dolomite canyon death valley
Wind, water, and plate tectonics are still hard at work shaping the park on a day-to-day basis. Further south, between the Copper Canyon and Mormon Point turtlebacks, the Mormon Point Formation is also in fault contact with basement rocks, in this case the Mormon Point turtleback (Hayman, 2006; MP, Fig. / i) (d vli) (Tal des Todes) liegt in der Mojave-Wste und ist der trockenste Nationalpark in den USA.Er liegt sdstlich der Sierra Nevada, zum grten Teil auf dem Gebiet Kaliforniens und zu einem kleineren Teil in Nevada.Die Region ist ein Hitzepol.. Der tiefste Punkt des Tales liegt 85,95 Meter unter dem Meeresspiegel und ist zugleich . Highly fossiliferous shale member 100 feet thick at base, upper 1 200 feet is dolomite in thick alternating black and light hands about 100 feet thick. Half-day Tours. Wowzers. *5 informal divisions* diatoms have been found Dunderberg Shale Member consists of reddish-brown to greenish-brown shale, thin-bedded limestone, and some siltstone; trilobite fragments are common. 1 Alluvial fan and lacustrine deposits Titus Canyon is a narrow gorge in the Grapevine Mountains near the eastern boundary of Death Valley National Park. Walking into Mosaic Canyon is like walking into a museum. Their cross section across Tucki Mountain nevertheless remains a classic illustration of the geometry of a core complex. Within Death Valley, the best region for slot canyons seems to be Tucki Mountain, south of Stovepipe Wells village.Here are found Grotto Canyon, Mosaic Canyon, Stretched Pebble Canyon and Little Bridge Canyon, all quite close to CA 190, though others to the south and east are much further away from the highway.These canyons typically have many short enclosed sections ending beneath a dryfall . The Furnace Creek Fault runs through this part of Death Valley. In NTS area, unit is from 700 to 1,150 m thick, about 600 m thick in the Montgomery Mountains, and 640 to 820 m thick in the northwest Spring Mountains. Thickness uncertain because of faulting; estimate 750 feet. It features megabreccia and other rock formations, petroglyphs, and wildlife of various kinds, including bighorn sheep. 24 Lost Burro Formation The petroglyphs here are made possible because many of the rocks in these arid conditions have desert varnish on them. Eocene One of the data points used in structural restorations comes from a thrust complex, preserved in one of the Basin and Range allochthons in the northern Panamint Range, which correlates with a thrust complex of similar geometry in the Nopah Range (Snow and Wernicke, 2000). Foraminifera and crinoid columns have also been reported from this formation. from. In Figure 11 a sinusoidal function with these dimensions is included in the cross section across Badwater. Along this profile, then, Death Valley is an asymmetric graben with a steep (50) eastern fault and less steep (30) western fault. 18 Owens Valley Formation Lower section is dark gray cherty dolomite and the upper section is light gray dolomite; the base of the lower unit is fossiliferous, consisting of silicified rhynchonellid brachiopods, conodonts, streptelasmid corals, and Halysites. Contained within its boundaries is a diverse rock record stretching throughout most of geologic time. The younger age is further confirmed by occurrence of one of the Mesquite Spring tuffs (3.13.35 Ma; numbers 7 and 8 in Fig. 9 Furnace Creek Formation 2) and geology from the digital map of Workman et al. - See 519 traveler reviews, 417 candid photos, and great deals for Death Valley National Park, CA, at Tripadvisor. In the second phase, transtensional faulting began east of the White Mountains at 6 Ma, followed at 3 Ma by initiation of strike slip in the Owens Valley (Fig. A recent phase of this propagation was opening of the Gulf of California and initiation of the San Andreas fault as the plate boundary at 56 Ma (Lonsdale, 1989; Atwater and Stock, 1998). Along the profile of Figure 9, the west flank of the range averages a 10 dip and the east flank 9.5. b. Holocene+Pleistocene= Fan gravel; silt and salt on floor of playa, less than 100 feet thick. Tucholke and Lin (1998) compiled dimensional data on 17 oceanic megamullions. (1994) provide an interpretation of eruption volume versus time, which the sawtooth pattern in Figure 3 schematically follows. Cichanski (2000) mapped the southern portion of the range front and found generally low-angle faults (dips 1534), with indications that these fault surfaces have been cut by steeper faults, but the vertical offset on these faults is minor. Mississippian Further implications of this update will be discussed elsewhere. camel, horse, bird, carnivore). In the second category, based on the pull-apart model developed by Burchfiel and Stewart (1966), strike-slip faults penetrate deeply into the crust and drive extension between their terminations (Wright and Troxel, 1984; Topping, 1993; Serpa and Pavlis, 1996; Miller and Prave, 2002). $85.00. The last two columns in Figure 3 show tectonic events and interpreted tectonic regimes. The suggestion illustrated here is that the Black Mountains, with their present-day asymmetric structure typical of footwall uplift geometry, formed as a result of footwall uplift associated with the Death Valley pull-apart graben. * 4 Members* Diatoms and plants give the Miocene age. 3) near the top of the section (Hillhouse, 1987). 