Paleotectonic and Stratigraphic Implications of the Kingston Peak-Noonday Contact in the Panamint Range, Eastern California

Abstract

Geologic mapping in parts of the southern Panamint Range, eastern California, has documented critical stratigraphic relationships at the upper Proterozoic contact between the Kingston Peak Formation and Noonday Dolomite. These relations bear significantly upon the timing and style of development of the latest Proterozoic and Paleozoic continental margin of western North America. They include: (1) an unconformity below Wildrose diamictite, interpreted as glaciogenic, the uppermost Kingston Peak unit; (2) diamictite similar to Wildrose diamictite interbedded within carbonate strata of the overlying basal Noonday Dolomite; and (3) interfingering between rocks of the Kingston Peak and Noonday formations. The Kingston Peak-Noonday contact is thus complex and variable in character and does not represent a regional unconformity. Instead, it marks a transition from rift to post-rift sedimentation without any hiatus and shows there was no regional doming during rifting. The stratigraphic relations also demonstrate...