Eastern Mojave Vegetation Tom Schweich
|
Eastern Mojave Vegetation | U. S. Highway 50 |
| Tom Schweich |
Topics in this Article: Literature Cited | (No Preface) |
| Other Articles: Interstate 80: 18000 Junction: U. S. Interstate
80, west to San Francisco, or east through Sacramento, and over the Sierra Nevada.
| | | West Sacramento
|
Bridge over the Sacramento | Sacramento City Limits
|
Junction: |
| Other Articles: CA Hwy 99: 34400 | SacramentoJunction: California Highway 99, south to Fresno and Bakersfield, rejoining US Interstate 5 near the Grapevine. |
Sacramento City Limits |
| Other Articles: California Highway 49: at US Hwy 50 | PlacervilleJunction: California Highway 49, south to Jackson, Angels Camp, Sonora, etc., or north to Auburn and the Yuba River. | | Echo SummitElevation: 7377 ft (2248 m). | Other Articles: Field Notes: 31-Jul-04
| | Other Articles: California Highway 89: at US Hwy 50 West Junction:California Highway
89, south over Luther Pass to Hope Valley, through Markleville, and then over Monitor Pass to US Hwy 395.
| | Other Articles: California Highway 89: at US Hwy 50 East Junction: California Highway
89, north on the west side of Lake Tahoe to Truckee, Lassen National Park, and ultimately to Mount Shasta.
| | Locations: Lake Tahoe.
| South Lake TahoeSouth Lake Tahoe |
California above … | Nevada below …
| Lake
Tahoe State Park -- Cave Rock Unit. |
| Literature Cited: Locations: Cave Rock. Cave Rock. | Prominent hornblende trachyte plug, eroded by wave action during probable Tahoe-age highstands of Lake Tahoe. Tsumani wave heights of up to 6m could be expected here. An 1879 issue of the San Francisco Examiner reporteda possible tsunami at Glenbrook, and attributed collapse of rocks at Cave Rock to this event (Schweickert, et al., 2000, p. 14). |
Junction:Nevada Highway 207, east over Daggett Pass and into the Carson Valley.
| |
Shakespeare Point | | Locations: Glenbrook.
Glenbrook | | Literature Cited: Captain Pomin Rock to the north and
west of US Hwy 50 is a hornblende latite plug that intrudes a hornblende trachyte unit (Schweickert, et al., 2000).
| | Other Articles: Nevada Highway 28: Spooner Junction Spooner Junction,
Junction: |
| | Spooner Summit
|
Junction: U. S. Highway 395, South, From this junction, US Hwy 50 continues west to Lake Tahoe and Sacramento. US Hwy 395 continues south to Bridgeport, Bishop, etc.
| | | Carson City
| Other Articles: U. S. Highway 395: at US Hwy 50 East at US Hwy 50 West Junction: U. S. Highway 395,
North , From this junction, US Hwy 50 continues east across central Nevada. US Hwy 395 continues north to Reno.
| | | Empire
| Other Articles: Nevada State Route 341: at US Hwy 50 Junction: Nevada
Highway 341, Turn off to Virginia City. |
| | Dayton
| | Silver SpringsJunction: Alt U. S. Highway 95. | Lyon
County, Nevada | Churchill County, Nevada
| Other Articles: U. S. Hwy Alt-50: Junction Junction: U. S. Highway
Alternate 50, northwest to U. S. Interstate 80 at Fernley, Nevada. Typically, we exit US Hwy 50 here and go to I-80 to cross the Sierra Nevada.
| | Other Articles: U. S. Highway 95: at US Hwy 50. Locations: Fallon. | FallonJunction: U. S. Highway 95
|
Grimes Point Archeological Area. |
| | Salt WellsSalt Wells Brothel.
| Literature Cited: Locations: Rainbow Mountain. Turnoff to Rainbow
Mountain, ~0.4 miles southeast of the Salt Wells Brothel. This would be the location of Caskey, Bell, and Slemmons (2000) field trip Stop 1, Wave-modified Paleoscarp (?) and 6 July 1954 Fault Ruptures, about 2.5 miles north.
