taylor and others 

(1993) and Tschanz and Pampeyan (1970). Most of the thrusts in the belt are outside the 

map area, but part of the belt extends into the Timpahute and Pahranagat ranges in the 

northeastern part of the map area. The Lincoln thrust is exposed in the western 

Timpahute Range and juxtaposes rocks of the Ordovician Pogonip Group against a 

complicated footwall consisting of a duplex zone of Ordovician, Devonian, and 

Mississippian rocks. Taylor and others (1993) estimated stratigraphic throw on the thrust 

of 3.2 km and lateral shortening of 3-4 km. 

East of the Lincoln thrust is the Mount Irish thrust, which, like the Lincoln thrust, 

juxtaposes rocks of the Pogonip Group in the upper plate against Devonian and 

Missisippian rocks in the lower plate. Stratigraphic throw on the fault is about 3 km and 

minimum lateral shortening is 1.5 to 2 km (Taylor and others, 1993). The thrust 

correlates with the Golden Gate thrust (Tschanz and Pampeyan, 1970; Taylor and others, 

1993) in the Golden Gate Range, north of the map area. 

10 
The East Pahranagat syncline (Jayko, 1990) is exposed south and east of the 

Mount Irish thrust. It is a gently north-plunging fold that has a steep to overturned west 

limb, indicating east-directed compression. In the hinge of the fold, rocks of the 

Mississippian Joana Limestone are thrust above rocks of the Mississippian Chainman 

Shale to form an out-of-syncline thrust. South of the Mount Irish Range, we believe the 

Mount Irish thrust is concealed by Tertiary volcanic rocks, and that the East Pahranagat 

syncline is most likely a lower plate structure and splay of the thrust in that area. 

Correlation of thrusts in the Central Nevada and Sevier belts is unclear due to 

extensive cover by Tertiary volcanic rocks and complicated structure related to the 

Pahranagat shear zone within the intervening area. However, the Gass Peak thrust may 

correlate with the Mount Irish thrust. North of the Maynard Lake fault, upper plate rocks 

of the Pogonip Group in the Gass Peak thrust plate appear displaced westward across the 

fault, consistent with left-slip observed along the fault (Tschanz and Pampeyan, 1970). 

These rocks project northward along strike with rocks of the Pogonip Group in the upper 

plate of the Mount Irish thrust. North of the Maynard Lake fault, a continuous belt of 

Devonian and Mississippian rocks, deformed by the East Pahranagat syncline, likely 

forms the lower plate of the Gass Peak and Mount Irish thrusts. The Gass Peak loses 

throw northward along the east flank of the Sheep Range, which is consistent with the 

presence of older lower plate rocks (Devonian and Mississippian) northward in the 

Mount Irish area. 

The minimum age of contraction in the part of the Central Nevada thrust belt that 

covers the map area is early Tertiary, based on the presence of Oligocene rocks which are 

the oldest rocks not involved in thrusting. For other thrusts in the belt, the maximum age 

is Late Permian, or more likely Jurassic (Taylor and others, 1993). 

THRUST FAULTS IN ESMERALDA COUNTY, NEVADA 

(northwestern sections of the map area) 

Low-angle faults, referred to as thrusts by Albers and Stewart (1972), are 

common in the Palmetto Mountains and Montezuma Range of Esmeralda County, where 

they form nearly half of the pre-Tertiary rock contacts. Along most of these faults, 

younger rocks overlie older rocks although the more extensive faults have older over 

younger. These faults are recognized on the basis of the presence of structural 

discordance, and in places, attenuation of strata. It is unclear whether any of these faults 

are of regional scale, or are local gravitationally induced structures. Albers and Stewart 

(1972) believe most of these faults formed during oroflexural bending and intrusion of 

Middle Jurassic to early Tertiary plutons. In some cases these structures may actually be 

misidentified Tertiary detachment faults (J.H. Stewart, written communication, 2000). 

11 
CENOZOIC TECTONIC FEATURES 

PRE-BASIN-RANGE EPISODE FEATURES 

INTRODUCTION 

Calc-alkaline magmatism in the map area began during early to middle Tertiary 

time and accommodated brittle, crustal extension resulting from rising asthenosphere and 

possible resteepening of the subduction zone along western North America (Burchfiel 

and others, 1992; Christiansen and Yeats, 1992; Lipman, 1992). Magmatism, 

characterized by shallow intrusion and caldera magmatism, occurred in belts that 

paralleled the subduction direction and were bounded on their northern or southern sides 

by transverse zones or lineaments. Such zones separated areas of different types, rates, or 

relative amounts of extension, and appear to have been extremely long lived, dating from 

the Cretaceous to the basin-range deformational episode in late Tertiary time (Ekren and 

others, 1976; Rowley, 1998). 

Faulting accompanied the development of intrusions or formed independently of 

igneous centers but was secondary to magmatism during this early period of extension 

(Rowley, 1998). Most of these faults strike northeast or northwest (Ekren and others, 

1968) with a strong component of left-lateral and right-lateral strike-slip deformation, 

respectively. The direction of principle maximum compressive stress for these faults was 

north to northeast. 

The topography that resulted from this pre-basin-range faulting and magmatism 

was mostly obscured by the younger basin-range episode. Furthermore, this topography 

does not appear to have been characterized by high mountain ranges, as during the later 

basin-range deformation. In fact, most of the topography seems to have been subdued 

and caused by the calc-alkaline volcanism, which built stratovolcanoes and calderas. 

Most of the calderas outside the NTS in the mapped area formed during this episode. 

EARLY CALDERA MAGMATISM 

Mount Helen Caldera (northcentral section of the map area) 

Mount Helen is a volcano that erupted a thick lava pile of intermediate 

composition and thin basalt dikes and flows much later. Deep erosion of the flanks of the 

mountain has revealed a northwest-striking graben bounded on the east by a metamorphic 

core complex (McKee, 1983) consisting of gneiss, schist, and thick quartz veins. The 

graben is bounded on the west by an uplifted block of conglomerate of pre-volcanic 

Tertiary age, which rests directly on lower Paleozoic rocks (Ekren and others, 1971). 

The graben is inferred to be part of a 14.5 km-wide, northwest-striking rift zone that 

includes the Cactus Range caldera on the north and the Black Mountain caldera and 

Timber Mountain caldera complex on the south. 

Ekren and others (1971) inferred that, prior to the eruption of intermediate lavas, 

the Mount Helen caldera erupted two ash-flow tuff cooling units informally correlated 

with the lower tuffs of Antelope Springs. Mount Helen is located near the center of the 

known distribution of these tuffs. The two cooling units are about 500 m thick, and the 

base of the sequence is not exposed. The upper unit is directly overlain by alternating 

fluvial and lacustrine strata thereby indicating that a topographic low existed immediately 

12 
after the eruption of these tuffs. Ekren and others (1971) suggested that this topographic 

low area might have resulted from caldera collapse prior to eruption of the intermediate 

lavas. Because there is no exposure of a topographic or structural wall for this caldera, 

the boundary shown on the tectonic map is speculative and based on outcrops of 

presumed intracaldera rocks. In the Cactus Range, the lower tuffs of Antelope Springs 

overlie the Monotony Tuff dated at 27.3 Ma (Best and others, 1989) and they underlie the 

upper tuffs of Antelope Springs that have been dated at 27.7-26.2 Ma (Ekren and others, 

1971). Therefore, if the correlation of the two cooling units at Mount Helen with the 

lower tuffs of Antelope Springs is correct, then collapse of the Mount Helen caldera 

occurred at about 27 Ma. 

Cactus Range Caldera (northcentral section of the map area) 

The Catus Range was mapped by R. E Anderson and the following discussion is 

summarized from his description in Ekren and others (1971): 

The Cactus Range is a large structural block about 29 km long and 8 km wide that 

is inferred to be the greatly uplifted infilling of a large caldera complex. The oldest 

Tertiary unit in the Cactus Range is the Monotony Tuff, which was deposited on a 

surface of moderate relief developed on gently-dipping upper Paleozoic rocks. The 

Monotony Tuff is overlain by ash-flow tuffs of the lower and middle parts of the tuff of 

Antelope Springs. During eruption of the upper tuff of Antelope Springs, caldera 

collapse occurred, as indicated by the contorted, sheared, and steeply tilted nature of the 

tuffs. Major collapse is especially documented in the northern part of the range, where as 

much as 245 m of mostly thin-bedded lacustrine rocks rest on the upper tuff of Antelope 

Springs. Partial resurgence within the inferred Antelope Springs caldera is suggested by 

deeply eroded, intensely deformed tuff of the Antelope Springs in the northern part of the 

range. The tuff of White Blotch Spring, derived from a source within or adjacent to the 

Cactus Range, unconformably covered the Cactus Range caldera complex. 

Caldera subsidence appears to have occurred extensively along a northwest zone 

of the range block. Steep northeast tilting and local overturning of the tuff of White 

Blotch Spring and underlying rocks occurred in a zone as much as l.6 km wide and at 

least 13 km long on the north and west flanks of the range. Some areas of structural 

chaos exist within this zone. Considerable subsidence of the central part of the range is 

supported by intrusion of stocks, sills, and laccoliths into sedimentary rocks older than 

the tuff of White Blotch Spring. The thickness of this overburden must have been 

considerable because it contains laccoliths, and it also must have included large 

thicknesses of the tuff of White Blotch Spring, which are assumed to have been removed 

by erosion during later uplift of the range. 

Following caldera subsidence, intense and prolonged intrusive activity continued, 

during which about 200 exposed intrusive masses were emplaced. These rocks range in 

composition from melanodiorite to high-silica rhyolite. Lavas and tuffs flanking the 

northern part of the range probably were erupted concomitantly with emplacement of 

some of the intrusive masses. During the latter part of this igneous activity, the range 

was uplifted to its present structural level. Uplift occurred along a system of faults that 

cross-cut the range. The uplift was sufficient that in places parts of what probably 

constituted the original floor of the complex have been brought to the present erosion 

level. 

13 
Quinn Canyon Range Caldera (northeastern section of the map area) 

Recent studies by E. B. Ekren and P. D. Rowley (unpublished data, 1999, 2000, 

and 2001) show conclusively that the Quinn Canyon Range is a large caldera complex 

that gave rise to voluminous ash-flow tuffs and rhyolite lavas. As summarized by 

Sargent and Houser (1970), it is the source of the widespread Shingle Pass Tuff of Cook 

(1965). Best and others (1989) reported an age of 27-26 Ma for the Shingle Pass Tuff. 

The conclusion that the caldera is the source of the Shingle Pass Tuff is based on the 

occurance of “bottomless” sections of massive, densely welded tuffs of Shingle Pass 

affinity exposed within major horst blocks in the range. Additional mapping is necessary 

to define areas of collapse in the Quinn Canyon Range caldera complex that could be 

sources for the Shingle Pass Tuff. These intracaldera rocks have been intensely altered 

(sericitization, argillization, calcification, and replacement of feldspar by andularia). 

Silicification of these rocks is locally characterized by introduction of massive 

chalcedonic and crystalline quartz veins. The intensity of the alteration makes correlation 

of the intracaldera tuffs with outflow tuffs at the type locality of the Shingle Pass Tuff 

extremely difficult. 

The Quinn Canyon Range has been dramatically faulted into several north 

trending horsts and grabens. The faults that formed these structures apparently cut 

through the calderas and any underlying magma chambers. The inferred volcanic 

structures certainly did not serve as competent bodies that resisted or deflected later 

basin-range normal faults. Although no topographic caldera boundaries are preserved, 

boundaries shown on the tectonic map are based on the inferences of Sargent and Houser 

(1970) and Best and others (1989). Areas of collapse perhaps defining the largest caldera 

of the complex are filled with a quartz-rich tuff correlated with a tuff in the Reveille 

Range that is also inferred to fill a deep caldera. This correlation indicates that the 

caldera in the Reveille Range may be part of the Quinn Canyon Range caldera complex 

and was separated by strike-slip and normal faults. 

