A mactrid bivalve from pleistocene deposits of Lake Russell, Mono Basin, California
[No abstract available]
Journal of Paleontology↗
Geology topics
A. S. Jayko
Publications and source records attributed to A. S. Jayko.
Methods and spatial extent of geophysical Investigations, Mono Lake, California, 2009 to 2011
This report summarizes the methods and spatial extent of geophysical surveys conducted on Mono Lake and Paoha Island by U.S. Geological Survey during 2009 and 2011. The surveys include acquisition of new high resolution seismic reflection data, shipborne high resolution magnetic data, and ground magnetic and gravity data on Paoha Island. Several trials to acquire swath bathymetry and side scan sonar were conducted, but were largely unsuccessful likely due to physical properties of the water column and (or) physical properites of the highly organic bottom sediment.
California↗
Kinematic evidence for extensional unroofing of the Franciscan Complex along the Coast Range Fault, Northern Diablo Range, California
Franciscan metagraywacke immediately below the Del Puerto ophiolite, an outlier of the Coast Range ophiolite in the northern Diablo Range, was sheared during top‐to‐the‐east displacement on the Coast Range fault. This represents normal faulting and extensional offset. It was accompanied by attenuation of the Coast Range ophiolite and Great Valley sequence in the hanging wall along layer‐parallel normal faults that sole into the Coast Range fault. Extension occurred as the Franciscan Complex moved relatively west, out from under North American lithosphere and across the subducting ocean plate below. This effected a lengthening and thinning in the wedge of material above the down‐going plate, presumably in response to instability brought about by subduction shallowing (Krueger and Jones, 1989) and accretion of the Franciscan Central belt in the latest Cretaceous to early Paleocene. As a result, blueschist facies terranes of the uppermost part of the Franciscan Complex are now juxtaposed directly against hanging wall units that bear only low‐grade metamorphism.
Tectonics↗
Paleozoic ophiolitic assemblages within the southern New England orogen of eastern Australia: Implications for growth of the Gondwana margin
Several ophiolitic assemblages occur in the southern New England orogen. The development of these rocks and their relations to the rest of the orogen have major implications for the tectonic evolution of eastern Gondwana. A major, narrow but elongate belt of Early Cambrian suprasubduction zone ophiolite crops out along and near the PeelManning Fault System and is juxtaposed against younger arc and subduction complex terranes. No pre-Permian links with the rest of the New England orogen have been established for this terrane. It may represent portions of Lachlan Fold Belt basement which underlies younger, westward overthrust New England terranes, and has been diapirically emplaced at higher crustal levels as serpentinite-matrix melange. Middle to Late Devonian ophiolitic rocks in the Yarras Complex comprise basement to the Birpai subterrane and represent a crustal cross section through a rifted island arc. Correlatives of this terrane also occur within the more extensive Gamilaroi terrane to the west of which deeper crustal levels are not exposed. The various components of serpentinite-matrix melange in the Ngamba terrane at Port Macquarie superficially appear to represent a dismembered ophiolite association. However, the various components of the melange exhibit a wide range of ages, metamorphism, and tectonic affinities, rendering a genetically related origin unlikely. This terrane includes fragments of ocean floor accreted into a Late Devonian subduction complex, which was later affected by Early Carboniferous forearc serpentinite diapirism and high Mg series magmatism. Zircon inheritance in Triassic dikes, which intrude the melange attest to the development or later emplacement of this forearc region over an older Lachlan Fold Belt basement. Ultramafic rocks of the Bundjalung terrane in the east of the New England region probably formed at deep levels in an intraoceanic island arc and are intruded by boninitic dikes. The tectonic development of the NEO was significantly more complicated than has been suggested in earlier published models. Periodic accretion of island arc systems, some of which are now represented by suprasubduction zone ophiolites, to the eastern margin of Gondwana suggests multiple phases of subduction with the possibility of polarity reversals throughout the history of accretion. Lateral accretion was not the only means by which Gondwana continental crust grew, and there was considerable postaccretion continentward overthrusting of younger terranes.
