Stratigraphy, depositional environments, and quantitative petrography of the pre-Cambrian-Cambrian Wood Canyon Formation, Death Valley
The Wood Canyon Formation was studied at 12 localities in the central and southern Death Valley region of California and Nevada. At theses localities, the formation can be subdivided into four genetically related members. In ascending order they are: (1) the lower carbonate-bearing member, (2) the conglomeratic arkose member, (3) the arkose-feldspathic quartzite member, and (4) the upper carbonate-bearing member. Ranging in thickness from 0 to about 1400 feet, the lower carbonate-bearing member is composed mostly of interbedded siltstones and thinly bedded to platy laminated, fine- to medium-grained feldspathic sandstones. The conglomeratic arkose member, in sharp contact with the lower carbonate-bearing member, ranges from 0 to 230 feet thick. The very coarse-grained to pebbly conglomeratic arkose occurs in 2- to 5-foot-thick, discontinuous cross-stratified beds. Fining-upward cycles characterize the cross-stratified arkose and feldspathic quartzite of the arkose-feldspathic quartzite member. The contact of this member with the underlying conglomeratic arkose member is gradational. Planar laminated, well-sorted, fine- to medium-grained quartzite and feldspathic quartzite form the lower portion of the upper carbonate-bearing member. These strata were deposited in a distal delta plain, on a tidally influenced shoreface. Differences in the effect of transportation and deposition on sediments are reflected in the compositional and textural interrelationships. Rock fragment content, quartz grain-size, and quartz grain sorting appear to be the most useful petrographic properties used to differentiate members of the Wood Canyon Formation.
- Research Organization:
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5267700
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
580100* -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
CALIFORNIA
CHALCOGENIDES
CONGLOMERATES
DEPOSITION
DIMENSIONS
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGY
LAYERS
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
MINERALS
NEVADA
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDE MINERALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
PETROGRAPHY
PRECAMBRIAN ERA
QUARTZ
QUARTZITES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTS
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SILICON OXIDES
SILTSTONES
SIZE
STRATIGRAPHY
THICKNESS
TRANSPORT
USA