23 Tin Mountain Limestone This cross section, like Figure 6, uses topographic data from the DEM and outcrop geology from Workman et al. This implies that there should be a detachment fault underneath the Panamint Range. The canyon follows faults that formed when the rocky crust of the Death Valley region began stretching just a few million years ago. In this formation, the placoderm Dunkleosteus (a small cladodont) and cochliodont tooth have been found. Includes many rhyolite and lesser trachyte and comendite masses, many of them associated with calderas. *9 Members* alternating siliciclastic and carbonate facies lower four (of the nine) members and the lower part of the fifth member contain Early Cambrian olenellid trilobites. This trail is more about the journey than the destination, so keep your eyes open and enjoy the beauty as you walk. The slickenslides are on the southwest flanks of the turtleback surfaces and trend northwest with a plunge of 10 to 15 (Troxel and Wright, 1987); these structures imply both normal and strike-slip components of motion along the flanks of the turtlebacks. 4), several outcrops of Proterozoic gneissic basement were mapped by Hunt and Mabey (1966) as the footwall of the Amargosa Thrust. This Proterozoic gneiss is overlain by east-tilted Basin and Range fault blocks consisting of Wood Canyon Formation through Ordovician section, like other extensional allochthons in the region and also structurally similar to the east flank of Tucki Mountain (Fig. TvTertiary volcanics. 1) occurred in the Middle Miocene as a result of footwall uplift associated with east-west extension. The detachment fault in the Black Mountains is known as the Amargosa detachment (Wright et al., 1974). 4). environment three groups of stromatolites have been found in the uppermost section - lower carbonate member contains domical and branching forms of stromatolites. The strong link between Pacific-North America plate motion and structural evolution of the ECSZ is emphasized by this synchronous timing. Those missing 20 formations have not yet been added to our Stratigraphy Collection. Consists of a lower lagoonal or mudflat limestone. The primary source of the dune sands is probably the Cottonwood Mountains which lie to the north and northwest. C. cornicula. By night, it's otherworldly. Death Valley lies between two sets of mountains, the taller Panamint Range to the west and the dryer Amargosa Range along the Nevada-California border. (2002). This pan was first created by the drying-up of 30-foot (9.1m) deep Recent Lake 2000 to 3000 years ago. ), such as Death Valley ephedra (Ephedra funerea), are spaced between them, with other xeric sub-shrubs and native bunchgrasses. Cambrian-Late Precambrian Stewart (1983) proposed that the Panamint Range forms the hanging wall of an extensional system that transported the Panamint Range westward from on top or east of the Black Mountains, with the latter forming the footwall of this extensional system. Running water scoured away at the fault-weakened rock, gradually carving Mosaic canyon. This fuel was then transported to mines in The Argus Range, 25 miles to the west, to feed smelting and ore extraction operations. In a wash near some of the petroglyphs there is a fault scarp that exposes some fanglomerate which is a type of sedimentary rock which looks like concrete with large rocks intermixed. These are overlain by sediments of ancestral Lake Tecopa, which include the Lava Creek B tuff (0.62 Ma; number 2 in Fig. Ninemile is light-to moderate-brown shaly siltstone and black and gray silty limestone and dolomite. 2; Hodges et al., 1987; Wernicke et al., 1988b). 3 Ma, these basins were uplifted in the footwall of the Black Mountains fault block, which is why they now lie high above the valley floor. This eastward propagation is likely to continue with the Pacific-North America plate boundary ultimately moving to the ECSZ, with motion on the San Andreas fault ceasing (Faulds et al., 2005). Total thickness Uncertain because of faulting; estimated about 3,000 feet in Panamint Range, 2,000 feet in Funeral Mountains. 