New South Wales↗
Significance of Klamath rocks between the Franciscan Complex and Coast Range ophiolite, northern California
Small fault‐bounded slabs of low‐grade (prehnite‐pumpellyite‐bearing) slate, metagraywacke, and greenstone occur between the Coast Range ophiolite and South Fork Mountain Schist for at least 60 km south of the Klamath Mountains, northern California. The metagraywacke slabs differ from typical Franciscan Complex metagraywacke to the west by the absence of blueschist‐facies minerals and the abundance of quartz and chert clasts, and they differ from sandstone and mudstone of the Great Valley sequence to the east by the presence of a penetrative cleavage and low‐grade metamorphism. The metasedimentary rock in the slabs is petrographically identical to the Jurassic Galice Formation, which occurs along the western and southern margins of the Klamath Mountains. Upward drag along a west dipping reverse fault best explains the present structural position of the slabs and is consistent with available geological and geophysical data. These data imply that the Coast Range ophiolite structurally overlies Sierran‐Klamath basement at least locally.
Oregon, Washington↗
Attenuation of the Coast Range ophiolite by extensional faulting and nature of the Coast Range "thrust," California
The late Mesozoic Coast Range ophiolite and Great Valley sequence in California were juxtaposed against the Franciscan Complex during a long tectonic history that included imbricate thrust faulting, low‐angle detachment, and high‐angle reverse faulting. Many low‐angle faults previously mapped as thrusts invariably juxtapose younger over older rocks, suggesting a normal sense of offset. We infer that serpentinite melange that is present structurally beneath the Coast Range ophiolite formed above the subduction zone during convergence and was subsequently faulted and further attenuated with upper plate rocks concurrent with extension. Franciscan blueschist‐facies rock is inferred to have been transported from depth to higher structural levels concurrent with underplating and extensional unroofing in the upper plate. The present juxta‐position of the Coast Range ophiolite and Great Valley sequence with Franciscan rocks is commonly controlled by Neogene high‐angle faults. We propose that the term Coast Range thrust is no longer appropriate and that the name should be changed to Coast Range fault.
California↗
Neogene contraction between the San Andreas fault and the Santa Clara Valley, San Francisco Bay region, California
In the southern San Francisco Bay region of California, oblique dextral reverse faults that verge northeastward from the San Andreas fault experienced triggered slip during the 1989 M7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake. The role of these range-front thrusts in the evolution of the San Andreas fault system and the future seismic hazard that they may pose to the urban Santa Clara Valley are poorly understood. Based on recent geologic mapping and geophysical investigations, we propose that the range-front thrust system evolved in conjunction with development of the San Andreas fault system. In the early Miocene, the region was dominated by a system of northwestwardly propagating, basin-bounding, transtensional faults. Beginning as early as middle Miocene time, however, the transtensional faulting was superseded by transpressional NE-stepping thrust and reverse faults of the range-front thrust system. Age constraints on the thrust faults indicate that the locus of contraction has focused on the Monte Vista, Shannon, and Berrocal faults since about 4.8 Ma. Fault slip and fold reconstructions suggest that crustal shortening between the San Andreas fault and the Santa Clara Valley within this time frame is ∼21%, amounting to as much as 3.2 km at a rate of 0.6 mm/yr. Rates probably have not remained constant; average rates appear to have been much lower in the past few 100 ka. The distribution of coseismic surface contraction during the Loma Prieta earthquake, active seismicity, late Pleistocene to Holocene fluvial terrace warping, and geodetic data further suggest that the active range-front thrust system includes blind thrusts. Critical unresolved issues include information on the near-surface locations of buried thrusts, the timing of recent thrust earthquake events, and their recurrence in relation to earthquakes on the San Andreas fault.