| | | Eight Mile FlatSalt dry lake. | Literature Cited: Road south-southeast to Huck Salt
Mine. Hike 0.3 miles south to Stop 2, Channel Exposure and Holocene Paleoseismicity on the Four Mile Flat Fault, of Caskey, Bell, and Slemmons (2000). | Four Mile Flat of the Salt Wells Basin is to the southeast, whereas Eight Mile Flat is to the northwest. | Literature Cited: Other Articles: FAQ: Singing Sands Field Notes: 20020605330 Singing and Booming Sand Dunes: Sand Mountain, Nevada Locations: Sand Mountain. | Sand MountainJust off U. S. Highway 50 east of Fallon, Nevada, on the edge of Four Mile Flat, probably is the biggest Great Basin dune. In Blue Highways, William Least Heat Moon describes it as "a single massive mound of tawny sand . . . of such size that, while it wasn't perhaps big enough to be a mountain by everybody's definition, it was surely more than a dune." ... Sand Mountain is one of several dunes known to make singing or booming sounds when the sand is set in motion down the slip face. Shearing between adjacent layers of moving sand appears to cause the sounds; although, the cause is by no means settled (Trexler and Melhorn, 1986). E. Raymond Hall introduced his 1946 classic Mammals of Nevada with a walk around Sand Mountain, where small mammals occur in a density equaled in few other habitats (Trimble, 1989)."
| | Sand Springs Range | | Sand Springs Pass
|
Junction: Nevada Highway 839 |
| Other Articles: FAQ: Frenchman, NV Locations: Frenchman.
| Frenchman
| Locations: Dixie Valley.
Dixie Valley, to the north. |
| | Fairview ValleyMilitary Restricted Area. |
Fairview Historical Marker |
|
Junction: Nevada Highway 121, North, into Dixie Valley |
| Locations: Fairview Peak.
Fairview Peak | | | Drumm Summit
| Literature Cited: Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 Fairview Peak Road: 10000 Locations: Fairview Peak. Road south 5.5 miles
to "Earthquake Fault," BLM sign.
| The Fairview Peak fault zone is the most readily accessible area of 14 examples of historical surface faulting in the Basin and Range Province. It also provides a classic example of the kinds of seismo tectonic events that, with many repetitions in the last 10 or 20 million years, have developed the geologic features of this province (Slemmons, David B., and John W. Bell, 1987).
| Locations: Chalk Mountain.
The little white conical mountain to the north of the highway is Chalk Mountain.
| | | West Gate
| Other Articles: Nevada State Route 361: at US Hwy 50 Junction: Nevada
Highway 361, south to Gabbs. |
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 The
Shoe Tree. | | Other Articles: Nevada Highway 772: 10000 Junction: Nevada Highway
722. This highway goes east, and rejoins U. S. Highway 50 near Austin.
| |
Locations: Clan Alpine Mountains.
Clan Alpine Mountains to the north. |
| Camp
Creek Camp Ground. | | | Cold Springs
| | Edwards Creek Valley | | New Pass SummitElevation: 6,348 ft. Desatoya Mountains to the south; New Pass Range to the north.
| | Smith Creek Valley | | Shoshone Mountains | | Mt Airy Summit
| | Reese River Valley | Other Articles: Nevada Highway 772: 90000 Junction: Nevada Highway 722
| | | Toiyabe Range
| Literature Cited: "Large 'islands' like ... the
Toiyabe Range still support mammals that need special habitats or food: the carniverous ermine, relict on six island mountains, and the white-tailed jackrabbit, a six-and-a-half-pound herbivore dependent on large meadows (Trimble, 1989)."
| | Locations: Austin. | AustinThree motels, three restaurants (Carol's Country Kitchen was good). | | Austin SummitAt Austin Summit, 5 miles east of Austin, elevation 7,484 feet, take the dirt road south, past fenced off spring to summit, local resident noted that the road remains good as it descends a canyon on the east side of the Toiyabe Range. | One
of the things that surprised me was that the central Nevada
mountain ranges are bare above the Pinyon-Juniper belt. Not until
we got to eastern Nevada did a Ponderosa Pine or Rocky Mountain
White Fir zone appear above the Pinyons and Junipers. Why might this
be?
|
| | Scott SummitElevation, 7,267 feet. | Other Articles: Nevada Highway 378: 40000 Junction: Nevada Highway
378, south to US Highway 6 near Tonopah. |
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 Locations: Toiyabe Range.
|
| Locations: Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area. Big Smoky Valley.
| Big Smoky Valley
|
Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 Locations: Big Smoky Valley.