Bald Mountain Caldera (eastern section of the map area) 

The core of the Bald Mountain caldera, within the Groom Range, was 

dramatically uplifted during the late Tertiary relative to the surrounding basins, so the 

caldera must have experienced deep subsidence to survive the resulting uplift and erosion 

of the range block. The intracaldera rocks presently stand topographically above the 

surrounding extracaldera rocks as a result of this uplift and the extracaldera rocks 

subsequently being stripped from the edges of the caldera margin. Despite this dramatic 

uplift, there is no upwarping of the intracaldera rocks to indicate resurgence (Ekren and 

others, 1977). 

The rocks related to caldera eruption were informally named the tuff of Bald 

Mountain and determined to be about 25 Ma based upon regional stratigraphic 

relationships (Ekren and others, 1977). The tuff of Bald Mountain consists of two or 

more rhyolite ash-flow tuff cooling units with very similar phenocryst and lithic 

assemblages. Intercalated slide masses composed of Paleozoic rocks and intruded dikes 

and sills of porphyritic quartz latite to rhyodacite are common within the intracaldera 

assemblage. Hydrothermal alteration has removed most fresh phenocrysts, but the 

presense of sphene and its alteration products was used by Ekren and others (1977) to 

14 
suggest correlation with exposures of similar tuffs in the Reveille Range, the Belted 

Range, the southern flank of the Quinn Canyon Range, and the south end of the Pancake 

Range (north of the map area), and within drill holes on Yucca Flat. They explain 

absence of correlative units east of Bald Mountain by pre-basin-range, left-lateral offset 

along the eastern range front fault of the Groom Range. This interpretation is supported 

by the presence of thick Paleocene conglomerates within the Jumbled Hills area, which 

are most likely offset left-laterally from the main mass of conglomerate in the Fallout 

Hills, west of the Pintwater Range. 

Kawich Range Caldera (northern section of the map area) 

The Kawich Range caldera complex in the northern part of the Kawich Range 

was first recognized as a resurgent caldera by E. B. Ekren, E. H. McKee, and C. L. 

Rogers (Stewart and Carlson, 1976). Thick intracaldera megabreccia is exposed at the 

extreme northern end of the range and a circular neck of vertically dipping welded tuff is 

exposed on the west flank of the range. The informal tuff of the Kawich Range caldera 

complex, consisting of at least two ash-flow cooling units, is the intracaldera facies of 

one or both of the lower and upper cooling units comprising the tuff of White Blotch 

Spring, as mapped by Ekren and others (1971) who identified the Cactus Range and the 

northern Kawich Range as two possible source areas. Best and others (1989, 1995) 

defined the Pahranagat Formation, which they correlated with the upper tuff of White 

Blotch Spring based upon paleomagnetic and age data, to be 22.39 Ma. They considered 

the thick tuff exposed in the Kawich Range and the southern Reveille Range to be 

intracaldera Pahranagat Formation, thereby making the source caldera very large, 

measuring 50 km in a northwest direction and 26 km in a northeast direction. 

Reconnaissance mapping by Gardner and others (1980) extended the northwest-striking 

Bellehelen lineament, exposed in the Kawich Range, across Reveille Valley to the 

southern termination of the Reveille Range and we have further extended this structure 

across the Reveille Range into the Monotony Valley (see discussion below). This 

structure could have a sizeable strike-slip component (Ekren and others, unpub. data, 

1966) that could have pulled the Reveille Range segment from the Kawich Range. 

Goldfield Caldera (northwestern section of the map area) 

A graben, inferred to be related to caldera collapse, extends east from Goldfield 

and is well defined to the west and northwest by an arcuate normal fault. The dacite 

vitrophyre of Ransom (1909), a biotite-rich welded ash flow (21.1 Ma; Cornwall, 1972), 

extends south from the inferred southern boundary of the caldera and was most likely 

erupted during subsidence (Cornwall, 1972). Several north-trending, arcuate faults cross 

the western part of the graben and successively drop strata down to the east. There is no 

evidence of resurgence. 

The dacite vitrophyre overlies the dacite (20.8-21.6 Ma; Silberman and McKee, 

1972) of Ransome (1909) that hosts the majority of the gold and silver deposits in the 

Goldfield district. Chemical analyses actually indicate a rhyodacitic composition for both 

units and a close genetic relationship. The dacite, highly altered in all exposures, consists 

of intrusive rocks in Esmeralda County and flat-lying extrusive flows in Nye County 

(Albers and Stewart, 1972; Cornwall, 1972). 

15 
Cathedral Ridge Caldera (northcentral section of the map area) 

The Cathedral Ridge caldera is the source of the widespread Fraction Tuff (Ekren 

and others, 1971). The 18- 17 Ma Fraction Tuff (Cornwall, 1972) is exposed from the 

Belted Range to the Tonopah area. The tuff reaches its maximum thickness of 2,200 

meters at Trailor Ridge, on Cathedral Ridge, where Ekren and others (1971) described a 

single, densely welded compound cooling unit. The tuff contains a diagnostic 

assemblage of abundant lithic fragments that were incorporated during ascent through the 

crust that led to its original misidentification as a breccia in the Tonopah area by Spurr 

(1905). 

Cathedral Ridge is cut by numerous northwest-striking normal faults that decrease 

in abundance northward. Two closely spaced faults have a combined offset of greater 

than 2,100 meters which Ekren and others (1971) interpreted as the southwestern 

boundary of the Cathedral Ridge caldera. The northern boundary of the caldera is 

obscured by younger structures. Uplift of a horst block in the southern Kawich Range 

after caldera subsidence is indicated by a thick sequence of fanglomerates that overlie the 

Fraction Tuff in exposures along the eastern and northern margins of Cathedral Ridge. 

STRUCTURES 

Timpahute Transverse Zone (northeastern section of the map area) 

The Timpahute transverse zone is most dramatically defined by the east-westtrending Timpahute and Mount Irish Ranges that anomalously cut across the northtrending grain of basins and ranges in the region. The zone, like other transverse zones in 

the area, is not defined by any one mappable fault trace. Interruptions and alignments of 

aeromagnetic anomalies, east-striking strike-slip faults of varying offset, alignment of 

intrusive bodies, hot springs, and mineral deposits, and an apparent east-west-trending 

alignment of earthquake epicenters help to define this presumably deep-seated crustal 

structure (Ekren and others, 1976). The zone separates areas of contrasting structural 

style, stress configuration, and extensional magnitude from north to south and seems to 

have controlled the northern margin of the Caliente caldera complex to the east of the 

map area (Ekren and others, 1976, 1977; Rowley, 1998). 

The age of this transverse zone is unclear, but it clearly predates the eruption of 

the Caliente caldera in early Miocene time. Scott and Swadley (1992) mapped lower 

Oligocene ash-flow units of the Needles Range Group ponded against north-facing scarps 

formed by the Pahroc Valley fault to the east of the map area which is an integral part of 

the Timpahute transverse zone in this area, indicating activity well into the Neogene. The 

truncation of both basin-range structure and topography against the zone indicates 

tectonic activity into the basin-range episode of extension. Seismic epicenters extending 

from Coal Valley to Dry Lake Valley east of the map area along the southern end of the 

North Pahroc Range indicate that the structure is still active today (Ekren and others, 

1977). 

We have highlighted some major, mapped structures within the transverse zone 

on the tectonic map, but it should be noted that this structure is interpreted as a broad, 

deeply buried crustal structure underlying this entire zone. 

16 
Bellehellen Lineament (northern section of the map area) 

The Bellehellen lineament is a northwest-trending structure defined by Gardner 

and others (1980) as an exposed fault zone, the Bellehellen fault zone, which cuts through 

the northern end of the Kawich Range and extends into southern Reveille Valley. We 

have extended the southern terminous of this structure beyond the south end of the 

Reveille Range into Monotony Valley at the south end of Railroad Valley based upon 

interpretation of isostatic gravity gradients aligned with the structure and buried structure 

inferred by Ekren and others (1973). There is also an alignment of mineral deposits 

along this lineament. 

The structure associated with this lineament seems to have offset rocks of the 

Kawich Range caldera, but Gardner and others (1980) imply that this fault zone is the 

surface expression of a deep-seated crustal structure which may have controlled the 

Kawich Range caldera and two other calderas to the north of the map area in the Monitor 

Range. This would suggest that this structure existed into the pre-basin-range period. 

Several basin-range age structures are offset and truncated by the lineament. There are 

no known Quaternary offsets, but it appears to control present basin topography and 

drainage which implies continued activity into the Quaternary. 

BASIN-RANGE EPISODE FEATURES 

INTRODUCTION 

Sometime before 20 Ma, subduction ceased and the San Andreas transform fault 

placed much of the western United States in a giant torque, or wrench, resulting in 

oblique extension over a broad area known as the Basin and Range province (Hamilton 

and Myers, 1966). The Great Basin covers much of this province that is characterized by 

north-trending basins and ranges controlled by range front normal faults. The southern 

part of the Great Basin extends into the northeastern section of the map area. 

Right-lateral shear transferred inland from the San Andreas system and in part 

accommodated the north-northwest translation of the Sierra Nevada block relative to the 

rest of the North American plate. This shear generated the Walker Lane belt, 

characterized by a long, broad belt of discontinuous and short-lived right-lateral faults 

and secondary normal faults defining pull-apart basins. The Walker Lane belt trends 

north-northwest separating the Great Basin from the Sierra Nevada block along the 

California-Nevada border and its southern end crosses the center of the map area from 

northwest to southeast. 

A small zone at the southwestern edge of the Walker Lane belt, referred to as the 

Eastern California Basin and Range, marks the intersection of the Walker Lane belt with 

the relatively undeformed Mojave block as it deflects away from the southern end of the 

Sierra Nevada block. This region is characterized by concentrated right-lateral shear and 

dramatic extension within a series of classic rhombohedral pull-apart basins resulting 

from bends in the strike-slip system. Right-lateral faults within this region are more 

continuous, better defined, and longer lived and display greater slip rates than those in the 

Walker Lane belt and continue to be active today. This region covers the southwestern 

part of the map area. 

17 
During this period, magmatism was secondary to faulting as an expression of 

extension and was of bimodal composition—basaltic rocks and high-silica rhyolitic 

rocks. The rocks of the central Death Valley volcanic field and the southwest Nevada 

volcanic field and the calderas in the NTS constrain the age of this extensional episode. 

SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN 

Late Cenozoic extensional deformation within the southern Great Basin was 

dominated by movement along north- to northeast-striking normal faults related to 

development of the characteristic basin and range structure and associated topography. 

There is also some lateral slip deformation localized along east- to northeast-trending 

transverse fault zones (Rowley, 1998). Most of the large north-striking normal faults 

form the structural boundaries between the grabens or half-grabens beneath the basins 

and the horsts or tilted fault blocks of the ranges (Stewart, 1980), although locally there 

are many smaller intra-valley normal faults related to secondary internal structures of the 

basins as well. Many of these faults have been inactive since at least mid to late 

Quaternary time, and thus are buried beneath basin-fill and (or) surficial deposits along 

the basin margins. Although there is a general correspondence between these inactive 

faults and the topographic range fronts, the actual location and geometry of most of these 

structures are interpreted from geophysical surveys (Blakely and others, 1999). 

However, a number of the normal faults in this region are associated with fault scarps that 

displace upper Pliocene to Quaternary surficial deposits. Major range-bounding normal 

faults active in the Quaternary in this part of the region include: the Belted Range fault 

(see below), the Penoyer fault, possibly small sections of the Kawich and Tikaboo faults, 

the east Reveille Range, Hot Creek-Reiveille, and west Railroad faults, the Carpetbag and 

Yucca faults (see below), the west and east Pintwater Range faults, the Sheep Basin, 

Sheep Range, and Sheep-East Desert Range faults (Dohrenwend and others, 1991, 1992; 

Anderson and others, 1995a; Piety, 1996). There are also some small fault scarps in 

Cactus Flat and Emigrant Valley (Piety, 1996; Slate and Berry, 1999; Slate and others, 

2000). The presence of fault scarps and persistent low-level historic seismicity also 

indicates activity on component faults within the Pahranagat shear zone as well (see 

below). Paleoseismic and tectonic geomorphic studies in the southern Great Basin 

subregion indicate moderate to low rates of neotectonic deformation on these faults 

characterized by slip rates in the 0.001- 0.01 mm/yr range and recurrence intervals 

between surface-rupturing events on the order of 104-105 years (Anderson and others, 

1995a, b; dePolo, 1998). 