California↗
Liquefaction caused by the 2009 Olancha, California (USA), M 5.2 earthquake
The October 3, 2009 (01:16:00 UTC), Olancha M 5.2 earthquake caused extensive liquefaction as well as permanent horizontal ground deformation within a 1.2 km 2 area earthquake in Owens Valley in eastern California (USA). Such liquefaction is rarely observed during earthquakes of M ≤ 5.2. We conclude that subsurface conditions, not unusual ground motion, were the primary factors contributing to the liquefaction. The liquefaction occurred in very liquefiable sands at shallow depth (< 2 m) in an area where the water table was near the land surface. Our investigation is relevant to both geotechnical engineering and geology. The standard engineering method for assessing liquefaction potential, the Seed–Idriss simplified procedure, successfully predicted the liquefaction despite the small earthquake magnitude. The field observations of liquefaction effects highlight a need for caution by earthquake geologists when inferring prehistoric earthquake magnitudes from paleoliquefaction features because small magnitude events may cause such features.
California↗
Surficial geologic map of the Darwin Hills 30' x 60' quadrangle, Inyo County, California
No abstract available.
California↗
The Mono Arch, eastern Sierra region, California: Dynamic topography associated with upper-mantle upwelling?
A broad, topographic flexure localized east of and over the central and southern Sierra Nevada, herein named the Mono Arch, apparently represents crustal response to lithospheric and/or upper-mantle processes, probably dominated by mantle upwelling within the continental interior associated Pacific-North American plate-boundary deformation. This zone of flexure is identified through comparison between the topographic characteristics of the active Cascade volcanic arc and backarc regions with the analogous former arc and backarc in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sierra Nevada. Serial topographic profiles measured normal to the modern Cascade backarc reveal an accordance of topographic lows defined by valley floors with an average minimum elevation of ???1400-1500m for over 175km to the southeast. Although the accordance drops in elevation slightly to the south, the modern Cascade backarc region is remarkably level, and is characterized by relief up to ???750m above this baseline elevation. By contrast, serial topographic profiles over the former arc and backarc transitions of the eastern Sierra region exhibit a regional anticlinal warping defined by accordant valley floors and by a late Miocene-early Pliocene erosion surface and associated deposits. The amplitude of this flexure above regionally flat baseline elevations to the east varies spatially along the length of the former Sierran arc, with a maximum of ???1000m centred over the Bridgeport Basin. The total zone of flexure is approximately 350km long N-S and 100km wide E-W, and extends from Indian Wells Valley in the south to the Sonora Pass region in the north. Previous geophysical, petrologic, and geodetic studies suggest that the Mono Arch overlies a zone of active mantle upwelling. This region also represents a zone crustal weakness formerly exploited by the middle-to-late Miocene arc and is presently the locus of seismic and volcanic activities. This seismic zone, which lies east of the Sierra Nevada block, includes the northern and central Walker Lane in Nevada and the eastern California shear zone to the south in California. Vertical patterns of surface deformation over this region are characterized by west tilting of the Sierra Nevada block and by block faulting of a late Miocene erosion surface east of the Sierra Nevada.
International Geology Review↗
Deformation of the late Miocene to Pliocene Inyo Surface, eastern Sierra region, California
A middle and late Miocene erosion surface, the Inyo Surface, underlies late Miocene mafic flows in the White Mountains and late Miocene and (or) early Pliocene flows elsewhere in the eastern Sierra region. The Inyo Surface is correlated with an erosion surface that underlies late Miocene mafic flows in the central and northern Sierra Nevada. The mafic flows had outpourings similar to flood basalts, although of smaller volume, providing paleohorizontal and paleolowland indicators. The flows filed and locally topped the existing landscape forming broad plateau-like flats. Topographic relief in the region was characterized by weathered and rounded slopesp rior to late Miocene mafic magmatism. Relicts of the older landscape lie adjacent to late Miocene and early Pliocene basalt-covered lowlands that now occur within the crests of ranges that have 2500-3000 m relief and dramatically steep escarpments. Late Miocene mafic flows that lie on the crest of the Sierra Nevada adjacent to the White Mountains predate significant activity on the Sierra Nevada frontal fault zone. These deposits and accompanying erosion surfaces provide excellent strain markers for reconstructing part of the Walker Lane north of the Garlock fault and west of the Amargosa drainage, here referred to as the eastern Sierra region. The Inyo Surface is a compound erosional surface that records at least four major erosion events during the Cenozoic. These four surfaces were first recognized on the Kern Plateau and named from oldest to youngest, the Summit Upland, the Subsummit Plateau, the Chagoopa Plateau, and the Canyon. The three older surfaces have also been subsequently modifi ed by Pleistocene glaciation. The compound erosion surface, which is locally overlain by late Miocene mafic flows in the northern and central Sierra Nevada, is here referred to as the Lindgren Surface. Correlatives in the eastern Sierra region are found in the White Mountains, Inyo Mountains, Darwin Plateau, Coso Range, and nearby ranges. Copyright ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.