Highway passes from Big Smoky Valley to Monitor Valley by way of Hickison Summit.
|
| Locations: Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Area.
| Hickison SummitElevation 6,564 feet.
| | Monitor Valley
| Literature Cited:
| | | Antelope Valley
| | Lone Mountain
| This
small white mountain, north of the highway, appears to be vegetated by
Junipers, with few Pinyons.
A few small roads approach the mountain from the south.
There are many roads on the east side.
| | | Diamond Mountains
| Literature Cited: |
| Other Articles: Nevada Highway 278: 90000 Junction: Nevada Highway 278.
| | Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 Locations: Ruby Hill.
View of Ruby Hill, the Eureka Mining district and the northern end of the Fish Creek Mountains.
|
| Literature Cited: Locations: Eureka. | EurekaQuaint little town.
|
Junction: |
| Literature Cited: Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: at Adams Hill West Bateman Street: at Main St East Bateman Street: at Main St Locations: Adams Hill.
Junction: |
| Other Articles: Windfall Mine Road: at US Hwy 50 Locations: Windfall Canyon. Junction: Windfall
Mine Road | Windfall Canyon and the Windfall Mine to the southwest. This is also the north end of the road through Secret Canyon. | Literature Cited: Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: at Pinto Summit Locations: Pinto Summit. | Pinto SummitElevation: 7,376 feet.
| Literature Cited: Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: at Pinto Summit Locations: Pinto Canyon. | Pinto CanyonKartesz (1988) states that Swertia albomarginata is found in Pinto Canyon. However, I haven't found any collections. | Other Articles: Nevada State Route 379: at US Hwy 50 Locations: Secret Canyon. Junction: Nevada
Highway 379, turn here for Secret Canyon. |
| Other Articles: NV Hwy 892: 90000 Junction: Nevada Highway
892, north through Newark Valley to a dirt road that leads eventually to Elko.
| | | Pancake SummitElevation: 6,517 feet. | Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: near Belmont Mill Junction: Road south to Belmont
Mill. | Swertia albomarginata has been collected along this road 2.3 miles south of US Highway 50. | Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 West slope, White Pine Range
| | Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: near Little Antelope Summit Locations: Antelope Mountain. Little Antelope Summit. | Little Antelope SummitElevation: 7,433 feet.Antelope Mountain is north of Little Antelope Summit. H. D. Ripley collected Swertia albomarginata near here, collection at CAS. | Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: at Antelope Mtn Road North: at US Hwy 50 Junction: Road North Into Long
Valley, about 1 mile east of Little Antelope Summit. | There is a collection of Swertia albomarginata from a location about 2 1/2 miles north on this road. | Other Articles: Field Notes: 11-Jun-08 |
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 11-Jun-08 County Road 11: at US Hwy 50 Junction: County Route 11, NF
401, Green Spring Road, this road also gives access to Illipah Reservoir, and Forest Road 400.
|
| Literature Cited: Other Articles: Long Valley Road: at US Hwy 50 Junction: White Pine County
Route 3 "Long Valley Road", north through Long Valley to the Ruby Valley. | Kartesz (1988) states that Swertia albomarginata is found in Long Valley. | Locations: Butte Mountains. Jakey Valley.
| Jakey ValleyThe Butte Mountains form the north end of Jakey Valley.