Yucca and Carpetbag faults (central section of the map area) 

The Carpetbag fault, and its companion to the east, the Yucca fault, are typical of 

intrabasin normal faults within the basin-range north of the Las Vegas Valley shear zone 

and the Walker Lane belt, and also north of the left-lateral faults of Rock Valley and 

nearby zones (Brocher and others, 1998). Both faults are significant because they have 

been broken by some of the many underground nuclear tests in Yucca Flat. 

The Carpetbag fault is the major fault that controls Yucca Flat basin on the NTS. 

Recent geophysical studies by Phelps and others (1999) have determined that Yucca Flat 

basin consists of two main sub-basins separated by a gravity ridge, or horst block. The 

18 
deeper sub-basin underlies the eastern half of Yucca Flat, where basin-fill deposits reach 

a maximum thickness of 2.5 km. A significant density boundary determined by gravity 

data exists along the west flank of this sub-basin, and corresponds with the Carpetbag 

fault zone. The Carpetbag fault lacks significant pre-testing surface expression, other 

than a possible short 1-km long scarp, although the fault does contain secondary 

carbonate fracture fillings that, on the basis of U-series ages, suggest multiple fracturing 

events with no significant displacements in the late to middle Pleistocene (Shroba and 

others, 1988). 

The Yucca fault has an impressive surface expression, but based on gravity data, 

has comparatively small topographic expression beneath the Cenozoic basin-fill, which is 

interpreted to indicate minimal vertical offset within the basement rocks (Phelps and 

others, 1999). Associated with the Yucca fault is a prominent set of Quaternary fault 

scarps with maximum heights of 15 m that predate nuclear testing and displace 

Pleistocene alluvial deposits potentially as young as late Pleistocene (Swadley and 

Hoover, 1990; Dohrenwend and others, 1992). 

Belted Range fault (northcentral section of the map area) 

The Belted Range fault is a major west-dipping normal fault that forms the 

structural boundary between the Belted Range and Kawich Valley. Along most of its 

extent, the fault is buried by basin fill and (or) surficial deposits. However, a prominent 

set of west-facing fault scarps is developed in middle to upper Quaternary deposits along 

the southern end of the fault (Dohrenwend and others, 1992; Anderson and others, 

1995a). Reconnaissance paleoseismic investigations of these fault scarps indicate (a) 

multiple surface-rupturing events on large composite scarps ranging from 2 to 15 m in 

height; (b) a most recent early Holocene event within an approximate 1 m surface offset; 

and (c) an estimated late Quaternary slip rate of 0.01-0.09 mm/yr, with the former more 

likely (Anderson and others, 1995a). This rate is similar in magnitude, albeit slightly 

lower, than a long-term estimate of slip rate on the fault of 0.05 mm/yr that is derived by 

a possible 600-m vertical displacement of a 12.5-11.5 Ma tuff across the fault (Ekren and 

others, 1971; Sawyer and others, 1994; Anderson and others, 1995a). 

Pahranagat shear zone (eastern section of the map area) 

The Pahranagat shear zone is a northeast-striking, left-lateral transfer fault zone at 

the northeastern margin of the map area that links and accommodates normal 

displacement on north-striking basin-range faults southeast and northwest of it (Liggett 

and Ehrenspeck, 1974; Ekren and others, 1977; Scott and others, 1990; Page and others, 

1990; Swadley and Scott, 1990; Rowley, 1998). Tschanz and Pampeyan (1970) 

estimated approximately 9-16 km of cumulative, left-lateral displacement across the 

shear zone based on offset of the Hiko Tuff. Areas north and northwest of the shear zone 

were highly affected by Cenozoic extensional faulting in contrast to areas south of the 

shear zone in the southern Delamar Mountains to the east of the map area (Page, 1993). 

The shear zone consists of three major faults. They are, from north to south, the 

Arrowhead, Buckhorn, and Maynard Lake faults (Jayko, 1990; Tschanz and Pampeyan, 

1970). Ekren and others (1977) note that local basalt lavas are intercalated with the Hiko 

and Kane Wash Tuffs within the southern end of the Pahranagat Valley in the vicinity of 

the shear zone which thin and decrease in abundance to the southeast and northwest. The 

19 
shear zone most likely acted as a conduit for these Miocene basaltic flows. Eakin (1966) 

describes a major groundwater level gradient in the Paleozoic rocks across the Maynard 

Lake fault which he explains as a thick section of volcanic rocks on the northern side of 

the fault that act as a barrier or dam to southward moving groundwater in the regional 

carbonate aquifer. 

Scarps indicative of Quaternary displacements have been reported on several 

strands of the fault zone (Ekren and others, 1977; Schell, 1981; Piety, 1996), and the zone 

has been the locus of persistent low-level (M 3-4) instrumentally recorded seismicity that 

is a major element of the east-trending Southern Nevada seismic belt in the southern 

Great Basin (Rogers and others, 1991). 

THE WALKER LANE BELT 

The Walker Lane belt, as redefined by Stewart (1988) and Stewart and Crowell 

(1992) from the earlier concepts of Giannella and Callaghan (1934) and Locke and others 

(1940), is a 700-km-long, northwest- to north-northwest-trending belt of valleys and 

ranges along the Nevada-California border that are dominated by strike-slip faults. As 

originally defined based on combined Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic characteristics, the 

Walker Lane belt is a complex structural zone that separates the Sierra Nevada on the 

west from areas of typical basin-range topography to the east (Stewart, 1988; Stewart and 

Crowell, 1992). Within the map area, the Walker Lane belt is separated from the 

southern end of the Sierra Nevada structural block by the eastern California basin and 

range which is considered a separate tectonic province as discussed below. 

Deformation in the Walker Lane belt is complex and includes a variety of 

intricately related structures. Within the map area are several large subregional-scale 

right-lateral fault zones with dominant northwest orientations, but the region also 

contains a number of other coeval structures, including east-northeast-trending left-lateral 

strike-slip faults and north- to northeast-trending normal faults. Regional westwardverging detachment faults and metamorphic core complexes that are younger westward 

are abundant in the Walker Lane belt (McKee, 1983; Hamilton, 1988; Wright and Troxel, 

1993; Wernicke, 1992). The Walker Lane belt structures are discontinuous and appear to 

complexly interact with one another in accommodating an overall mixed right-shear and 

extensional strain field in the region. This complex fault network is also reflected in 

regional patterns of historical seismicity recorded since 1950 at the NTS. 

Microearthquake focal mechanisms indicate spatially intermixed slip on a network of 

dextral, sinistral, and normal slip on fault sets with north, east-northeast, and northeast 

trends, respectively; this kinematic pattern is consistent with a west-northwest-oriented 

regional least compressive stress (Rogers and others, 1987). 

Oroflexural bending is another locally important tectonic element in the Walker 

Lane belt. Ranges and structures within and adjacent to the Las Vegas Valley shear zone 

and within the Silver Peak-Palmetto Mountain area are locally dragged in a right-lateral 

sense within spectacular oroflexures. Although some of the oroflexural bending within 

the Silver Peak-Palmetto-Montezuma zone possibly is as old as Mesozoic (Albers, 1967; 

Albers and Stewart, 1972), Stewart and Crowell (1992) interpret deformation in the belt 

as most likely influenced by northwest-directed right-lateral shear that formed after about 

20 
20 Ma. Right-lateral offset of 32 km was estimated for the northern part of the Walker 

Lane belt and 48-60 km for the central part (Stewart and Crowell, 1992). 

On the basis of a regional synthesis of data, Stewart (1988) suggested that strikeslip and normal faulting in the Walker Lane belt began about 26-25 Ma and continued to 

at least 15 Ma (John and others, 1989; John and Hudson, 1990; Hardyman and Oldow, 

1991; Dilles and Gans, 1995). Dilles and Gans (1995) further suggested that the main 

phase of movement occurred at 14-12.5 Ma. Along the Walker Lane's eastern boundary, 

and in the southwestern NTS, the bulk of movement occurred at 13-7 Ma where 

considerable movement along faults in the Beatty area postdates the 11.6-11.45 Ma tuffs 

of the Timber Mountain Group (Fridrich and others, 1999a, b). Neotectonic activity is 

indicated on a small subset of the faults in the region by their association with fault scarps 

displacing Quaternary surficial deposits (Dohrenwend and others, 1991, 1992; Anderson 

and others, 1995a, b; Piety, 1996). Trench and scarp-based paleoseismic investigations 

indicate generally low to moderate slip rates and long recurrence intervals in the same 

range (0.001-0.01 mm/yr and 104-105 yrs, respectively) as those cited above for the 

Great Basin area to the northeast (Anderson and others, 1995a, b; dePolo, 1998; Menges 

and others, 1997, 1998), with the exception of higher composite slip rates of 0.1 mm/yr 

and 103- 104 yrs estimated for the Rock Valley fault system. 

Eastern Limit of Walker Lane belt (northern section of the map area) 

We show the eastern boundary of the Walker Lane belt as a northwest-striking 

fault zone that separates the Kawich Range and Cathedral Ridge from the Mellon Hills 

west of them. Deformation within the Mellon Hills follows the general characteristics of 

Walker Lane style of deformation but a north-northwest-trending normal fault defines the 

range front along the western side of the Kawich Range block which we conclude is 

characteristic of southern Great Basin structure. There is a distinct change in the trend of 

isostatic gravity anomalies from north-south to northwest-southeast orientations across 

this zone and truncation of gravity ridges that supports this conclusion (Ponce and others, 

2001). 

This fault zone on the west side of the Kawich Range strikes southeast into Pahute 

Mesa, where extension was taken up by a batholith from which the Silent Canyon caldera 

complex formed. Caldera magmatism and shallow intrusion is an integral part of Walker 

Lane deformation, but is also characteristic of the southern Great Basin extension, so the 

location of the boundary between these two subregions in the southwest Nevada volcanic 

field region is unclear. In fact, the boundary may be characterized by a zone of 

overlapping structural style of these two subregions. 

Sarcobatus Flat-Goldfield Hills fault zone (northwestern section of the map area) 

We informally name the structure within the map area previously defined as the 

Walker Lane by Locke and others (1940) as the Sarcobatus Flat-Goldfield Hills fault 

zone. Stewart and Crowell (1992) defined the Walker Lane belt as a broad zone of 

structures with the previously defined Walker Lane being the eastern structure within this 

zone. We extend the eastern boundary of the belt farther to the east (see above). Albers 

and Stewart (1972) mapped a fault extending from the northeastern edge of Lone 

Mountain across the eastern side of the alkali flat northwest of Goldfield. They continue 

the structure directly beneath the town of Goldfield and south, along State Highway 95, 

21 
into northern Sarcobatus Flat. Locke and others (1940) described this structure as a rightlateral shear zone and implied that it continued to the southeast and joined with the Las 

Vegas Valley shear zone. Recent detailed mapping and geophysical studies (Langenheim 

and others, 1997, 1998, in press) show that the Las Vegas Valley shear zone truncates 

against the Rock Valley fault zone and does not extend farther north. We extend the 

structure mapped by Albers and Stewart (1972) south along the western edge of 

Sarcobatus Flat and across the western edge of the Bullfrog Hills to terminate against the 

Grapevine Mountains. 

Within Sarcobatus Flat, Blakely and Ponce (2001) define two distinct north- to 

northwest-trending basins with depths of about 4 km that display en echelon rightstepping relationships. This may be a concealed right step over in the fault zone, but 

further studies are necessary to clarify this basin structure. No deep basins are associated 

with the fault zone through the Goldfield Hills region where it is largely concealed 

beneath younger volcanic units. To the north of the map area, in Big Smokey Valley, the 

northern segment of the structure follows a narrow (approximately 10 km wide), elongate 

basin parallel to the fault zone. This basin, as defined by gravity data (Blakely and 

Ponce, 2001) varies from 3 km deep in the southern end to only 1 km deep in the 

northern end where it intersects the east-striking, left-lateral Coaldale fault in the Warm 

Springs-Monitor Range transverse zone (Ekren and others, 1976; Rowley, 1998). 