Special Paper of the Geological Society of America↗
Late Quaternary MIS 6-8 shoreline features of pluvial Owens Lake, Owens Valley, eastern California
The chronologic history of pluvial Owens Lake along the eastern Sierra Nevada in Owens Valley, California, has previously been reported for the interval of time from ca. 25 calibrated ka to the present. However, the age, distribution, and paleoclimatic context of higher-elevation shoreline features have not been formally documented. We describe the location and characteristics of wave-formed erosional and depositional features, as well as fluvial strath terraces that grade into an older shoreline of pluvial Owens Lake. These pluvial-lacustrine features are described between the Olancha area to the south and Poverty Hills area to the north, and they appear to be vertically deformed -20 ?? 4 m across the active oblique-dextral Owens Valley fault zone. They occur at elevations from 1176 to 1182 m along the lower flanks of the Inyo Mountains and Coso Range east of the fault zone to as high as -1204 m west of the fault zone. This relict shoreline, referred to as the 1180 m shoreline, lies -20-40 m higher than the previously documented Last Glacial Maximum shoreline at -1160 m, which occupied the valley during marine isotope stage 2 (MIS 2). Crosscutting relations of wave-formed platforms, notches, and sandy beach deposits, as well as strath terraces on lava flows of the Big Pine volcanic field, bracket the age of the 1180 m shoreline to the time interval between ca. 340 ?? 60 ka and ca. 130 ?? 50 ka. This interval includes marine oxygen isotope stages 8-6 (MIS 8-6), corresponding to 260-240 ka and 185-130 ka, respectively. An additional age estimate for this shoreline is provided by a cosmogenic 36 Cl model age of ca. 160 ?? 32 ka on reefal tufa at ???1170 m elevation from the southeastern margin of the valley. This 36 Cl model age corroborates the constraining ages based on dated lava flows and refines the lake age to the MIS 6 interval. Documentation of this larger pluvial Owens Lake offers insight to the hydrologic balance along the east side of the southern Sierra Nevada and will assist with future regional paleoclimatic models within the western Basin and Range. ?? 2008 The Geo logical Society of America.
Conference Paper↗
Geologic Map of the Pahranagat Range 30' x 60' Quadrangle, Lincoln and Nye Counties, Nevada
Introduction The Pahranagat Range 30' x 60' quadrangle lies within an arid, sparsely populated part of Lincoln and Nye Counties, southeastern Nevada. Much of the area is public land that includes the Desert National Wildlife Range, the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, and the Nellis Air Force Base. The topography, typical of much of the Basin and Range Province, consists of north-south-trending ranges and intervening broad alluvial valleys. Elevations range from about 1,000 to 2,900 m. At the regional scale, the Pahranagat Range quadrangle lies within the Mesozoic and early Tertiary Sevier Fold-and-Thrust Belt and the Cenozoic Basin and Range Province. The quadrangle is underlain by a Proterozoic to Permian miogeoclinal section, a nonmarine clastic and volcanic section of middle Oligocene or older to late Miocene age, and alluvial deposits of late Cenozoic age. The structural features that are exposed reflect relatively shallow crustal deformation. Mesozoic deformation is dominated by thrust faults and asymmetric or open folds. Cenozoic deformation is dominated by faults that dip more than 45i and dominostyle tilted blocks. At least three major tectonic events have affected the area: Mesozoic (Sevier) folding and thrust faulting, pre-middle Oligocene extensional deformation, and late Cenozoic (mainly late Miocene to Holocene) extensional deformation. Continued tectonic activity is expressed in the Pahranagat Range area by seismicity and faults having scarps that cut alluvial deposits.
