DETERMINING THE NATURE OF THE CONTACT BETWEEN THE EASTERN SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAIN FRONT AND THE BIG PINE VOLCANIC FIELD SOUTH OF GOODALE CREEK IN OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jazmine N. Titular ◽  
◽  
Phillip A. Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Volcanic Field ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Sierra Nevada Mountain ◽  
Mountain Front ◽  
Eastern Sierra Nevada

Relative Dating of Terraces of the Owens River, Northern Owens Valley, California, and Correlation with Moraines of the Sierra Nevada

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Pinter ◽  
Edward A. Keller ◽  
Robert B. West
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Soil Development ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Weathering Processes ◽  
Relative Dating ◽  
Altered Surface ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Absolute Age ◽  
Eastern Sierra Nevada

AbstractIn the northern Owens Valley, the Owens River has cut and preserved three terraces uplifted above its modern floodplain. We have analyzed soils and used other relative-dating techniques in order to differentiate the terrace surfaces, to correlate from the terraces to moraines of the eastern Sierra Nevada, and to test the effects of relief and climatic differences on relative-dating results. Most of the relative-dating techniques attempted were successful in differentiating the terraces of the Owens River sequence. In addition, weathering rinds, soil descriptions, and an early Holocene 14 C date for the youngest terrace support correlation of the three terrace levels with the three post-Sherwin-age glacial stages (Tioga, Tahoe, and pre-Tahoe) found in nearby canyons of the Sierra Nevada. Other relative-dating techniques that are commonly employed, however, suggest distinct differences between the terrace and moraine sequences. These differences probably reflect the difference in relief, such that slow erosion of the moraine crests may have retarded soil development relative to the flat terrace surfaces and altered surface-weathering processes. Use of relative-dating analyses to correlate between dissimilar geomorphic systems requires caution but use of a broad range of techniques and absolute-age calibration may make correlation possible.

Thirty Thousand Years of Vegetation Changes in the Alabama Hills, Owens Valley, California

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Koehler ◽  
R.Scott Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Juniperus Osteosperma ◽  
Pollen Types ◽  
Yucca Brevifolia ◽  
Utah Juniper ◽  
Coleogyne Ramosissima ◽  
Eastern Sierra Nevada

AbstractTwenty packrat (Neotoma) middens recovered from three sites (1265-1535 m) in the Alabama Hills, Inyo County, California, provide a ca. 31,450-yr record of vegetation change. Located ca. 7 km east of the Sierra Nevada, the middens document that Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), and bitterbush (Purshia tridentata) occupied the site between 31,450 and 19,070 yr B.P. Joshua tree and bitterbush departed by ca. 17,760 yr B.P., with cliffrose (Purshia mexicana) and joint-fir (Ephedra viridis) appearing. By 13,350 yr B.P., blackbush (Coleogyne ramosissima) and cholla (Opuntia echinocarpa) entered the record. Between 9540 and 7990 yr B.P., Utah juniper and other species now extralocal to the sites departed and modern components such as wolfberry (Lycium andersonii) and rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus teretifolius) appeared. The middle Holocene records little variation in plant macrofossil composition; however, pollen analysis reflects an increase in aquatic pollen types which might suggest more-open conditions. The transition to the modern vegetation associations at the sites occurred after ca. 2800 yr B.P. The record from the Alabama Hills correlates well with that of other regional vegetation data but documents conditions of increasing aridity earlier than many other packrat midden sites. A shift in understory vegetation between 19,070 and 17,760 yr B.P. may reflect a transition from glacial maximum to post-maximum conditions in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

NEW ZIRCON U-PB AND (U-TH)/HE AGES OF MIOCENE RHYOLITE FROM THE KERN VOLCANIC FIELD; KERN PLATEAU, SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA, CALIFORNIA

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Gevedon ◽  
◽  
Margaret Odlum ◽  
Brian A. Magumcia ◽  
Daniel F. Stockli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Volcanic Field ◽  
Kern Plateau

PRELIMINARY STRATIGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY OF CONVICT LAKE (CA), EASTERN SIERRA NEVADA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael M. McGlue ◽  
◽  
Edward W. Woolery ◽  
Morgan Black ◽  
Ali Almayahi
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Eastern Sierra Nevada

Microseismicity and tectonics of the Nevada Seismic Zone

1971 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1413-1432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank J. Gumper ◽  
Christopher Scholz
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Focal Mechanism ◽  
Basin And Range ◽  
Mono Lake ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Seismic Zone ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Focal Mechanism Solutions ◽  
Composite Focal Mechanism

abstract Microseismicity, composite focal-mechanism solutions, and previously-published focal parameter data are used to determine the current tectonic activity of the prominent zone of seismicity in western Nevada and eastern California, termed the Nevada Seismic Zone. The microseismicity substantially agrees with the historic seismicity and delineates a narrow, major zone of activity that extends from Owens Valley, California, north past Dixie Valley, Nevada. Focal parameters indicate that a regional pattern of NW-SE tension exists for the western Basin and Range and is now producing crustal extension within the Nevada Seismic Zone. An eastward shift of the seismic zone along the Excelsior Mountains and left-lateral strike-slip faulting determined from a composite focal mechanism indicate transform-type faulting between Mono Lake and Pilot Mountain. Based on these results and other data, it is suggested that the Nevada Seismic Zone is caused by the interaction of a westward flow of mantle material beneath the Basin and Range Province with the boundary of the Sierra Nevada batholith.

The Cedar Mountain, Nevada, earthquake of December 20, 1932*

1934 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent P. Gianella ◽  
Eugene Callaghan
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Horizontal Displacement ◽  
Vertical Displacement ◽  
Relative Movement ◽  
East Side ◽  
Owens Valley ◽  
The West ◽  
Horizontal Movement ◽  
San Andreas

Summary The Cedar Mountain, Nevada, earthquake took place at about 10h 10m 04s p.m., December 20, 1932. It was preceded by a foreshock noted locally and followed by thousands of aftershocks, which were reported as still continuing in January 1934. No lives were lost and there was very little damage. The earthquake originated in southwest central Nevada, east of Mina. A belt of rifts or faults in echelon lies in the valley between Gabbs Valley Range and Pilot Mountains on the west and Cedar Mountain and Paradise Range on the east. The length of this belt is thirty-eight miles in a northwesterly direction, and the width ranges from four to nine miles. The rifts consist of zones of fissures which commonly reveal vertical displacement and in a number of places show horizontal displacement. The length of the rifts ranges from a few hundred feet to nearly four miles, and the width may be as much as 400 feet. The actual as well as indicated horizontal displacement is represented by a relative southward movement of the east side of each rift. The echelon pattern of the rifts within the rift area indicates that the relative movement of the adjoining mountain masses is the same. The direction of relative horizontal movement corresponds to that along the east front of the Sierra Nevada at Owens Valley and on the San Andreas rift.

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