4) commenced prior to intrusion of the 10.6 Ma Little Chief stock, which was intruded to 3 km below the contemporary surface. This paper established a robust stratigraphy, including detailed relative stratigraphy of Neogene sediments. Recent work, especially tephrochronology (Sarna-Wojcicki et al., 2001) and argon-argon radiometric dating, has greatly increased our knowledge of the ages of these deposits. 3 Lake Manly Deposits Practical Details. Beds contain tabuliar-planar and trough cross bed sets, and Skolithus burrows. Seismic reflection data (Louie et al., 1992) show 140 m of flat-lying section below the 5.12 Ma basalts, this section lying unconformably on tilted and faulted sediments. There are several falls, but they are mainly divided into the upper and lower with a small grotto in between. Difficulty: Easy/Moderate. Death Valley NP is renowned world-wide for its exposed, complex, unique tectonics and diverse geologic resources. Sediment age at the base of this well was estimated by Lowenstein et al. The Basin and Range extensional detachment tracks over the top of the range, with extensional allochthons perched on the eastern flanks of the range. a. Faults are from the USGS Quaternary faults database. This implies 7 km of unroofing between the Cretaceous and 10.6 Ma, with some of this unroofing due to the extension (Labotka and Albee, 1990). a. Lacustrine and alluvial fan deposits found throughout the valley surface. Further justification for the detachment geometry shown in Figure 7 comes from the southwestern flanks of the Panamint Range. The Noonday Dolomite (Fig. The structures are usually corrugated with mullion structures parallel to spreading direction and Tucholke and Lin (1998) relate them to continental metamorphic core complexes. The Artist Drive Formation is in fault contact with Proterozoic gneiss and Miocene intrusives of the Badwater turtleback structure. Base of member is marked by the regionally extensive "silty unit". Adding another day to your visit to Death Valley helps to balance out the long drive to and from Las Vegas. Top 200 feet is well-bedded limestone and quartzite. b. Well-bedded quartzite in beds 1-5 feet thick comprising thick members of quartzite 700-800 feet thick separated by 500 feet of purple shale, crossbedding conspicuous in quartzite. 36 Johnnie Formation The middle section contains bryozoans and some brachiopods, while the lower section has no fossils. Medium grained leucocratic granodiorite consisting of sodic plagioclase, quartz, microcline, and muscovite; locally, a minor amount of biotite and a trace of garnet are observed. This is illustrated in Figure 8, a cross section across the Panamint Range near Trail Canyon. The Late Miocene intrusives consist of the mafic Willow Springs pluton and the felsic Smith Mountain granite. At the one-mile mark, the canyon narrows for the first time to a width of roughly 40 feet across. As summarized in Figure 6, interpretations of the extensional structures at Tucki Mountain show that the footwall of the detachment surface consists of Proterozoic basement and metasediments. [9] There is a parking area and hiking paths.[10]. Other fossils: foraminifera, coelenterates, solitary/colonial corals, bryozoan, goniatite and orthceroid cephalopods, gastropods, pelecypods, crinoid stems, brachiopods, phillipsid trilobites, an annelid worm, and petrified wood. A 20 m thick white quartzite marks the base of the unit in the Specter Range and northwestern Spring Mountains. b. It is derived from the topography (Fig. Scarce fossils. Antelope Valley is medium-gray, finely to coarsely crystalline limestone and silty limestone, and dark-yellowish-to-orange, grayish-orange and dark-yellowish brown limestone, and yellowish-orange to pink silty partings; beds are commonly burrowed, and have yellowish-orange to pale red tracks and trails on bedding planes; contains orthocone cephlapods, gastropods (Maclurites and Palliseria) pelmatozoans, Receptaculites, and trilobites; also contains ooids and oncoids. The lower section contains Early Mississippian coral and the cephalopod Cravenoceras. Cretaceous (67 Ma, 87 Ma) There is a Conglomerate Member, an Upper Limestone Member, a Shale Member, and a Lower Limestone Member. This, the nation's greatest evaporation potential, means that even a 12-foot (3.7m) deep, 30 miles (48km) long lake would dry up in a single year. The above summary of younger deposits in the Death Valley region highlights some of the structurally important inferences that can be drawn from these sections. Blakely et al. In just a few million years, during Late Miocene to Pliocene time, older rocks were intensely faulted and sheared. This model, using the preceding data and interpretations, includes two tectonic phases separated by a short interval of relative tectonic quiescence, as summarized in the timing chart in Figure 3. In fact it is lithified alluvial