There is no surface exposure of this structure within the map area. The Miocene 

Thirsty Canyon (9.4-9.15 Ma; Slate and others, 2000) and Timber Mountain (11.6-11.45 

Ma; Slate and others, 2000) volcanic units cross the structure with no offset, so it is 

inferred that this structure has not been active since middle Miocene time. In the 

Goldfield area, the fault zone passes near the western boundary of the Goldfield caldera, 

so it may have had some influence on caldera subsidence during the early Miocene, prebasin-range time. The regional-scale oroflexure in the Silver Peak, Palmetto Mountains, 

and Montezuma Range bends into this structure north of the Goldfield Hills area. Albers 

(1967) argued that this oroflexure was caused by dextral drag in the upper crust, which at 

some depth is thought to have moved freely over deeper crust or the mantle. He 

considered that movements associated with the oroflexure possibly started as early as late 

Early Jurassic and were mostly completed by early or middle Miocene. 

Thirsty Canyon lineament (central section of the map area) 

The Thirsty Canyon lineament strikes northeast and extends from the 

northwestern corner of the NTS southwestward into Oasis Valley. The lineament is not 

exposed at the surface but is buried by younger rocks, notably volcanic rocks of the 

Thirsty Canyon Group (9.4-9.15 Ma). The lineament was first identified on the basis of 

gravity and aeromagnetic data (Grauch and others, 1997), and it was interpreted to be a 

buried fault zone. Additional geophysical studies (Hildenbrand and others, 1999; 

Mankinen and others, 1999; Schenkel and others, 1999) have refined the structure’s 

location as shown by Slate and others (2000), who interpreted the zone as a fault zone 

one or more kilometers wide. Geophysical methods, however, failed to define the 

southwestern end of the lineament, so it is not shown extending southwest of the southern 

side of Thirsty Canyon (Slate and others, 2000). Because its location coincides with the 

western side of gravity lows interpreted as comprising the western boundaries of the 

Silent Canyon (at least as old as 13.7 Ma) and Timber Mountain (11.6-11.45 Ma) caldera 

22 
complexes, the lineament is interpreted to have controlled and bounded the western sides 

of these two caldera complexes. This northeast-striking fault zone may be part of the prebasin-range, high-angle, northeast-striking set described by Ekren and others (1968) as 

middle Tertiary (about 27-18 Ma). The lineament has seen significant activity in the time 

of basin-range extension however, so it may be a reactivated older structure. 

Beatty Wash transverse zone (central section of the map area) 

A broad (several kilometers or more) east-striking fault zone, herein named the 

Beatty Wash transverse zone, was identified on the basis of geophysics as marking or 

controlling the southern side of Oasis Valley (Grauch and others, 1997). From there, it 

extends eastward along the southern side of the Timber Mountain area. Gravity, 

aeromagnetic, and electrical studies (Hildebrand and others, 1999; Mankinen and others, 

1999; Schenkel and others, 1999) helped to define the structure as a transverse zone, in 

the sense of Rowley (1998), separating areas of different styles of extension (Slate and 

others, 2000). North of this zone, shallow intrusions and major calderas dominate, 

whereas south of it major faults dominate. Northerly striking faults both north and south 

of the zone tend to terminate against it. Fridrich and others (1999a) suggested that the 

zone formed the southwestern side of the Rainier Mesa caldera (11.6 Ma) and remained 

active until at least 9.9 Ma. The transverse zone may be as old as middle or even early 

Tertiary. 

Bare Mountain fault (central section of the map area) 

The Bare Mountain fault is a major north-trending, east-dipping normal fault that 

forms the structural boundary between the eastern front of Bare Mountain and the 

western margin of Crater Flat (Monsen and others, 1992). The fault is discontinuously 

exposed along the base of Bare Mountain’s faceted range front. The seismic reflection 

survey of Brocher and others (1998) clearly images this structure as a moderately east 

dipping (40-50°) normal fault bounding the west-tilted Crater Flat half-graben. The half 

graben is filled primarily with a west-dipping sequence of Tertiary and Quaternary basinfill deposits (about 4 km deep) that overlies Tertiary volcanic rocks. Gravity modeling 

suggests the fault extends southward into the north-central Amargosa Desert (Blakely and 

others, 1998, 1999), where it may form the western boundary of the Amargosa trough of 

Blakely and others (1998). 

Quaternary activity is indicated along a 20-km-long section of the northern Bare 

Mountain fault by a discontinuous set of fault scarps and its topographic position along 

the range front in Crater Flat. Trenching investigations by Anderson and Klinger (in 

press) indicate one to two surface rupturing events in late to middle Pleistocene time, 

suggesting slip rates and recurrence intervals on the order of 0.01 mm/yr and 104-105 yrs 

(100-200 ka), respectively. There is no evidence for Quaternary activity on the buried 

southern continuation of the fault in the Amargosa Desert. 

Highway 95 fault (central section of the map area) 

Fridrich and others (1996) identified the truncation of volcanic rocks at the 

southern edge of Crater Flat and Yucca Mountain based on magnetic studies and 

supported by drill-hole data from the Amargosa Desert. Slate and others (2000) show a 

concealed fault as following State Highway 95 at the southern end of Crater Flat. Based 

23 
on gravity data (Blakely and others, 1999; Ponce and others, 2001), we interpret the fault, 

informally referred to as the Highway 95 fault, to extend eastward along the southern end 

of Jackass Flats and to truncate against the north-trending Gravity fault at the western end 

of the Specter Range. B. Slemmons (Fridrich, 1999a) proposed that the Carrera fault, 

which defines the southwestern boundary of the Bare Mountain block, is a right-lateral 

structure that extends eastward along the southern end of Crater Flat. We interpret the 

Carrera fault, however, to be truncated against the north-trending Bare Mountain fault, 

and the structure defining the southern end of Crater Flat and Yucca Mountain as a 

separate fault. An alternative interpretation of the gravity data is that this feature is 

simply a buried erosional scarp with no structural offset. Additional work is necessary to 

fully define this inferred feature. 

Gravity fault (central section of the map area) 

The Gravity fault (Winograd and Thordarson, 1975) is a prominent west-dipping 

normal fault concealed beneath basin-fill deposits in Jackass Flats and the northern 

Amargosa Desert. The fault is defined by seismic reflection (Brocher and others, 1993), 

gravity (Blakely and others, 1998, 1999), and aeromagnetic (Blakely and others, 1999) 

data and its location is supported by the presence of shallow Paleozoic basement in the 

footwall of the fault as identified from boreholes. The fault forms the eastern margin of 

the Amargosa trough of Blakely and others (1998), and, therefore, is structurally related 

to the central Amargosa part of the Pahrump-Stewart Valley-Central Amargosa fault 

system. 

The fault is not well expressed at the surface. Aside from geophysical surveys, its 

position can only be inferred from the general westward limit of bedrock hills in the eastcentral Amargosa Desert. Donovan (1991) and Anderson and others (1995b) identified a 

30-km-long zone of discontinuous lineaments and subdued small scarps (0.2-3.5 m high) 

developed in Pliocene and Quaternary surficial deposits which they termed the Ash 

Meadows fault zone. This diffuse zone of scarps approximately overlies the southern 

trace of the Gravity fault, as inferred in the subsurface from geophysics, between the 

western extent of the Skeleton Hills and the northern Resting Spring Ranges. These Ash 

Meadow fault scarps suggest a low level of Quaternary activity on at least this part of the 

Gravity fault, with an estimated late Pleistocene age for the most recent rupture and 

probable low slip rates of 0.01 mm/yr and long recurrence intervals of at least 15-50 ky 

(Anderson and others, 1995b). 

Rock Valley fault zone (central section of the map area) 

The east-northeast-striking Rock Valley fault zone (RVFZ) is the major leftlateral fault zone in the southern NTS area with a maximum length of 70 km. At its 

southwestern end it is truncated by the Gravity fault in the Amargosa Desert. To the 

northeast its strike changes to north and we interpret the fault to merge with the Buried 

Hills range front normal fault. This pattern is consistent with the oroflexural bending of 

mountain ranges north of the Las Vegas Valley shear zone which terminates at the RVFZ 

in Mercury Valley. Several other northeast- to east-striking left-lateral faults, including 

the Cane Springs, Mine Mountain, and Mid Valley faults exist to the north of the RVFZ. 

O'Leary (2000) suggested that the RVFZ is a boundary separating weakly extended, 

24 
nonvolcanic rocks of the Spring Mountains-Specter Range domain to the south, from 

volcanic terranes to the north. 

The RVFZ was active as early as about 29 Ma (Oligocene) according to O'Leary 

(2000). Fault scarps in mid-Pleistocene to Holocene surficial deposits indicate significant 

amounts of Quaternary deformation along the entire mapped length of the RVFZ (Yount 

and others, 1987; Anderson and others, 1995b; J.A. Coe, written communication, 2001). 

Trenching investigations in Rock Valley and Frenchman Flat indicate two surface 

ruptures, with a composite slip rate of 0.1 mm/yr for displacements summed across all 

strands and an average recurrence interval of 23 ka (J.A. Coe, written communication, 

2001). Active seismicity has been recorded on this fault by Southern Nevada seismic 

network (Rogers and others, 1987; Smith and Brune, in press; Smith and others, in press 

a, b). The 1992 Little Skull Mountain earthquake (M5.8) was an oblique-normal-slip 

event centered immediately north of the RVFZ itself at 9-km depth on a northeaststriking buried fault not observed at the surface (Smith and others, in press a, b). A 

swarm of very shallow small magnitude (<3.5) left-slip earthquakes occurred on the Rock 

Valley fault in 1993, which likely were triggered by the Little Skull main shock (Smith 

and others, in press a, b). Both displacement per event and length parameters indicate the 

potential for a major surface-rupturing earthquake of M7.0-7.3 (J.A. Coe, written 

communication, 2001). 

The Cane Spring fault to the north of the RVFZ is about 8 km long and follows 

the same strike as the RVFZ. It has been considered as possibly active in the Quaternary 

based on association with photointerpretive lineaments (Reheis and Noller, 1991). 

However, Quaternary activity could not be confirmed on the ground along this or other 

northeast-trending faults north of the Rock Valley fault, except for possible middle 

Quaternary displacements on a small section of the Mine Mountain fault southeast of 

Shoshone Mountain (O’Leary, 2000). 

Mercury Valley fault zone (central section of the map area) 

Within the Spotted Range are a series of northeast-trending oblique slip faults 

with a left-lateral, down to the north sense of offset (Barnes and others, 1982). These 

structures appear to be oroflexurally bent north of the Las Vegas Valley shear zone 

(LVVSZ) and become more northerly striking with a smaller component of strike-slip 

offset to the northeast based on correlation with structures in the northern Spotted Range 

and Ranger Mountains (Guth, 1990; Workman and others, 2002; Guth and Yount, 

unpublished mapping, 1994). Guth (1990) described these faults as reactivated portions 

of the Mesozoic Spotted Range thrust system. We consider these structures to be 

conjugate faults to the LVVSZ as suggested by Barnes and others (1982). This 

conclusion is supported by the apparent mutual offsets between the two structures as 

defined by gravity modeling within Mercury Valley (Slate and others, 2000; Ponce and 

others, 2000, 2001). 

Barnes and others (1982) suggested that the strand of the Mercury Valley fault 

zone along the north edge of Crossgrain Valley in the Spotted Range may extend across 

Mercury Valley and the LVVSZ to the Specter Range. This interpretation is based on 

correlation of Mesozoic structures in the two ranges which is supported by Snow (1992). 

Interpretation of gravity data (Ponce and others, 2000, 2001), however, implies that the 

fault in the Spotted Range is truncated against a buried fault north of the main strand of 

25 
the LVVSZ that in turn truncates the fault in the Specter Range. These two northwesttrending structures define a small graben paralleling the shear zone within Mercury 

Valley. The fault within the Spotted Range along the southern edge of the Mercury 

klippe of Barnes and others (1982) appears to offset the LVVSZ by more than 3 km as 

mapped by Slate and others (2000). These cross-cutting relationships support the 

interpretation of the Mercury Valley fault zone as a conjugate system to the LVVSZ and 

that deformation was contemporaneous in the two systems. There is no known indication 

of Quaternary offset along the Mercury Valley fault zone. 