Scientific Investigations Map↗
Thirty-one years of debris-flow observation and monitoring near La Honda, California, USA
From 1975 until 2006,18 intense storms triggered at least 248 debris flows within 10 km2 northwest of the town of La Honda within the Santa Cruz Mountains, California. In addition to mapping debris flows and other types of landslides, studies included soil sampling and geologic mapping, piezometric and tensiometer monitoring, and rainfall measurement and recording. From 1985 until 1995, a system with radio telemetered rain gages and piezometers within the La Honda region was used for issuing six debris-flow warnings within the San Francisco Bay region through the NOAA ALERT system. Depending upon the relative intensity of rainfall during storms, debris flows were generated from deep slumps, shallow slumps, shallow slides in colluvium and shallow slides over bedrock. Analysis shows the storms with abundant antecedent rainfall followed by several days of steady heavy intense rainfall triggered the most abundant debris flows. ?? 2007 millpress.
Conference Paper↗
Last glacial maximum and Holocene lake levels of Owens Lake, eastern California, USA
Stratigraphic investigations of fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine sediments exposed in stream cuts, quarry walls, and deep trenches east of the Sierra Nevada in Owens Valley near Lone Pine, California have enabled the reconstruction of pluvial Owens Lake level oscillations. Age control for these sediments is from 22 radiocarbon (14C) dates and the identification and stratigraphic correlation of a tephra, which when plotted as a function of age versus altitude, define numerous oscillations in the level of pluvial Owens Lake during the latest Pleistocene and early Holocene. We have constructed a lake-level altitude curve for the time interval ???27,000 cal yr BP to present that is based on the integration of this new stratigraphic analysis with published surface stratigraphic data and subsurface core data. Pluvial Owens Lake regressed from its latest Pleistocene highstands from ???27,000 to ???15,300 cal yr BP, as recorded by ???15 m of down cutting of the sill from the altitudes of ???1160 to 1145 m. By ???11,600 cal yr BP, the lake had dropped ???45 m from the 1145 m sill. This lowstand was followed by an early Holocene transgression that attained a highstand near 1135 m before dropping to 1120 m at 7860-7650 cal yr BP that had not been recognized in earlier studies. The lake then lowered another ???30 m to shallow and near desiccation levels between ???6850 and 4300 cal yr BP. Fluvial cut-and-fill relations north of Lone Pine and well-preserved shoreline features at ???1108 m indicate a minor lake-level rise after 4300 cal yr BP, followed by alkaline and shallow conditions during the latest Holocene. The new latest Quaternary lake-level record of pluvial Owens Lake offers insight to the hydrologic balance along the east side of the southern Sierra Nevada and will assist regional paleoclimatic models for the western Basin and Range. ?? 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Quaternary Science Reviews↗
Late Quaternary denudation, Death and Panamint Valleys, eastern California
Late Quaternary denudation rates are constrained from alluvial fans and tributary watersheds in central Death and Panamint Valleys. Preliminary results suggest that the denudation rate is in part a function of the mean watershed elevation. Rainfall increases semi-logarithmically with higher elevation to about 2500 m where it becomes limited by the regional average maximum moisture content of the air mass. The fan volumes show a power-law relation to the watershed areas. The fan volumes ranged from about 250,000 to 4000 km3 and the watershed areas range from about 60,000 to 2000 km2. The upper limit of the denudation rates estimated from small Death Valley fans restricted to the east side of the basin along the Black Mountain frontal scarp range between about 0.03 to 0.18 mm/yr. The maximum is made by assuming most of the clastic accumulation in these fans followed the last highstand of Lake Manly around 24,000 yr which is the least conservative condition. The upper limit of the denudation rates from the Panamint fans range from 0.04 to 0.20 mm/yr assuming the accumulation mainly postdates OIS-4 ???60,000 yr or OIS-2 ???20,000 yr based on the presence or absence of inset shorelines from the last glacial-pluvial maximum. The greater denudation rate associated with the higher mean watershed elevations can mainly be attributed to the greater rainfall at higher elevation. Denudation rates are about a third or less of the Neogene dip-slip rates reported from nearby active faults consistent with relief increasing during dryer periods. ?? 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Earth-Science Reviews↗