sediment. In some areas all that remains of some thick rock layers are lens-shaped pods of rock bounded on all sides by faults. Wildrose Canyon has 2 campgrounds above the kilns, Thorndyke at 7,490 feet and Mahogany Flat at 7923 feet. Smooth, polished marble walls enclose the trail as it follows the canyon's sinuous curves. Diatoms, pollen. The term is applied to large domed structures formed in inside-corner settings at the intersections of spreading centers and transform faults (Tucholke and Lin, 1998). Hunt and Mabey (1966) recognized this structure and correlated it with the Amargosa Thrust of Noble (1941). This older faulting is interpreted as the final phase of Basin and Range extension in the area (Louie et al., 1992; Calzia and Rm, 2000). WMWhite Mountains; IRInyo Range. 4). The northern nose of the Panamints is formed by an extensional core complex, Tucki Mountain (Hodges et al., 1987; Wernicke et al., 1988b). Dark red lines in Death Valley are faults from Blakely et al. Erosion over the millennia since the eruption revealed multi-colored stripes on the crater walls dating to the Miocene. Interpretations of tectonic settings in Figure 3 come from Snow and Lux (1999) for formations in the Cottonwood Mountains (Tub, Tpn, Tnv), from Knott et al. Varnish does not normally form on carbonate rocks because their surfaces weather too easily. The Panamint Range, rather than being a large fault block detached from above the Black Mountains, is a core complex like the northern end of the range at Tucki Mountain. The highest temperature in North America was recorded at Furnace Creek Ranch (134F or 57C). Goniatite coquina beds, formed chiefly of the cephalopod Cravenoceras hesperiam, occur within this formation. The depth of the sand at its crest is 130140 feet (4043 metres) but this is small compared to other dunes in the area that have sand depths of up to 600700 feet (180210 metres) deep. From Dante's View one can see the central part of Death Valley from a vantage point 5,500 feet (1,700m) above sea level. Rocks exposed in the Panamint Range include Proterozoic metamorphic basement, a Neoproterozoic through Paleozoic sedimentary section, and younger Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks. At Mosaic Canyon, for instance, where the detachment surface is exposed (TD, Fig. Late Precambrian Fan gravel; silt and salt buried under floor of playa; perhaps 2,000 feet thick.]. 31 Bonanza King Formation b. Cemented fan gravel with interbedded basaltic lavas, gravels cut by veins of calcite (Mexican onyx); perhaps 1000 feet thick. Over time, the sediments compressed into limestone and a related calcium-magnesium carbonate called dolomite. Blakely et al. The Death Valley region has played a key role in development of models of Basin and Range extension. As also discussed earlier, the Panamint Range is a large, almost symmetric anticlinal structure, with no high-angle faults along the western side of the range. One major obstacle, a 20 foot dryfall near the start, necessitating a climb that may be aided by a fixed rope Management: NPS Rocks: Dolomite, limestone Season: Late fall, winter, spring Trailhead: Along the park road, 4.3 miles north of the signed turn-off to Fall/Titus Canyons Rating (1-5): 17 Butte Valley Formation When the Death Valley pull-apart basin started to form ca. 4). Ordovician Cichanski (2000) suggests that the higher-angle faults are part of the Panamint Valley strike-slip fault. Uper part is mostly cliff-foming, orange to gray silty limestone, and lower part contains mostly clastic rocks. Middle (?) Gear List. (1974) do not suggest that the turtlebacks themselves are mullion structures, but a comparison with oceanic megamullions suggests that this is what they are. The canyons of Death Valley National Park are justly famous for their geologic complexity and beauty, and Mosaic Canyon is one of the most beautiful that you can hike on a short trip to the park. 33 Zabriskie Quartzite Based on research, 61 formations are known to exist in the park. Dashed line shows inferred location of the detachment fault across the Panamint Range. When to Hike the Golden Canyon. Box 579 (Blair and Raynolds, 1999); (4) although there are angular unconformities within these formations, there are no data such as progressive tilt (Snow and Lux, 1999) to suggest that they were deposited in active grabens. Unlike at the Devils Golf Course, significant rainstorms flood Badwater, covering the salt pan with a thin sheet of standing water. Following a right-hand bend and broader left turn, the canyon further constricts at 1.25 miles, forming orange- and gray-tinted narrows. Mississippian Winds strong enough for sandblasting come from the north and the south. The Pacific Nitrate Company arrived in 1909 and built a small camp, but left within a few years. 