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Research about Nevada

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Nevada.

At least 955 records · Page 53Linked to original sources
USGS1981

Geology of the Carlin gold deposit, Nevada

The Carlin gold deposit, near the crest of the Tuscarora Range in the Lynn mining district, about 35 km north of Carlin, Nev., is the largest hydrothermal disseminated-replacement deposit discovered to date in North America. The mine began production in 1965 and between 1965 and 1976 produced about 2 million troy ounces of gold.

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USGS1981

Geohydrologic reconnaissance of Lake Mead National Recreation Area: Las Vegas Wash to Opal Mountain, Nevada

The study is a geohydrologic reconnaissance of about 170 square miles in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area from Las Vegas Wash to Opal Mountain, Nevada. The study is one of a series that describes the geohydrology of the recreation area and that indentifies areas where water supplies can be developed. Precipitation in this arid area is about 5 inches per year. Streamflow is seasonal and extremely variable except for that in the Colorado River, which adjoins the area. Pan evaporation is more than 20 times greater than precipitation; therefore, regional ground-water supplies are meager except near the Colorado River, Lake Mead, and Lake Mohave. Large ground-water supplies can be developed near the river and lakes, and much smaller supplies may be obtained in a few favorable locations farther from the river and lakes. Ground water in most of the areas probably contains more than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, but water that contains less than 1,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids can be obtained within about 1 mile of the lakes. Crystalline rocks of metamorphic, intrusive and volcanic origin crop out in the area. These rocks are overlain by conglomerate and mudstone of the Muddy Creek Formation, gravel and conglomerate of the older alluvium, and sand and gravel of the Chemehuevi Formation and younger alluvium. The crystalline rocks, where sufficiently fractured, yield water to springs and would yield small amounts of water to favorably located wells. The poorly cemented and more permeable beds of the older alluvium, Chemehuevi Formation, and younger alluvium are the better potential aquifers, particularly along the Colorado River and Lakes Mead and Mohave. Thermal springs in the gorge of the Colorado River south of Hoover Dam discharge at least 2,580 acre-feet per year of water from the volcanic rocks and metamorphic and plutonic rocks. The discharge is much greater than could be infiltrated in the drainage basin above the springs. Transbasin movement of ground water probably occurs , and perhaps the larger part of the spring discharge is underflow from Eldorado Valley. The more favorable sites for ground-water development are along the shores of Lakes Mead and Mohave and are the Fire Mountain, Opal Mountain to Aztec Wash, and Hemenway Wash sites. Wells yielding several hundred gallons per minute of water of acceptable chemical quality can be developed at these sites.

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USGS1980

Metamorphic infrastructure in the northern Ruby Mountains, Nevada

The metamorphic complex of the northern Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada exposes Paleozoic strata that are metamorphosed to sillimanite grade, migmatized, and recumbently folded. Nappes are variously overturned to the east, north, south, and west. The deeper part of this metamorphic infrastructure is a migmatitic zone pervaded by pegmatitic two-mica granite. A structurally higher transition zone underwent extreme tectonic flattening and some thrusting as the mobile infrastructure rose buoyantly against more rigid suprastructure. Relief by flow and stretching to the west-northwest and east-southeast resulted in a regionally constant lineation in this transition zone. The age of metamorphism is uncertain but may be Jurassic.

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USGS1980

Map showing the Elko crater field, Elko County, Nevada

The Elko crater field consists of two arrays of rimmed craters in the valleys of Dorsey, Susie, and McClellan Creeks, 30 to 50 km north of Elko, Nevada. In the principal array, more the 165 craters are scattered irregularly in an area 3 km wide and 20 km long. Most of the the craters are circular but some, formed by overlap, are oval or irregular. They range from 5 m to 250 m in diameter and the relief of the largest ones, from the sedimentary floor of the cater to the top of the rim, is at least 6 m. The surficial material of the rims is principally gravel similar to that in the surrounding terrane. The surficial material inside the craters is primarily silt, probably blown in by the wind, and pebbles, apparently washed in from the rims. There is also a later of volcanic ash at a depth of about 2 m. This ash was identified by its physical and mineralogical composition as the Mazama ash (R. E. Wilcox, oral commun., 1976), a ±6600 year old ash bed also present in the alluvium of Dorsey and Susie Creeks. The craters are presently interpreted as having been formed by a meteor shower although no meteor material has been discovered. Investigation is continuing.