Las Vegas Valley shear zone (eastern section of the map area) 

The Las Vegas Valley shear zone (LVVSZ) (Burchfiel, 1965; Campagna and 

Aydin, 1994; Dubendorfer and Black, 1992; Fleck, 1970b; Langenheim and others, 1997; 

1998, in press; Longwell, 1974; Longwell and others, 1965; Lyles and Hess, 1988; 

Stewart, 1967; Stewart and others, 1968; Stewart and Crowell, 1992), striking westnorthwest through the southeastern part of the mapped area, is characterized by as much 

as 23-69 km of right-lateral slip. The shear zone extends more than 100 km from 

Frenchman Mountain, on the east side of Las Vegas Valley, north-westward to terminate 

at the Rock Valley fault zone. Langenheim and others (1997, 1998, in press) described 

the shear zone as complex, and consisting of several continuous to discontinuous strands 

with associated steep-sided pull-apart sub-basins. They identified a major strand of the 

LVVSZ that marks the northern margin of Las Vegas basin along the southern Sheep and 

Las Vegas ranges. The Las Vegas basin is several kilometers deep at its northern end 

against this strand of the shear zone and at least 3 km deep on its eastern side on the west 

flank of Frenchman Mountain. A narrow, deep (>2 km) basin north of Corn Creek 

Springs is also interpreted as a pull-apart basin within the shear zone. 

The LVVSZ is bounded by the Great Basin subprovince on the north and the 

southern Basin and Range subprovince on the south and accommodates different types 

and amounts of extension across these two subprovinces (Fleck, 1970b; Anderson, 1973; 

Liggett and Childs, 1977; Guth, 1981; Bohannon, 1984; Faulds and others, 1990; 

Duebendorfer and Black, 1992; Rowley, 1998). Ranges, faults, folds, and bedding north 

and south of the shear zone were oroflexurally bent into the fault zone in a right-lateral 

sense that Albers (1967) originally identified as a defining characteristic of the Walker 

Lane. It is unclear how the LVVSZ relates to the main trend of the Walker Lane belt 

since it is separated and displaced from the belt by younger, regional left-lateral 

structures. We include it in the discussion of the Walker Lane belt due to its similar style 

and timing of deformation. The principal faulting within the shear zone appears to have 

taken place between 14 and 8.5 Ma (Duebendorfer and Black, 1992). The shear zone is 

not associated with fault scarps or microseismicity indicative of neotectonic activity, but 

youthful (late Tertiary and Quaternary) fault scarps are evident south of the shear zone in 

Las Vegas Valley (Bell, 1981; Langenheim and others, in press; Page and others, in 

press). 

Pahrump-Stewart Valley-Central Amargosa fault system (southcentral section of the map 

area) 

The Pahrump-Stewart Valley-Central Amargosa fault system, also referred to by 

Blakely and others (1998) as the State Line fault system, is an extensive northwest26 
striking, right-lateral strike-slip fault zone that follows the Nevada-California State line. 

The fault also has been referred to as the Pahrump Valley fault zone (Wright and others, 

1981; Hoffard, 1991), Amargosa River fault zone (Donovan, 1991), and the Amargosa 

fault zone (Schweickert and Lahren, 1997). Topographic expression of the zone extends 

nearly 175 km northwest from Ivanpah Valley through Mesquite Valley and Ash 

Meadows, and may continue northwestward to define the northeastern flank of the 

Funeral Mountains (Blakely and others, 1998). Based on gravity data, the bedrock 

basement concealed beneath alluvial valleys along the fault zone is structurally complex 

and consists of a series of narrow and steep-sided sub-basins interpreted by Wright 

(1987) and Blakely and others (1998) as transtensional, pull-apart basins, caused by enechelon right steps during strike-slip faulting. 

In Pahrump Valley, the basement or bedrock surface is relatively flat along the 

basin margins, but within the central part of the valley, two steep-sided basins are 

separated by a basement gravity ridge which parallels the northwest trend of the fault 

zone. The depth of the southwestern basin is 2 km, and the northeastern basin is nearly 5 

km deep. The gravity ridge is exposed on the surface as a gravel-capped ridge that trends 

northwest through the Mound Spring and Stump Spring 7.5-minute quadrangles 

(Lundstrom and others, in press). Lundstrom and others (in press) and Blakely and others 

(1998) interpreted the ridge as a horst block uplifted by local compression between major 

reverse faults of the fault system resulting from transpression along left steps in the 

overall dextral system. 

The fault system in the Amargosa Desert area is characterized by a deep trough 

that extends south from the southwest Nevada volcanic field to the Nevada-California 

State line. The trough is deepest beneath the southern end of the volcanic field. Depths 

of 7 km were estimated based on geophysics (Blakely and others, 1998). In the Devil's 

Hole-Ash Meadows area, the trough is generally less than 3.5 km deep, and like the 

Pahrump area, a basement gravity ridge separates two sub-basins, and is on strike with 

the Pahrump gravity ridge, suggesting continuity between the two geographically 

separated areas along the fault zone. 

The geophysical expression of the overall fault zone across the region implies a 

major continuous subregional strike-slip fault during at least the major late Tertiary 

deformational interval of basin formation. However, this geophysically defined regional 

fault trace is not expressed at the surface, and indeed sections of the overall fault zone 

defined by the geophysical surveys cross range divides between the structural and 

physiographic basins developed along the structure. The presence of fault scarps along 

sections of the structure indicate Quaternary activity along parts of the overall fault zone 

(for example, southwest Pahrump Valley, Stewart Valley, and the Amargosa River fault 

zone; see Donovan, 1991; Hoffard, 1991; Anderson and others, 1995b; Blakely and 

others, 1998, 1999; Page and others, in press). These scarps are typically discontinuous 

and vary greatly in height (< 1 m to 15 m). Estimated recency of movement also varies 

across the structure from probable Holocene in the Pahrump and Stewart Valley areas to 

late Pleistocene in the Amargosa Desert (Donovan, 1991; Hoffard, 1991; Anderson and 

others, 1995b). Quaternary slip rates and recurrence intervals are very poorly constrained 

along any component of the overall zone, although Anderson and others (1995b) suggest 

a possible range of 0.009 to 0.02 mm/yr for the vertical slip component of the strike-slip 

fault in the Pahrump valley, based on 15 m scarps in sediments with estimated ages of 

27 
Pliocene to early Pleistocene. Recently acquired luminescence dating of these sediments 

in the 400-275 ka range (Page and others, in press) suggest slightly higher mid-late 

Quaternary vertical slip rates of 0.03-0.05 mm/yr. These combined data suggest that 

Quaternary surface rupturing has occured at varying times and relatively low to moderate 

rates along several components of the zone and large ruptures probably do not propagate 

during single earthquake events along the entire extent of the overall geophysically 

defined structural zone. 

As with the Las Vegas Valley shear zone, it is unclear how the Pahrump-Stewart 

Valley-Central Amargosa fault system relates to the main trend of the Walker Lane belt. 

We include it in the discussion of the Walker Lane belt due to its similar style and timing 

of deformation, but it is more likely a transitional structure between the Walker Lane belt 

and the eastern California basin and range. 

EASTERN CALIFORNIA BASIN AND RANGE 

The eastern California basin and range is defined as the area of high-relief ranges 

and basins north of the Garlock fault between Death Valley and Fish Lake Valleys on the 

east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. This region is characterized by a prominent 

system of north-northeast to north-northwest-striking normal to oblique-normal faults and 

large, regional northwest-oriented right-lateral strike-slip faults (Jennings, 1994). Many 

of these structures are linked geometrically and kinematically within rhombic pull-apart 

basins (Burchfiel and Stewart, 1966; Burchfiel and others, 1987; Blakely and others, 

1999). In some areas the overall oblique extensional strain field appears to be partitioned 

into coeval slip on discrete, commonly adjacent, sets of normal and strike-slip faults 

(Wesnousky and Jones, 1994). These faults accommodate very high rates and amounts 

of neotectonic deformation, responsible for producing the greatest local relief in the 

conterminous United States, that are one to several orders of magnitude higher than areas 

to the east of Death Valley. Typical slip rates on individual faults are on the order of 0.1 

to >1 mm/yr, possibly exceeding 5mm/yr locally, with recurrence intervals ranging from 

103 to 102 yrs (for example, Klinger and Piety, 1996; Zhang and others, 1990; Knott, 

1998; Klinger, 1999). 

A regional series of north- to northeast-trending normal faults have developed in 

the block between the two major northwest-trending zones of major strike-slip 

deformation within the map area. Collectively these faults appear to perform two 

tectonic functions. First, they accommodate additional secondary extension and 

fragmentation of the crustal block between the adjoining regional deformation zones in 

Death Valley and Panamint and Saline Valleys. This extension is manifested both as 

intramontane valleys and second-order basins. Secondly, the geodetically based tectonic 

model of Dixon and others (1995) for the eastern California shear zone predicts that these 

north-striking normal faults transfer and focus some of the regional right-lateral slip 

northward from the Panamint Valley-Hunter Mountain-Inyo fault system onto the Death 

Valley-Furnace Creek fault system and eventually onto the Fish Lake Valley fault. 

The contemporary tectonic regime of this area developed after 6 to 4 Ma, and is 

the most recent extension within the region. The stratigraphy and structures associated 

with earlier episodes of extension, possibly beginning as early as Oligocene time as 

28 
described by Snow and Lux (1999) in the Cottonwood Mountains, are exposed primarily 

within the range blocks and along the margins of basins, where they commonly are 

truncated by the currently active structures that define the present basin-range systems. 

Deformation commonly involves low-angle normal faults with either listric or 

detachment geometries. In many cases this extensional deformation is associated with 

prominent strike-slip faulting (Wright and Troxel, 1973, 1984, 1993; Hamilton, 1988; 

Fridrich, 1999b; Wernicke, 1999; Wright and others, 1999; Cichanski, 2000). 

Dokka and Travis (1990) defined the eastern California shear zone as a diffuse 

zone of right-lateral shear that accommodates a significant component of plate motion 

inboard of the San Andreas transform boundary. They continued the eastern California 

shear zone northward from the active strike-slip faults of the central Mojave Desert 

through the eastern California basin and range on the basis of evidence for significant 

right-lateral slip displacement (as much as 6-12 mm/yr) on the composite set of faults in 

this region. Significant right-lateral slip compatible with this general interpretation has 

been observed on the major fault systems in the region by precise satellite-based geodetic 

measurements (Dixon and others, 1995; Reheis and Dixon, 1996; Bennett and others, 

1997). 

Death Valley-Furnace Creek fault system (western, central, and southern sections of the 

map area) 

The Death Valley-Furnace Creek fault system is a 200-km-long set of linked 

right-lateral strike-slip and normal faults that structurally control the neotectonic 

evolution of the full length of Death Valley from the Avawatz Mountains north to the 

Last Chance Range (Brogan and others, 1991; Jennings, 1994; Klinger and Piety, 1996). 

The system comprises three major component faults that dominate the structure of the 

valley, including from south to north, the southern Death Valley fault zone, the Death 

Valley fault zone proper in the central part of the valley, and the Furnace Creek fault 

zone which includes the northern Death Valley fault. These structures are discussed in 

detail below. The Fish Lake Valley fault zone continues on strike to the northwest of the 

Furnace Creek fault zone beyond the map area at the northern end of Death Valley 

proper, and thus is considered a northwest continuation of the latter fault by some 

workers (Brogan and others, 1991); however, recent paleoseismic studies indicate 

seismotectonic behavior that appears to differ from the Furnace Creek fault to the 

southeast. 

Secondary transpressive deformation, commonly manifested as elongate ridges of 

uplifted and warped basin sediments and surficial deposits, exist along the major strikeslip faults at the northern and southern ends of Death Valley. Blakely and others (1999) 

also postulate that most of the narrow deep subbasins in the basin interior defined by 

gravity modeling probably represent secondary intermediate-scale rhombic pull-apart 

structures, related to oblique extension or transtension on the major faults, that mimic the 

pull-apart geometry of the overall Death Valley fault system. 

