Eastern Mojave Vegetation Tom Schweich
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Eastern Mojave Vegetation | New York Mountain Road - Mojave National Preserve |
| Tom Schweich |
Topics in this Article: Literature Cited | (No Preface)
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| Other Articles: Pinto Valley Road: 50000
Junction:
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|  Miocene
pyroclastic rocks on the south flank of the New York Mountains.
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| Literature Cited: | Golden Quail MineThe small hills at the mouth of Caruthers Canyon, in the southwest corner of New York Mountain Road and Caruthers Canyon Road have some very interesting and accessible examples of geology. The claims are currently known as the Golden Quail claims. Hewett (1956) describes this area as follows: |
Within an area 1,500 feet in diameter in the low hills that lie 2 miles west
of benchmark 5118 near the southern edge of New York Mountains there are
eight shafts and short tunnels (no 110, pl. 2).
The principal works is a shaft 250 feet deep with about 500 feet of drifts,
which, to judge from the materials on the dump, explore the Cedar Canyon Fault
along which flows of Teritary age on the south lie in contact with the
Goodsprings dolomite and monzonite on the north.
This shaft is dismantled but the dump yields blocks of nearly solid
sulfides, largely pyrite with a little chalcopyrite, galena, and
blende in a chloritic gangue.
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This area is now known as the Golden Quail mine.
The BLM has a photo of the current open pit at
http://www.ca.blm.gov/mojave/ccmine.htm
The San Diego Transcript ran a
report on Golden Quail Resources
on January 23, 1995.
Ore was being hauled to the mill at the former Vanderbilt
Mine on Ivanpah Road.
However, they last time I visited this area the mine and mill were inactive.
However, if you visit, be careful of possible hazardous conditions.
| | Literature Cited: Other Articles: Glossary: gneiss
This is my field sketch map of the surficial geology I found during a day's visit.
| sch - schist. pE - metasandstone and metaconglomerate, possibly Precambrian and correlative with the Precambrian schist and gneiss found elsewhere in the Mid Hills, not mentioned by Hewett (1956). ls - limestone, probably Goodsprings dolomite. hb - highly sheared greenish rock, probably the Cedar Canyon Fault. gr - granite. Tv - Tertiary volcanics, probably Peach Springs Tuff or Hole-in-the-Wall Tuff. |  Metasandstone.
This picture, and the next two were taken on the first hill south of New York Mountain Road, and north of the Golden Quail mine. It shows the swirling deformed bedding planes in the metasandstone.
| |  Metaconglomerate.
There are numerous outcrops of meta-conglomerate in this area. Conglomerate is a sedimentary rock of sand and rounded gravel. When it is slightly metamorphosed by heat and pressure, the mineral grains interlock between the gravel and the sand, so it becomes a single rock called "metaconglomerate" with a texture that looks like sand and gravel. When the rock is fractured, as the rock face is in this photograph, the fracture cuts right through what used to be individual pebbles, giving this natural terrazzo effect.
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 Slickensides near Golden Quail mine.
George Hilton examines some exposed slickensides in a small adit on the east side of the hill. Perhaps this is one trace of the Cedar Canyon Fault.
| | Literature Cited:
This is the shaft that Hewett (1956) notes is 250 feet deep. Kate, Scott, Matt and Linda are looking at the owl chicks in a nest about 6 feet down the shaft. The shaft is gone now as the current operators of the Golden Quail mine have
dug an open pit about 30 feet deep. The stake in the right foreground marked a bore from which cores had
recently been taken. None of the cores were left at the mine location.
| |  The open pit
of the Golden Quail Mine.
This is the Golden Quail Mine as it looked in March, 1998. The shaft discussed above has been dug out are replaced by an ugly open pit. Many new roads have been bulldozed, and the area left a horrible mess.
| | Other Articles: Caruthers Canyon Road: 35000
Junction:
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|  Joshua trees(Yucca brevifolia) in bloom near Caruthers Canyon
A photo of Joshua
Trees in bloom near Caruthers Canyon. |
|  Lanfair Valley
and Hackberry Mountain, seen from the New York Mountains.
Locations: Lanfair Valley. |
|  New York
Mountain Road in Ross Horse Pasture.
Ross Horse Pasture | | Literature Cited: Other Articles: Ivanpah Road: OX Ranch
Junction:
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| Literature CitedA list of all literature cited by this web site can be found in the Bibliography.
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| [Null Author]. . County of San Bernardino vs. U. S. Department of Interior. {TAS-pdf} |
| Hewett, D. Foster. 1956. Geology and Mineral Resources of the Ivanpah Quadrangle, California and Nevada. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 275.. {TAS} 172 pp. Location records referred to by this literature:
If you have a
question or a comment you may write to me at: tas4@schweich.com I sometimes post
interesting questions in my FAQ, but I never disclose your full name or address.
| | Date and time this article was prepared: 5/15/2008 12:33:25 PM |