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USGS1980

Maps showing aeromagnetic survey and interpretation of the Virgin Mountains Instant Study Area Clark County, Nevada

Data for the aeromagnetic map (fig. 1) of the Virgin Mountains Instant Study Area wre collected in 1978 and compiled at a scale of 1:62,500. North-south traverses were spaced at 0.8-km intervals at an altitude of about 300m above the surface of the ground. The contour interval is 20 and 100 gammas, depending on the steepness of local magnetic gradients in the Earth's magnetic field. A regional field (the International Geomagnetic Reference Field - 1975) of approximately 5-6 gammas/km was removed from the data before contouring by computer.

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USGS1980

Preliminary report on the mineral resource potential of the Red Rocks Escarpment Instant Study area, Clark County, Nevada

The Red Rocks Escarpment Instant Study area in Clark County, Nevada, is 2 mi (32 km) west of Las Vegas and covers about 31,000 acres (12,500 ha) of the rugged Sandstone Bluffs area in the Spring Mountains (fig. 1). It includes the crest of the range, which is slightly higher than 7,200 ft (2,190 m), the Sandstone Bluffs east of the crest where steep cliffs as high as 2,500 ft (760 m) occur, and part of the gently sloping western range front. The Instant Study area (fig. 2) is within land administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

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USGS1980

Exploratory trench across the Pleasant Valley Fault, Nevada

An exploratory trench was excavated across the 1915 trace of the Pleasant Valley fault 60 km south of Winnemucca, Nevada, to get information on the history of recent displacements on a fault that had produced a major earthquake in historic time, and on the appearance of such a fault in a trench cut in gravels, sands and silts of an alluvial fan. The trench exposed 16 mappable sedimentary units and four soils, including three buried paleosols. The ages of the mapped units could not be narrowly defined but they are of late Quaternary age. Some rodent bones suggest a possible age of about 5,000 years for one of the higher stratigraphic units. The fault zone is very clearly represented in the trench, and, to the full 4-m depth of the trench, consists of a zone of fault rubble as much as 1.5 m wide. Two fractures outside the fault rubble show no vertical displacement. In addition to the fault rubble, the fault is conspicuous because several of the mapped units terminate abruptly against the rubble zone, and because the sediments southeast of the zone are coarser-grained than the sediments northwest of the zone. Maximum vertical component of the 1915 displacement was estimated to be 0.4–0.6 m based on topography and 0.5–0.6 m based on displacement of stratigraphic units including soils. Two or more episodes of vertical displacement, one of about 0.3 m and another totaling at least 1.15 m prior to 1915 are recorded and may have occurred in the last 5,000 years. These and other displacement events prior to 1915 are poorly dated, but that several did occur in late Pleistocene and Holocene time is certain. Lack of wedge-shaped deposits or concentrations of large clasts adjacent to the fault suggest that all displacements were produced in small increments of probably less than one meter each.

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USGS1980

Borehole geophysical measurements for hole UE25-3, Nevada Test Site, Nuclear Waste Isolation Program

Borehole geophysical measurements made in drill hole UE25a-3 with a U.S. Geological Survey research well-logging truck are presented in this paper. The purpose of these logging measurements is to provide in-situ physical properties information that is not commercially available on drill hole UE25a-3. Well logs are presented in this paper for dual-detector density, normal resistivity, gamma-ray, neutron-neutron, induced polarization, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. These data are analyzed for correlations with the core lithology. Hole-to-surface measurements made from drill hole UE25a-3 indicate the presence of two resistive bodies at depth. The deeper resistive anomaly may be related to a granitic intrusion.

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USGS1980

Water resources of the Walker River Indian Reservation, west-central Nevada

Increasing interest in expanding the livestock and agricultural operations on the Walker River Indian Reservation, Nev., has prompted the Walker River Paiute Tribe to have the present and available water resources of the reservation appraised and proposed sites for new wells evaluated. Flow of the Walker River into the reservation averages about 113,000 acre-feet a year. Of this amount, about 42,000 acre-feet is used on the reservation, recharging the gound-water system and supplying irrigation water for alfalfa and pasture crops. The water quality of the river water is well suited for these purposes, and the possibility of expanding surface-water use exists. A mathematical model of the ground-water system was constructed to test various assumptions about recharge and discharge rates. The model generated water-level contours that agreed reasonably well with measured water levels, median deviation was 12 feet. With additional data , the model could be used in the future to test the feasibility of evapotranspiration salvage at the seven proposed sites for new stock and irrigation wells. The primary users of ground water on the reservation are phreatophytes and playa surfaces. They allow ground water to be lost to evaporation. About 19,000 acre-feet per year is lost through this mechanism. Domestic and livestock uses account for only about 250 acre-feet per year. Total recharge to the ground-water system amounts to about 30 ,000 acre-feet per year, and the possibility of more extensive use of ground water on the reservation exists. Quality of the ground water in most areas is suitable for all intended purposes. (USGS)

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