Complex deformation between Beatty Junction and Furnace Creek Ranch and 

continuing to the east along lower Furnace Creek Wash is probably related to slip transfer 

in this area between the Furnace Creek fault and the Death Valley fault. Structures in this 

transition zone include north-trending normal-slip fault splays at the southern terminus of 

the active strand of Furnace Creek fault, northwest-oriented synclines and anticlines in 

29 
lower Furnace Creek Wash and Salt Spring Hills, related flexural-slip thrusts on the limbs 

of these folds, and northeast-trending normal faults that crosscut the northwest structures 

(Hunt and Mabey, 1966; Klinger and Piety, 1996; Klinger, 1999; Machette and others, 

1999). Deformation on these active structures affects not only upper Tertiary sediments 

of the Furnace Creek and Funeral Formations, but also overlying middle to late 

Quaternary surficial deposits. These structures also appear to localize the distribution of 

the major spring discharge in at least the shallow subsurface of central Death Valley. 

Southern Death Valley fault—The southern Death Valley fault is a 50-km-long 

northwest-striking primarily right-lateral fault that occupies the axis of southern Death 

Valley from north of the Avawatz Mountains to Shoreline Butte. The fault zone is 

complex and locally wide, with evidence for locally significant vertical as well as lateral 

displacements, including secondary transpressive deformation between adjacent strands 

(Butler and others, 1988; Klinger, 1999). There is abundant stratigraphic and 

geomorphic evidence for significant recurrent Pliocene to Quaternary displacements 

along its entire length, although key paleoseismic parameters are not well determined 

(Klinger, 1999). The most recent event is estimated as late Holocene, with mixed lateral 

and vertical slip components of 1.2 and 1.8 m, respectively. The late Quaternary slip rate 

is poorly constrained overall to less than 1 mm/yr, with the best estimate of 0.3 mm/yr 

derived from the 215 m of right-lateral offset of a cinder cone with a reported age of 0.69 

Ma (Klinger, 1999). 

Death Valley fault zone—The central Death Valley fault zone is a 60-km-long, 

north-northwest-trending primarily normal fault zone that forms the primary structural 

boundary between the eastern margin of central Death Valley and the base of the western 

range front of the Black Mountains from south of Mormon Point to north of Furnace 

Creek (Brogan and others, 1991; Klinger and Piety, 1996; Knott, 1998). The fault dips 

steeply west at the surface and both seismic reflection profiles and gravity modeling 

suggest steep to moderate dips in the subsurface (Serpa, 1990; Blakely and others, 1999). 

This fault is the master bounding structure controlling the eastward-directed subsidence 

and rotation of the central Death Valley half-graben. Slip on this fault is predominantly 

normal, but the possible presence of a lateral-slip component is more controversial. 

Klinger and Piety (1996) report only dip-slip on young fault scarps near Mormon Point, 

whereas Slemmons and Brogan (1999) present theoretical arguments and geomorphic 

data for a significant, Quaternary right-lateral slip on the fault. 

The fault zone lies at the base of the turtleback surfaces prominently exposed 

along the western Black Mountains. These antiformal, low-angle normal-slip faults are 

generally interpreted to have primarily developed during Tertiary extension (Miller, 

1999a). There is some controversy regarding the relationship of the structures to 

Quaternary activity on Death Valley fault at the range front. Both coeval movements on 

all of the structures and truncation of earlier turtleback surfaces by younger range-front 

high-angle faults have been proposed (Keener and others, 1993; Burchfiel and others, 

1995; Knott and others, 1999; Miller, 1999b, Cichanski, 2000). 

There is abundant evidence for Quaternary activity along the Death Valley fault 

both from the tectonic geomorphology of the range front (for example, steep linear 

mountain front, narrow incised wineglass canyons, vertical knickpoints in the channels of 

most canyons) and associated fault scarps that displace by varying amounts all 

Pleistocene and Holocene surficial deposits except for recent channel and fan deposits. 

30 
The age of the most recent event is not well constrained, but is certainly latest Holocene, 

and possibly < 1 ka, based on the presence of a small scarp with a vertical free face along 

most of the fault (Klinger and Piety, 1996; Klinger, 1999; Frankel and Jayko, 2000). 

Paleoseismic parameters are not well determined, with best estimates of 2.5 m for the 

vertical displacement per event, 1,000 to 2,000 yr for Holocene recurrence intervals, and 

approximately 1.5 mm/yr for the late Quaternary slip rate (Klinger, 1999; Knott, 1998). 

A discontinuous set of fault scarps displace mostly upper to middle Pleistocene 

deposits of the large dissected alluvial fans on the western margin of central Death Valley 

(Hunt and Mabey, 1966; Brogan and others, 1991; Jennings, 1994). These scarps are 

typically short (commonly 0.5-2 km, and rarely as much as 5 km, in length) and 

commonly develop in subparallel clusters on the proximal, medial, and even distal parts 

of the fans. There is evidence for recurrent displacements on the faults, but probably at 

rates significantly lower than associated with the Death Valley fault zone to the east. A 

continuous, highly active basin-bounding fault trace is conspicuously absent along the 

eastern base of the Panamint Range. The observed pattern of faulting probably reflects 

secondary antithetic adjustments during the east-directed tilting and subsidence of the 

asymmetric half-graben against the master boundary fault on the east side of Death 

Valley. 

Furnace Creek fault zone—The Furnace Creek fault zone is a major northweststriking right-lateral strike-slip fault that continues for about 145 km from at least the 

southeast end of the Funeral Mountains in west-central Amargosa Desert and Furnace 

Creek Wash northwest along the axis of northern Death Valley to its junction with the 

Fish Lake Valley fault zone in the bedrock constriction of Cucomungo Canyon (Brogan 

and others, 1991; Jennings, 1994). The overall 105-km-long trace of the fault in northern 

Death Valley is associated with a nearly continuous series of geomorphic features 

indicative of recurrent lateral slip throughout the Quaternary, including variably facing 

scarps, aligned truncation of surficial deposits, laterally offset streams and fan surfaces, 

local shutterridges, and vegetation lineaments (Brogan and others, 1991; Klinger and 

Piety, 1996; Klinger, 1999). The fault also controls the major active seeps and discharge 

points at Grapevine, Sand, and Little Sand Springs at the northern end of the valley 

(Moring, 1986). The overall structural geometry of this part of the fault trace is simple 

and linear, with few large bends or step-overs that might segment surface ruptures during 

a major earthquake (Klinger and Piety, 1996; Klinger, 1999). There is significant uplift, 

locally associated with anticlinal warps and secondary thrust faults, near the southern and 

northern ends of this fault trace. However, there is no evidence of mid-late Quaternary 

activity on the southeastern section of the fault to the east of Death Valley proper, where 

the fault forms the structural boundary of the southern Funeral Mountains in Furnace 

Creek Wash and the central Amargosa Desert. This segment of the fault zone is 

discussed in more detail below in association with the Grandview and Sheephead faults, 

which are discussed in the following section. Gravity surveys indicate the presence of a 

very deep, narrow fault-bounded subbasin, with estimated maximum depths to basement 

of 5-7 km, beneath Mesquite Flats immediately southwest of the main fault trace (Blakely 

and others, 1999). 

Estimates of total cumulative right-lateral offset of bedrock features across the 

fault vary from 40 to 128 km, but most likely are close to 65 to 80 km (Stewart, 1967; 

Stewart and others, 1968; Snow and Wernicke, 1988). Klinger (1999) cites additional 

31 
estimates of cumulative right-lateral displacements for progressively younger Quaternary 

features, including 4 km for sediments containing the Bishop Tuff (0.76 Ma age), 250-

330 m for a late Pleistocene fan surface, and 12 m for a late Holocene stream channel. 

These offset data suggest high Quaternary slip rates between 3 and 9 mm/yr, with a best 

estimate of 5 +/- 2 mm/yr. The geomorphic and soil-stratigraphic analyses of the 

segment in northern Death Valley by Klinger and Piety (1996) and Klinger (1999) 

provide additional estimates of 2-4 m for average lateral displacements (maximum of 6 

m) during individual late Quaternary ruptures, an age of < 1,000 yr BP (possibly 300-400 

yr BP) for the most recent surface rupture on the north end, and poorly constrained late 

Quaternary recurrence intervals of 700 to 1,300 yr. 

A discontinuous series of short normal fault scarps exists along and proximal to 

the eastern and western mountain fronts to either side of the Furnace Creek fault in 

northern Death Valley (Brogan and others, 1991; Jennings, 1994). This activity probably 

represents secondary down dropping of the basin, contemporaneous with the primary 

lateral slip along the valley axis, that is markedly reduced relative to the major basin 

subsidence in central Death Valley to the south. 

Grandview and Sheephead Faults (southcentral section of the map area) 

Several large northwest-trending strike-slip fault systems have been identified in 

basins and ranges to the east of central Death Valley. These include the southeastern 

section of the Furnace Creek fault in Furnace Creek Wash and the west-central Amargosa 

Desert, the Grandview fault mainly in upper Furnace Creek Wash and Greenwater 

Valley, and the Sheephead fault in the southern Black Mountains and Sperry-Alexander 

Hills (McAllister, 1970; Wright and others, 1999; Wright, 1999; Cemen and others, 

1999). These faults are intricately linked with middle Miocene through Pliocene 

deformational intervals, including extension, strike-slip faulting, basin formation, 

sedimentation, and volcanism that predates neotectonic formation of Death Valley proper 

to the west. These deformational intervals are recorded in the Artist Drive Formation, 

Furnace Creek Formation, Funeral Formation, the Greenwater Volcanics, volcanic rocks 

in the Resting Spring Range, and isolated sedimentary packages at Eagle Mountain, the 

southeastern Funeral Mountains, the northwestern Resting Spring Mountains, and the 

China Ranch and Dumont Hills basins (Cemen and others, 1999; Prave and McMackin, 

1999; Snow and Lux, 1999; Wright, 1999; Wright and others, 1999). 

The older strike-slip faults collectively are arranged in a general rhombic pattern 

that resembles the overall pull-apart geometry of the Death Valley fault system to the 

west. The strike-slip faults strongly influence the deformational and sedimentation 

patterns of the Tertiary basins. The southeastern Furnace Creek fault bounds and 

structurally controls the pull-apart basin containing the Artist Drive and Furnace Creek 

Formations exposed in upper Furnace Creek Wash, and the oblique offset Grandview 

fault splays off to the south from this structure and interacts with other normal faults in 

this basin in the Billie Mine area (McAllister, 1970; Wright and others, 1999). The 

inception of faulting on the proto-Furnace Creek fault in this area has been interpreted 

variously between 17 Ma (Cemen and others, 1999) and 10 Ma (Snow and Lux, 1999; C. 

Fridrich, oral communication, 2000). Deformation continued on these structures into the 

Pliocene depositional interval of the Funeral Formation, but ceased by at least middle to 

late Quaternary time, as indicated by the absence of scarps or other deformational 

32 
features in surficial deposits of this age that overlie the southeastern Furnace Creek and 

Grandview faults in upper Furnace Creek Wash and northern Greenwater Valley 

(McAllister, 1970; Klinger and Piety, 1996; Workman and others, 2002). The much 

larger estimates for lateral offsets of bedrock versus Quaternary features in northern 

Death Valley suggest significant late Quaternary slip. 

To the south, the Grandview fault merges into the west-northwest-trending 

Sheephead fault. This structure is truncated to the west by the easternmost fault of the 

Jubilee Basin of Wright (1999) formerly called the Jubilee phase of the Amargosa chaos 

by Noble (1941). Topping (1993) proposed that the granite breccias of the Jubilee Basin 

were in fact proximal deposits to the Kingston Peak intrusive body that were translated 

30 km northwest along detachment faults which segmented this basin into the Jubilee, 

China Ranch, and Dumont Hills Basins and that these basins all formed prior to 7.8 Ma. 

However, Wright and others (1991) define all movement on the Amargosa detachment 

fault occurring before 10 Ma, eliminating the possibility of the younger Jubilee Basin 

being segmented from basins to the southeast. Prave and McMackin (1999) show that 

the depositional patterns of the China Ranch and Dumont Hills Basins are markedly 

different from the asymmetric pattern of the Shadow Valley Basin to the southeast that is 

characteristic of a detachment system. The segmentation of these genetically linked 

basins is explained by right-lateral displacement on the Sheephead fault. The 

easternmost end of the Sheephead fault zone is unclear as it projects into the detachmentdominated terrain of the Kingston Peak-Halloran Hills region. 

