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Preliminary geologic map of the southern Lake Range, Washoe County, Nevada [MAP AND TEXT]
Preliminary geologic map of the southern Lake Range, Washoe County, Nevada MAP AND TEXT


 
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Title: Preliminary geologic map of the southern Lake Range, Washoe County, Nevada

Author: Peter S. Drakos and James E. Faulds
Year: 2013
Series: Open-File Report 2013-11
Version:
Format: plate: 26.5 x 24 inches, color, with cross section; text: 5 pages, b/w
Scale: 1:24,000

The southern Lake Range is dominated by east-tilted Tertiary volcanic rocks cut by a system of west-dipping normal faults. The Tertiary strata include a thin veneer of Oligocene ash-flow tuff and an ∼1 km thick section of middle Miocene (∼16 to 13.2 Ma) volcanic rocks (the Pyramid sequence) composed of thick sequences of mafic lavas and minor intercalated dacite, ash-flow tuff, and conglomerate. The Tertiary rocks rest nonconformably on Mesozoic granitic-metamorphic basement. Quaternary alluvial fan and lacustrine deposits locally cover older units within the Lake Range and crop out extensively within and along the margins of the adjoining basins. These basins are complex, east-tilted half grabens, bounded by west-dipping range-front faults along the Lake Range and Nightingale Mountains, and cut by systems of intrabasinal west-dipping normal faults. Cumulative normal displacement on the west-dipping normal fault system in the southern Lake Range area includes ∼3.5 to 5.4 km within and along the eastern margin of the Pyramid Lake basin and ∼1.8 km within the southern Lake Range. Concordant dips of strata (∼20-35°) throughout the Miocene and Oligocene sections indicate that major extension began after ∼13 Ma. Significant ongoing transtension and multiple fault intersections in the vicinity of the southern Lake Range suggest that this region has relatively high geothermal potential.

This publication was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Final editing and cartography was supported by an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant from the Department of Energy. We thank the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation for access to tribal lands and logistical support throughout the project.

Original Product Code: OF1311