29 Nopah Formation 7) is a platformal carbonate deposited unconformably across a Neoproterozoic rift basin that marks the onset of Proterozoic through Paleozoic miogeoclinal deposits of the western North American passive margin ( Wright et al., 1978 ). At ca. a. These volcanics were deposited partly on the exhumed detachment surface from the earlier phase of Basin and Range extension. Cross section across the Panamint Range and Black Mountains, profile C in previous location maps. Canyon, but made of smooth, polished marble. Places of interest in the Death Valley area, Haff, P. K. 1986. b. The Mosaic Canyon trail in Death Valley National Park is a popular hike up a narrow, . 22 Perdido Formation The ghost town of Ballarat had 400 residents at the turn of the 20th century when mines were active in the area. Ventifact Ridge is a part of a basaltic lava flow. Total thickness uncertain because of faulting; estimated 2,000 feet. Rocks now in the crest of the range were metamorphosed to greenschist facies, representing 10 km burial, in the Jurassic, with retrograde metamorphism associated with granitic intrusions in the Cretaceous (Labotka and Albee, 1990). When Burchfiel and Stewart (1966) first suggested that Death Valley was formed as a pull-apart basin, little was known about timing of tectonic events in the region. Lack of preserved basinal section equivalent to the Black Mountains Artist Drive Formation and younger formations across the top of the Panamint Range suggests that the range was a high by 8 Ma, although the northwestern flanks were low enough at 10 Ma to begin accumulation of Nova Basin sediments (Fig. Elevation Gain: 535 ft to 834ft (163m to 254m) Miocene doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/GES00588.1. c. Widely exposed in map area. a. Detachment surfaces in the Death Valley region are commonly located in the upper Proterozoic section (Fig. (2009) consists of exhumation and normal faulting initiated along the eastern Inyo fault zone (IFZ in Fig. Ordovician Fundulus and Cyprinodon osteichthyes fish and a number of turtle scutes and rodent teeth and skull have been found. Cambrian Unit is 30 to 350 m thick in the NTS area, 70 m thick in the Montgomery Mountains, 106 m thick in the Dry Mountain area, Cottonwood Mountains. Scarce fossils. No fossils. The best Death Valley National Park things to do, from the dunes and Artist's Palette to the Badwater Basin. The tiny grains of quartz and feldspar that form the sinuous sculptures that make up this dune field began as much larger pieces of solid rock. The Artist Drive Formation is shown by a different symbol as these rocks in their northern Black Mountains type area are primarily lava flows or volcaniclastics. It has a width of about 10 miles (16km). 7 Warm Spring Granite 4), on the flanks of the Black Mountains, the Copper Canyon formation preserves 1800 m of mostly fluvial to lacustrine sediments, including some distinctive tufa mounds (Nyborg and Buchheim, 2009). Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California-Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada.The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka Valley and most of Saline Valley.The park occupies an interface zone between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts, protecting the northwest corner of . In the second 3 Ma restoration, the topography that formed as a result of young transtensional strike slip is removed. Scolithus ? Itinerary. Dark-brown to orange burrow mottling is prevalent, and several layers have dark-brown weathering chert beds and nodules. [13][14][15][16] National Park Service rangers will sometimes remove a number of teakettles when there are too many. 252. Check out the Golden Canyon Hike audio tour on the free NPS App. 3 Ma, deposition of a thick sequence of volcanics, clastics, and some lacustrine carbonates signaled a period of relative tectonic quiescence, with sediments in some areas covering the exhumed detachment surfaces. At the junction where the unimproved road from Ubehebe Crater meets roads to the Racetrack Playa and Hunter Mountain (364537N 1173233W / 36.76028N 117.54250W / 36.76028; -117.54250), there is a sign reading "Teakettle Junction. The two events responsible for the chaotic appearance of the Amargosa Chaos did not occur until over half a billion years later, during Mesozoic or Early Tertiary time. Lower contact with Eurkeka Quartzite is major disconformity; upper contact with Laketown Dolomite (Silurian) in eastern park of quadrangle is disconformable, in western part of quadrangle, upper contact with Hidden Valley Dolomite reported as gradational and conformable. To accommodate as many events as possible, the time scale (from Gradstein et al., 2004) is shown with a variable vertical scale, logarithmic