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 11-Jun-08
| | Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 West slope, Egan Range |
| Other Articles: Route 17: at US Hwy 50 Junction: Route 17, "Thirty Mile
Road', gives access to the Butte Mountains, Butte Valley, and Long Valley via Long Valley Canyon.
| | | Robinson SummitElevation: 7,607 feet. | Other Articles: Field Notes: 11-Jun-08 Swertia
albomarginata growing among Junipers on the south side of the highway.
| | Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 Swertia albomarginata: near Keystone Nevada State Route 44: at US Hwy 50 Locations: Keystone. Robinson Mining District. | Keystone JunctionJunction: Nevada State Route 44, west into the Robinson Mining District.The first mine discovered in the Robinson Mining District, was the Elijah, near Lane City. The famed open-pit copper mines of Eastern Nevada including the Liberty Pit, largest in the state, are located in this mining district. Through the first half of the 20th century, this area produced nearly a billion dollars in copper, gold and silver. The huge mounds visible from here are waste rock which was removed to uncover the ore. Lane City, originally called Mineral City, was settled in 1869 and had a population of 400. At Mineral City was the Ragsdale Station--a hotel and a stage station. There is a collection of Swertia albomarginata from Keystone.
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 2-Jun-05 Locations: Gleason Creek. Robinson Canyon.
West of Ely, Nevada, US Highway 50 climbs up through Robinson Canyon to the mining area at Ruth.
|
| Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: in vicinity of Ely U. S. Highway 6: in Ely U. S. Highway 93: at US Hwy 50 Locations: Ely. | ElyJunction:
Larger town, stock up here. Ely receives 73% of the sunshine possible at its latitude. There is a collection of Swertia albomarginata from the vicinity of Ely. | Other Articles: Cave Valley Road: at US Hwy 50 Junction: Cave Valley Road,
south between the Schell Creek Range and the Egan Range into Cave Valley.
| | Other Articles: Nevada State Route 486: at US Hwy 50 Junction: Nevada State Route
486, east to Cave Valley Lake and then north. |
| | Schell Creek Range | Other Articles: Swertia albomarginata: on Connors Pass Locations: Connors Pass. | Connors PassElevation: 7,723 feet.There is a collection of Swertia albomarginata from Connors Pass.
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 20080610050 Locations: Connors Pass.
|
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 20050601120 Locations: Snake Range. |
| Other Articles: U. S. Highway 93: at US Hwy 50 Junction: U. S. Highway 93,
South, through Pioche, Caliente, and Alamo to Las Vegas. |
| Other Articles: Osceola Road: at US Hwy 50 W Junction: Osceola Road,
through former mining town of Osceola, good dirt road, but steep hills to climb in the easterly direction.
| | | Sacramento PassElevation: 7,154 feet. | Other Articles: Osceola Road: at US Hwy 50 E Junction: Osceola Road,
through former mining town of Osceola, good dirt road, but steep downgrade in the westerly direction.
| |
Other Articles: U. S. Highway 6: between Delta and Ely
|
| Other Articles: Field Notes: 10-Jun-08 View of
Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park to the south. |
| Other Articles: NV Highway 487: at US Hwy 50 Junction: Nevada Highway
487, south to Baker and Great Basin National Park. |
| Literature Cited: Great Basin
National Park is 11 miles off of U. S. Hwy 50 on Nevada Highways 487 and 488. | To the north is the northern Snake Range. See: Miller, Gans, and Lee's (1987) discussion of the Snake Range decollement. |
Nevada above … | Utah below …
| Other Articles: Ferguson Desert Road: at US Hwy 6/50 Junction: Ferguson Desert
Road, south through the Ferguson Desert to Utah Highway 21. |
| | Sevier DesertHere we noticed the large ant hills … | Literature Cited: Locations: Sevier Lake. | Sevier LakeOnce a part of Lake Bonneville, Sevier Lake occupies the largest southern basin of that huge Pleistocene Lake. The Sevier River dominates the hydrological budget of Sevier Lake. | | Hinckley
| | Delta
| West
of Holden along U. S. Hwy 50 are numerous stabilized sand dunes,
known as the "Little Sahara Dunes,
rise to impressive stature.