Panamint Valley-Hunter Mountain-Inyo fault system (western and southern sections of 

the map area) 

Panamint and Saline Valleys are structurally controlled by a set of geometrically 

and kinematically linked normal, normal-oblique, and strike-slip faults similar in some 

aspects to the Death Valley fault system. The major fault elements in this 160-km-long 

system are the Panamint Valley fault zone, the Hunter Mountain fault, and the Inyo fault 

zone (Jennings, 1994). Although not directly linked to this fault system, another major 

range-front fault controls east-directed subsidence in Eureka Valley to the north along the 

western flank of the Last Chance Range (Dohrenwend and others, 1992; C.M. Menges, 

and B. Turrin, unpublished mapping, 1983). There are also numerous secondary zones of 

faulting associated with this system. These include the Ash Hill fault zone in westcentral Panamint Valley, near the base of the Argus Range, a set of north-trending scarps 

and grabens near the eastern margin of Saline Valley, and a swarm of short northnorthwest-trending fault scarps and lineaments developed in playa and salt-pan deposits 

within the center of Saline Valley. All of these fault zones are marked by fault scarps in 

surficial deposits within the basins indicative of late Quaternary, and, in most cases, 

Holocene activity (Zellmer, 1980; Jennings, 1994; Densmore and Anderson, 1997; 

Oswald, 1998). 

These basins and causative faults are only partly contained within the map area 

along its western margin, but are discussed in detail because they generate much of the 

local relief along the range crests that define the western model boundary. 

Panamint Valley fault zone—The Panamint Valley fault zone is a 100-km-long, 

generally north-striking fault zone that forms the structural boundary between the eastern 

margin of Panamint Valley and the western flank of the Panamint Range. In detail, the 

33 
fault trace displays a broadly curving sigmoidal shape characterized by a short northtrending central section and two longer north-northwest-oriented sections at either end of 

the zone. There is abundant evidence for not only normal-slip but significant and locally 

dominant right-lateral slip components on at least the northern and southern sections 

(Smith, 1979; Zhang and others, 1990). Burchfiel and others (1987) consider the 

northern section of this fault zone to be a low-angle detachment fault, an interpretation 

supported by the presence of exhumed turtleback-type normal fault surfaces elsewhere 

along the Panamint range front (Cichanski, 2000). A detachment geometry is also 

consistent with the broad shallow subsurface geometry of the Panamint Valley basin, 

which does not exceed depths of 500 m at the northern end, based on the gravity 

modeling of Blakely and others (1999). However, Cichanski (2000) reports that the 

range-front detachment surfaces are cut by a younger set of steeply dipping scarps 

associated with Quaternary activity on the range-bounding Panamint Valley fault. He 

interprets this relation as representing recent overprint by high-angle structures upon a 

basin system predominantly generated by a low-angle normal fault. There is abundant 

evidence for recurrent Quaternary activity along most of the Panamint Valley fault in the 

form of fault scarps varying in height from 6 to 61 m located at and basinward of the 

range front, including the large Wildrose graben (Smith, 1979; Zhang and others, 1990; 

Jennings, 1994). Smith (1979) estimates an average late Quaternary recurrence rate of 

700-2500 yrs. Zhang and others (1990) use laterally offset landforms to derive a late 

Quaternary slip rate of 2.4 +/- 0.8 mm/yr for right-slip component on the southern end of 

the fault. 

Hunter Mountain fault zone—The Hunter Mountain fault is a 45-km-long 

northwest-trending high-angle fault with mixed right-lateral and normal-slip (Zellmer, 

1980; Burchfiel and others, 1987; Oswald, 1998). The fault geometrically links the 

northern end of the Panamint Valley fault with the southern end of Inyo fault, which is 

the primary range front structure along western Saline Valley. The Hunter Mountain 

fault appears to kinematically transfer the oblique extension between these two 

oppositely directed subsiding basins within a classic pull-apart system. This includes a 

significant right-lateral slip component along the length of the fault zone, estimated as 

high as 8-10 km of cumulative dextral offset since 3 Ma (Burchfiel and others, 1987). 

The fault also accommodates a major scissors-like normal slip component that increases 

in amount towards either end (north side down on the northwest and south side down on 

the southeast), from a pivot point at the bedrock divide near Hunter Mountain between 

each basin system (McAllister, 1956). Both Zellmer (1980) and Oswald (1998) 

document abundant geomorphic evidence in the form of fault scarps and laterally offset 

landforms for recurrent late Quaternary activity with both lateral and vertical slip 

components along the entire length of the fault zone. Geomorphic and soil-stratigraphic 

analyses by Oswald (1998) indicate a probable late(?) Holocene age for the most recent 

event along the fault, with vertical offset of 1 m and dextral offset of 1-2 m. He estimates 

large late Quaternary slip rates ranging from 1.6 to 4.0 mm/yr, compatible with the 2.6 

mm/yr average slip estimate of Burchfiel and others (1987), and also derives potential 

recurrence intervals from both geologic and seismic data that vary between 570 and 1,870 

yrs, with a preferred range of 600 to 850 yrs derived from slip rates of 2.6 mm/yr or 

greater. 

34 
Inyo fault zone—The northwest end of the Hunter Mountain fault merges with the 

Inyo fault zone in central Saline Valley west of the map area (Zellmer, 1980; Jennings, 

1994; Oswald, 1998). This structure is entirely outside of the map area, but is discussed 

because of its importance to the larger fault system. This 20+ km-long fault zone (the 

western frontal fault of Zellmer, 1980) trends north-northwest along the western margin 

of the valley at the base of the steep topographic range front of the east-central Inyo 

Mountains. The fault zone is linked geometrically and kinematically with the Hunter 

Mountain fault zone in controlling the southwest-directed subsidence of the Saline Valley 

rhombochasm. The Inyo fault is a major normal-slip fault, as evidenced by the 

generation of the 3,000 m high east Inyo Mountain escarpment along its trace, with 

estimated 6,000 m of cumulative vertical displacement (Zellmer 1980), although there is 

evidence for some dextral slip along the zone as well (Oswald, 1998). Cichanski (2000) 

cites evidence for development of a basinward-sloping low-angle normal fault on at least 

one range-front facet that, like those on the western Panamint Range front to the south, 

are truncated at the range front by more recent high-angle scarps of the Inyo fault. Steep 

dips for the basin bounding faults in Saline Valley, including both the Inyo and Hunter 

Mountain faults, are supported by the narrow deep subsurface subbasin, with maximum 

depths exceeding > 3 km indicated by the gravity modeling of Blakely and others (1999). 

The eastern Inyo Mountain escarpment contains a pronounced suite of geomorphic 

features (for example, linear mountain-front-piedmont junction, large steep triangular 

facets, narrow incised wineglass canyons) indicative of high rates of vertical tectonic 

activity on the range-front fault. There are also numerous fault scarps of varying heights 

developed in Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial fans indicative of recurrent late 

Quaternary fault activity (Zellmer, 1980; Oswald, 1998; C.M. Menges and B. Turrin, 

unpublished mapping, 1983), with slip rates, although not directly determined, in the 

probable range of 1-3+ mm/yr. 

Garlock Fault zone (southern section of the map area) 

The structures and topography associated with the Eastern California basin and 

range abruptly terminate southward against the east-northeast-striking Garlock fault, a 

major left-lateral fault zone that can be traced 250 km eastward from its junction with the 

San Andreas fault to its apparent terminus at the western end of the Avawatz Mountains 

in southern Death Valley (Clark, 1973; Jennings, 1994). This fault separates the highly 

active strike-slip faults and associated basin-range structures of the eastern California 

basin and range from the less tectonically active pedimented terrane of the northern 

Mojave Desert to the south (Bull and McFadden, 1977; Jennings, 1994). Rowley (1998) 

describes the Garlock fault as a transverse zone, based on this sharp contrast in tectonic 

rates and styles across the fault following earlier suggestions that it is a province 

boundary or intracontinental transform by Hamilton and Myers (1966), Slemmons 

(1967), Davis and Burchfiel (1973), and Wernicke (1992). 

The complex eastern end of the Garlock fault lies along the southwestern 

boundary of the map area. The main trace of the fault defines the northern boundary of 

the fault-controlled east-trending Pilot Knob Valley, which truncates the Slate Range, 

southern Panamint Valley, and the Owlshead Mountains on the south. The southern end 

of the Panamint Valley fault zone merges obliquely southeastward with this part of the 

Garlock fault in the Brown Mountain-Quail Mountains area. Also in this area, a large 

35 
fault splay, the Owls Lake fault, trends to the northeast within a prominent strike valley 

in the central Owlshead Mountains. Complex deformation, manifested by mixed thrusts 

and right-lateral and left-lateral strike-slip faults, was observed in Wingate Wash between 

the Panamint and Owlshead Mountains by Pavlis and Serpa (1999), who relate this 

deformation to block rotations and translations along the eastern Garlock fault. 

Following a short gap, the Garlock zone projects to the east onto the complex multiplestrand Leach Lake fault zone in the narrow Leach Lake basin in the eastern Avawatz 

Mountains. In this area the Garlock fault zone converges with and terminates against the 

southeastern end of the southern Death Valley fault at the southern end of Death Valley 

to the north of the Avawatz Mountains. The structural junction between these two 

regional strike-slip fault systems results in significant local compression, as evidenced by 

the development of the Mule Springs thrust fault to the north of Leach Lake and the 

Avawatz Mountain thrust fault system further to the east. Both of these thrust systems 

displace late Tertiary and Quaternary sediments and surficial deposits and are responsible 

for the neotectonic uplift of the Avawatz Mountains (Jennings, 1994; Brady and Troxel, 

1999). 

There is abundant geomorphic and stratigraphic evidence, in the form of laterally 

offset or truncated landforms and fault scarps, for recurrent late Quaternary, and 

generally Holocene, displacements along the main fault trace and all of the subsidiary 

structures described above (Clark, 1973; Jennings, 1994). McGill and Sieh (1991) 

statistically analyzed suites of offset landforms along the main Garlock fault in Pilot 

Knob Valley to identify the two most recent surface ruptures with estimated average leftlateral displacements per event of 2-4 m. Estimates for slip rates on the Garlock vary 

from 2 to 11 mm/yr, with a preferred average of 7 mm/yr and recurrence intervals are 

generally interpreted between 200 and 3,000 yrs, depending on the fault segment 

(Petersen and Wesnousky, 1994). Total offset varies along strike of the Garlock fault 

zone and appears to die out to the east, within the map area where it intersects with the 

southern Death Valley fault zone. 

Detachment Faults (throughout the map area) 

Numerous low-angle fault surfaces with significant displacements have long been 

recognized within and along the flanks of the Panamint, Funeral, and Black Mountains. 

Many early workers considered these structures to be large thrust faults (Drewes, 1963; 

Hunt and Mabey, 1966). Wright and Troxel (1973, 1984) reinterpreted the low-angle 

faults as detachment faults related to large-scale regional extension. This extensional 

interpretation has persisted in various detachment models to the present, with such 

specific variants as rolling-hinge detachments, metamorphic core complexes, roll-over 

listric faults, and tilted-domino normal faults, in these and other areas of the eastern 

California basin and range (Hamilton, 1988; Holm and Wernicke, 1990; Wright and 

others, 1991; Topping, 1993; Burchfiel and others, 1987, 1995; Fridrich, 1999b; 

Wernicke, 1999; Snow and Lux, 1999; Cichanski, 2000). The mylonitic rocks of the 

turtleback surfaces in the Death Valley area are commonly interpreted as the uplifted and 

exhumed deep-crustal roots of normal faults related to this extensional deformation as 

well (Miller, 1999a). Many workers have proposed that the detachments and other lowangle normal faults have accomodated much, if not most, of the large amounts of regional 

extension observed across the eastern California region (Stewart, 1983; Hamilton, 1988; 

36 
Wernicke, Axen, and Snow, 1988; Wernicke and Snow, 1998; Wernicke, 1999; Niemi 

and others, 1999; Fridrich, 1999b; Snow and Lux, 1999). 