from 1000 yr to 1 m.y., then a linear scale from 1 to 5 m.y. Skolithos) and some interbedded bioturbated silstones. (2003) found two main phases of tectonism. Ordovician 3) near the top of the beds (Knott et al., 2005). Telescope Peak can also be seen from here which is 11,331 feet (3,454m) above sea level. The event that commenced at 15.6 Ma included 16 westward tilt of the Inyo Range and 5300 m of uplift of the eastern flank, at a rapid rate of 1.9 mm/a. The Neoproterozoic-Cambrian section in Death Valley consists of (in ascending order) the Pahrump Group (Crystal Spring Formation, Beck Spring Dolomite, and Kingston Peak Formation), the Noonday Dolomite, the Johnnie Formation, the Stirling Quartzite, the Wood Canyon Formation (with the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary), the Zabriskie Quartzite, and part of the Carrara Formation (Nolan, 1924 . Natural Bridge Canyon: On the east side of the park . Several thin limestone layers near the top of the formation at Quartz Spring are fossiliferous. It is an endorheic basin that can form a lake after heavy rain. Near the end of this extensional phase and lasting until ca. b. Cemented gravel; mostly stream deposits; 3,000 feet thick. a. The dip of the steeper portion of the west side of the basin is 30, and the surface projection of this portion is close to faults at the base of the alluvial fans on the west side of Death Valley (Hunt and Mabey, 1966; USGS Quaternary faults database), again suggesting that the basin is fault-bounded, as shown in Figure 9. Through exploratory holes drilled by the Pacific Coast Borax Company, prior to Death Valley becoming a national monument in 1934, it was discovered that the salt and gravel beds of the Devil's Golf Course extend to a depth of more than 1,000 feet (300m). Tucki Mountain at the north end of the range (Fig. From the left, the columns show the igneous events, stratigraphy, tectonic events, and regional tectonic regime. Jurassic (134 Ma, 156 Ma, 178 Ma, 182 Ma) is a cherty argillaceous unit containing Lower Devonian fish, the pteraspidids Blieckaspis and Panamintaspis from the Trail Canyon area. 4) contains some useful timing information. Thickness about 1 000 feet but variable because of shearing. a. Their paper was published in the same year as Hunt and Mabey's (1966) seminal paper that mapped the geology of Death Valley. Overview. a. Megamullions in oceanic crust have been mapped since the development of multibeam bathymetry in the 1980s. This profile is close to the one shown by Hunt and Mabey (1966). 28 Pogonip Group As Figure 4 shows, outcrops of Paleozoic sediments along the eastern side of the range are continuous from Tucki Mountain southward along the eastern slope of the Panamints, and these Paleozoic sediments are interpreted to be Basin and Rangestyle extensional allochthons. (1976). Upper and lower third of units consists of interbedded red and brown quartzite, brownish green micaceous siltstone and minor orange-weathering silty dolomite. The Dolomites (Italian: Dolomiti [dolomiti]; Ladin: Dolomites; German: Dolomiten [dolomitn] (); Venetian: Doomiti [doomiti]: Friulian: Dolomitis), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range in northeastern Italy.They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley (Pieve di . The first phase, lasting from ca. 37 Noonday Dolomite It features megabreccia and other rock formations, petroglyphs, and wildlife of various kinds, including bighorn sheep. Upper part contains Rainstorm Member traced regionally across parts of southern Nevada and southeastern California. Data from Smith and Sandwell (1997). Dave Reynolds, Larry Lawver, and especially an anonymous reviewer provided excellent suggestions for improving the manuscript. The steeply dipping faults seen in Figure 9 make interpretation of Death Valley as a pull-apart basin more realistic than the low-angle fault interpretation. (1999). 1. Ninemile Formation is absent in most locations in the eastern part of the map area. Modern geologists have documented four major deformational events that faulted and folded the Amargosa Chaos. The students stayed in a Beatty hotel and visited nine total sites in Death Valley National Park. Pliocene (3.3 3.5 Ma) McKenna and Hodges (1990) mapped extensional structures at Trail Canyon. Death Valley, contains the lowest dry point in North America. Stromatolites, thrombolites, oncoids, and brachiopod fragments are common, pelmatozoan ossicles less common. There is no apparent reason for these rocks to be in the footwall of the detachment at Tucki Mountain and in the hanging wall further south along the range, as they would need to be if the entire Panamint Range is allochthonous. Events associated with Basin and Range extension occurred in the Miocene to very early Pliocene.