| | | Holden
| Other Articles: Interstate 15: 24000 Junction: U. S. Interstate 15,
South., south to Cedar City and Saint George. |
| Other Articles: Interstate 15: 22000 Junction: U. S. Interstate 15,
North, north to Provo and Salt Lake City. |
| | Scipio
|
Junction: UT Hwy 28 |
| Other Articles: U. S. Hwy 89: somewhere in Flagstaff Junction: US Highway 89,
South, in the western part of Salina. |
| | Salina
| Other Articles: Interstate 70: 119400 Junction: U. S. Interstate 70
| | Literature Cited: | Salida, CO
| | Literature CitedA list of all literature cited by this web site can be found in the Bibliography.
| | Anonymous. n.d.. Self-Guiding Tour of Eureka, Nevada. Obtained at the Eureka Museum. Location records referred to by this literature:
| | Caskey, S. John, John W. Bell, and D. Burton Slemmons. 2000. Historical surface faulting and paleoseismology of the central Nevada seismic belt. pp. 23-44 in Lageson, David R., Stephen G. Peters, and Mary M. Lahren. Great Basin and Sierra Nevada. GSA Field Guide Series. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, 2000. ... Location records referred to by this literature:
|
| Criswell, D. R., J. F. Lindsay, and D. L. Reasoner. 1975. Seismic and acoustic emissions of a booming dune. Journal of Geophysical Research. 80(35):4963-4974. Washington DC: American Geophysical Union, December 10, 1975. {TAS} Location records referred to by this literature:
|
| Grayson, D. K., and S. D. Livingston. 1993. Missing mammals on great basin mountains: Holocene extinctions and inadequate knowledge. Conservation Biology. 7(3):527-532. Seattle, WA 98195, USA: Burke Museum, Univ. Washington.
|
| Hart, William S., Jay Quade, David B. Madsen, Darrell S. Kaufman, and Charles G. Oviatt. 2004. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of lacustrine carbonates and lake-level history of the Bonneville paleolake system. GSA Bulletin. 116(9/10):1107-1119. Location records referred to by this literature:
| | Kartesz, John Thomas. 1988. A flora of Nevada. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nevada, Reno, 1988.. Location records referred to by this literature:
| | Leonard, Eric M., et al. 2002. High Plains to Rio Grande Rift: Late Cenozoic Evolution of Central Colorado. Field Trip Guide for 2002 Denver Annual Meeting (October 27-30, 2002). |
| Miller, Elizabeth L., Phillip B. Gans, and Jeffrey Lee. 1987. The Snake Range decollement, eastern Nevada. pp. 77-82 in Hill, Mason L., editor. Centennial field guide.
|
| Pavlik, Bruce Michael. 1985. Sand dune flora of the Great Basin and Mojave deserts of California, Nevada, and Oregon. Madroño. 32(4):197-213. {TAS} Location records referred to by this literature:
|
| Post, Douglas M. 1956. Studies in the Gentianaceae: Frasera and Swertia of North America. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. 1956.. Location records referred to by this literature:
|
| Schweickert, Richard A, Mary M. Lahren, Robert Karlin, Jim Howle, and Ken Smith. 2000. Lake Tahoe active faults, landslides, and tsunamis. pp. 1-21 in Lageson, David R., Stephen G. Peters, and Mary M. Lahren. Great Basin and Sierra Nevada. GSA Field Guide Series. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, 2000. ... Location records referred to by this literature:
| | Slemmons, David B., and John W. Bell. 1987. 1954 Fairview Peak earthquake area, Nevada. pp. 73-76 in Hill, Mason L., editor. Centennial field guide. |
| Thomas, D. H. 1988. The archaeology of Monitor Valley [Nevada, USA]: 3. Survey and additional excavations. Anthropological Papers Of The American Museum Of Natural History. 66(2):131-633. New York, N.Y.: Department Anthropol., American Museum Natural History.
|
| Trexler, Dennis T., and Wilton N. Melhorn. 1986. Singing and booming land dunes of California and Nevada. California Geology. 39(7):147-152. San Francisco, CA: California Division of Mines and Geology, July 1986. {TAS} Location records referred to by this literature:
| | Trimble, Stephen. 1989. The Sagebrush Ocean. Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press. {TAS} 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: 6/28/2009 8:23:48 AM |