The detachment faults are exposed within and along the flanks of the range blocks 

and involve primarily Tertiary or older rocks. These and other low-angle normal faults 

were certainly instrumental in the pre-5 Ma extensional deformation and related basin 

formation and volcanism in the region (Wright and others, 1991, 1999; Fridrich, 1999b; 

Snow and Lux, 1999). However, controversy exists regarding their relationship to the 

neotectonic structures that define the modern basin-range system described previously, 

and more fundamentally, whether the low-angle style of normal faulting they represent is 

a major element in the contemporary tectonics of the region. At one extreme, some 

workers propose that low-angle normal faults and detachments control modern extension 

and basin development (Burchfiel and others, 1987, 1995). A problem with this 

interpretation is evidence for cessation or waning of activity on many of the detachments 

themselves, as well as many strike-slip faults that appear kinematically related to them, 

and possibly the interrelated Black Mountain turtleback surfaces (Wright and others, 

1999; Fridrich, 1999b; Miller, 1999a). In addition, many of the detachment faults and 

turtleback surfaces appear to be truncated at the range fronts by high-angle normal, 

oblique-normal, or strike-slip faults with abundant evidence for recurrent Pliocene to 

Quaternary activity (Keener and others, 1993; Miller, 1999b; Cichanski, 2000), although 

these observations may be accounted for in more than one fashion. Structural 

superposition of low-angle by high-angle normal faults is not only compatible with, but is 

predicted by, the rolling-hinge evolutionary model of detachment faults (Hamilton, 1988; 

Wernicke and Axen, 1988; Wernicke, 1992, 1999; Holm and others, 1992). 

Alternatively, the younger set of active faults within the basins and along the range fronts 

may represent development of a different neotectonic regime dominated not only by 

faults with steeper dips in at least the upper crust, but also including a significant 

component of right-lateral shear related to the eastern California shear zone (Cichanski, 

2000). This observed shear component is not inherently accounted for in the basic 

rolling-hinge model by itself. The importance of high-angle structures with a significant 

lateral-slip component is also consistent with the steep-sided geometry of the many small 

sub-basins with pull-apart geometries that characterize the deep subsurface basin 

geometries evident in the gravity modeling of Blakely and others (1999). 

LATE CALDERA MAGMATISM 

Silent Canyon caldera complex (central section of the map area) 

The Silent Canyon caldera complex is the oldest caldera complex identified so far 

in the southwest Nevada volcanic field. The complex underlies Pahute Mesa in the 

northwestern part of the NTS. The Grouse Canyon caldera of the Silent Canyon caldera 

complex was defined based mostly on geophysical methods because the caldera rim 

together with its intracaldera fill are everywhere buried by younger rocks, mostly ashflow tuffs erupted from the adjoining Timber Mountain caldera complex. Because the 

caldera is filled with a very thick section of low-density ash-fall tuff, non-welded ashflow tuff, and shard-rich sandstone, it gives rise to one of the largest isostatic gravity 

lows in Nevada. Gravity data together with data from deep exploratory drill holes 

37 
indicate that the southern part of the Silent Canyon caldera complex may have been 

destroyed by the younger Timber Mountain caldera complex. 

Caldera subsidence commenced with the eruption of the Tub Spring Formation of 

the Belted Range Group (Byers and Cummings, 1967; Byers and others, 1976b; Noble 

and others, 1968; Orkild, 1968; Orkild and others, 1968, 1969). The eastern rim of the 

resulting caldera (not shown on the map) is inferred to lie parallel to, but about 5 km 

farther to the east and northeast of the rim of the younger Grouse Canyon caldera. The 

Grouse Canyon Tuff of the Belted Range Group (Ar/Ar dates of 13.7 Ma) is the principal 

tuff derived from the complex according to the above-named authors and Warren and 

others (1998). It gave rise to what is now called the Grouse Canyon caldera (Sawyer and 

Sargent, 1989; Sawyer and others, 1994). Because of the great depth of the Silent 

Canyon caldera complex (greater than 3,600 m, based on drill-hole data; Sawyer and 

others, 1994), the possibility exists that other ash-flow sheets were erupted from the 

complex. Among these is the Bullfrog Tuff of the Crater Flat Group (13.25 Ma, Sawyer 

and others, 1994) as suggested by Byers and others (1976a). The Area 20 caldera (not 

shown on the map), inset into the Silent Canyon caldera complex, has been proposed as 

the source of the Bullfrog Tuff (Sawyer and Sargent, 1989; Sawyer and others, 1994). 

Drill holes on Pahute Mesa show at least 600 meters of Bullfrog Tuff ponded within the 

inferred caldera. Regardless of how many ash-flow sheets were erupted from the Silent 

Canyon complex, it obviously did not resurge. 

Claim Canyon caldera (central section of the map area) 

The Claim Canyon caldera (Christiansen and Lipman, 1965, Byers and others, 

1976a, b) is a remnant of a large caldera that formed as a result of the eruptions of the 

Topopah Spring Tuff (12.8 Ma) and the Tiva Canyon Tuff (12.7 Ma), both formations of 

the Paintbrush Group. The bulk of the Claim Canyon caldera was destroyed by the 

younger Timber Mountain caldera complex. Only the southern margin of the Claim 

Canyon complex is exposed, and that margin has been interpreted as mostly a structural 

margin (Christiansen and Lipman, 1965). Most of the caldera has been resurgently 

domed (Sawyer and others, 1994). 

Timber Mountain caldera complex (central section of the map area) 

The Timber Mountain caldera complex as mapped by Carr and Quinlivan (1966), 

Christiansen and Lipman (1965), Byers and Cummings (1967), Lipman and others 

(1966), O'Conner and others (1966), Hinrichs and others (1967), Orkild and O’Conner 

(1970), and Byers and others (1976a) and described in detail by Byers and others (1976b) 

and Christiansen and others (1965, 1977) consists of the Rainier Mesa caldera that 

formed as a result of the eruption of the Rainier Mesa Tuff of the Timber Mountain 

Group at 11.6 Ma, and the Ammonia Tanks caldera that formed as a result of eruption of 

the Ammonia Tanks Tuff of the Timber Mountain Group at 11.45 Ma (Sawyer and 

others, 1994). Other rhyolite tuffs and lavas of limited distribution that are part of the 

Timber Mountain Group were also erupted from the caldera complex. The complex is 

centered around Timber Mountain, which formed as a result of the resurgence of the 

Ammonia Tanks caldera (Carr and Quinlivan, 1966). The topographic margin of the 

Rainier Mesa caldera, about 35 km in longest diameter, is clearly exposed in many 

places. The Ammonia Tanks caldera is nested entirely within the Rainier Mesa caldera. 

38 
The structural margin of the Ammonia Tanks caldera, with a largest diameter of nearly 

20 km, is exposed on the eastern margin of Timber Mountain and inferred elsewhere 

around it. Neither the structural margin of the Rainier Mesa caldera nor the topographic 

margin of the Ammonia Tanks caldera is exposed, but these margins, as well as 

unexposed parts of the topographic margin of the Rainier Mesa caldera and the structural 

margin of the Ammonia Tanks caldera, are inferred from geophysical studies by Grauch 

and others (1997), Ponce (2000), Ponce and others (2000), Hildenbrand and others 

(1999), Mankinen and others (1999), McKee and others (1999), and Schenkel and others 

(1999), and from geologic studies (Slate and others, 2000). A miniature caldera, the 

Twisted Canyon caldera, located about 15 km southwest of the Timber Mountain 

complex, resulted from the eruption of ash-flow tuff of the rhyolite of Twisted Canyon. 

This rhyolite is included in the Timber Mountain Group on the basis of its lithology and 

its age between the Rainier Mesa and the Ammonia Tanks, despite the fact that it is well 

removed from the Timber Mountain caldera complex (Fridrich, 1999a; Fridrich and 

others, 1999b). 

Black Mountain caldera (central section of the map area) 

The Black Mountain caldera, located northwest of the Timber Mountain complex, 

erupted peralkaline ash-flow tuff, lava flows, and nonwelded tuff between 9.4 and 9.15 

Ma (Vogel and others, 1989; Sawyer and others, 1994). The two major ash-flow tuff 

cooling units are the Pahute Mesa and Trail Ridge Tuffs of the Thirsty Canyon Group. 

Both of these tuff units mantle broad areas in the northwestern NTS. Several other tuffs 

of limited distribution also were erupted from the caldera. The caldera was mapped by 

Christiansen and Noble (1968) and Noble and Christiansen (1968), and it was described 

by Noble and others (1964, 1984). Although the caldera margin is in most places 

covered by younger volcanic units, the location of the topographic margin can be inferred 

accurately (Noble and others, 1984). 

Stonewall Mountain caldera (northwestern section of the map area) 

Stonewall Mountain is a nearly circular, 14.5-km-diameter massif, first 

recognized as a volcanic feature by Spurr (1902), that rises abruptly 620 m above 

Stonewall Flat. The Stonewall Flat Tuff consists of the Spearhead Member (Spearhead 

Rhyolite of Ransome and others, 1910) and the overlying Civet Cat Canyon Member of 

Noble and others (1984) with ages of approximately 7.6 to 7.5 Ma (Hausback and others, 

1990; Sawyer and others, 1994; Slate and others, 2000). These two ash-flow sheets have 

been associated with episodes of caldera subsidence that were previously assigned to the 

Thirsty Canyon Tuff of Black Mountain (Ekren and others, 197l; Noble and others, 1964; 

Christiansen and Noble, 1965). Stonewall Mountain is composed mostly of intracaldera 

tuff of the Civet Cat Canyon Member. Blocks of lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks 

present on the resurged mountain suggest that the caldera related to the extrusion of the 

Civet Cat Canyon Member may have resurged in its entirety, including parts of the floor. 

Noble and others (1984) and Weiss and Noble (1989) concluded that the caldera 

related to the extrusion of the Spearhead Member was considerably larger than the 

diameter of Stonewall Mountain, and that only a part of the caldera resurged. However, 

Hausback and Frizzell (1986) reinterpreted the depression southeast of Stonewall 

Mountain as a small caldera. They considered that it resulted from the extrusion of the 

39 
Civet Cat Canyon Member. More likely, it formed as a result of extrusion of the 

Spearhead Member, and did not resurge. 

40
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Ellis, M.A., Miller, M.G., and Serpa, L.F., 1991, Cenozoic magmatic and tectonic 

evolution of the east-central Death Valley region, California, in Walawender, 

M.J., and Hannan, B.B., eds., Geological excursions in southern California and 

Mexico: Annual meeting, Geological Society of America, San Diego, California, 

Guidebook, p. 93-127. 

Wright, L.A, and Troxel, B.W., 1973, Shallow-fault interpretation of Basin and Range 

structure, southwestern Great Basin, in De Jong, K.A., and Scholten, R., eds., 

Gravity and Tectonics: New York, John Wiley, p. 397-407. 

Wright, L.A., and Troxel, B.W., 1984, Geology of the northern half of the Confidence 

Hills quadrangle, Death Valley region, eastern California—The area of the 

Amargosa Chaos: California Division of Mines and Geology Map Sheet 34, scale 

1:24,000, with 31 p. text. 

Wright, L.A., and Troxel, B.W., 1993, Geologic map of the central and northern Funeral 

Mountains and adjacent areas, Death Valley region, southern California: U.S. 

Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2305, scale 

1:48,000. 

Wright, L.A., Troxel, B.W., Burchfiel, B.C., Chapman, R.H., and Labotka, T.C., 1981, 

Geologic cross section from the Sierra Nevada to Las Vegas Valley, eastern 

California to southern Nevada: Geological Society of America Map and Chart 

Series, MC-28M, p. 3-15. 

Yount, J.C., Shroba, R.R., McMasters, C.R., Huckins, H.E., and Rodriguez, E.A., 1987, 

Trench logs from a strand of the Rock Valley fault system, Nevada Test Site, Nye 

County, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF1824, 1 plate. 

Zellmer, J.T., 1980, Recent deformation in the Saline Valley region, Inyo County, 

California: Reno, University of Nevada, Ph.D. dissertation, map scale 1:50,000, 

168 p., 7 pls., 30 figs., 43 photographs. 

Zhang, P., Ellis, M., Slemmons, D.B., and Mao, F., 1990, Right-lateral displacements and 

the Holocene slip rate associated with prehistoric earthquakes along the southern 

Panamint Valley fault zone--Implications for southern Basin and Range tectonics 

57 
and coastal California deformation: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 95, no. 

B4, p. 4857-4872. 

58