Holocene and latest Pleistocene oblique dextral faulting on the southern Inyo Mountains fault, Owens Lake basin, California
The Inyo Mountains fault (IMF) is a more or less continuous range-front fault system, with discontinuous late Quaternary activity, at the western base of the Inyo Mountains in Owens Valley, California. The southern section of the IMF trends ???N20??-40?? W for at least 12 km at the base of and within the range front near Keeler in Owens Lake basin. The southern IMF cuts across a relict early Pliocene alluvial fan complex, which has formed shutter ridges and northeast-facing scarps, and which has dextrally offset, well-developed drainages indicating long-term activity. Numerous fault scarps along the mapped trace are northeast-facing, mountain-side down, and developed in both bedrock and younger alluvium, indicating latest Quaternary activity. Latest Quaternary multiple- and single-event scarps that cut alluvium range in height from 0.5 to 3.0 m. The penultimate event on the southern IMF is bracketed between 13,310 and 10,590 cal years B.P., based on radiocarbon dates from faulted alluvium and fissure-fill stratigraphy exposed in a natural wash cut. Evidence of the most recent event is found at many sites along the mapped fault, and, in particular, is seen in an ???0.5-m northeast-facing scarp and several right-stepping en echelon ???0.5-m-deep depressions that pond fine sediment on a younger than 13,310 cal years B.P. alluvial fan. A channel that crosses transverse to this scarp is dextrally offset 2.3 ?? 0.8 m, providing a poorly constrained oblique slip rate of 0.1-0. 3 m/ k.y. The identified tectonic geomorphology and sense of displacement demonstrate that the southern IMF accommodates predominately dextral slip and should be integrated into kinematic fault models of strain distribution in Owens Valley.
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗
Digital method for regional mapping of surficial basin deposits in arid regions, example from central Death Valley, Inyo County, California
Derivative maps generated from DEM's and panchromatic remote sensing data (TM Landsat 7 or SPOT) can be used to characterize surficial basin deposits in arid regions dominated by basin and range topography. Results indicate the technique is useful for rapid digital mapping of surficial deposits where a first order, systematic subdivision of bedrock, alluvial fan units, and playas is unavailable at regional scales. Digital mapping can provide information about relative age and material properties of units that in part can be derived from the position of units within the basin. This automated mapping, implemented in a GIS system, involves an iterative process applied to a combination of digital elevation models (DEM) and satellite image data, such as SPOT or the high-resolution panchromatic Band 8 of Landsat 7 scenes. The method first discriminates the region into first-order terrains consisting of bedrock mountain highlands, basin piedmonts, and playa-basin interiors based on user-defined slope cutoffs applied to DEM data. The basin areas are subsequently classified into surficial map units such as active channels, ground-water discharge zones, and multiple age alluvial-fan piedmont units based on reflective properties of the associated surfaces in the satellite imagery. The surficial units are differentiated through systematic classification based on specific user-defined ranges of spectral values for each unit. The spectral ranges used in the classification are largely dependent on the composite effects of surface characteristics and material properties, including depositional morphology and texture, pavement development, degree of surface clast varnishing, and (or) properties of exposed soils of the alluvial fan units. We have used the slope-curvature properties derived from the DEM data to discriminate the bajada areas that exhibit non-unique spectral characteristics. Slope curvature is particularly effective at differentiating young undissected surfaces from older dissected piedmont units. Available geologic maps and field observations may be used both to iteratively calibrate the spectral classification scheme and to provide additional verification of the digital map output. Digital mapping combined with detailed field studies in selected areas provides useful regional maps of surficial units until time and funding is available for more field intensive studies. In addition, anomalous areas on the thematic maps indicate where more detailed field or air photo work is warranted. The technique successfully distinguishes between bedrock, alluvial fans (generally multiple fan units), active washes, playas, playa rimming marshes and seeps and other active and inactive discharge zones in arid basin and mountain regions. Limitations occur in the subdivision of some fan units where the dominant detrital clast lithologies are not susceptible to varnish development.
California↗