Strata of Late Precambrian-Cambrian Age, Death Valley Region, California-Nevada

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The Noonday Dolomite, Johnnie Formation, Stirling Quartzite, Wood Canyon Formation, and Zabriskie Quartzite, which seem best assigned to the late Precambrian-Cambrian interval, are a conformable and predominantly detrital part of the stratigraphic record of the Death Valley region. They can be traced from type localities in the Spring Mountains and in the well-known section in the Nopah Range southwestward to the Salt Spring Hills and Silurian Hills in southern Death Valley and southeastward to the Kingston Range-Winters Pass area. Satisfactory correlation of these widespread formations is facilitated by (1) regional persistence of most of the members as originally recognized in the Nopah Range, (2) the distinctive lithologic character of the Noonday Dolomite, and (3) the presence of two marker units--an oolite and a volcanic ash(?)--high in the Johnnie Formation. Isopachous contouring of the stratigraphic interval from the top of the Zibriskie Quartzite to the base of the Noonday Dolomite appears to outline a late Precambrian-Cambrian marine trough. The major axis of this trough strikes north-northwest and is approximately coincident with the present Amargosa Valley and southern Death Valley. Along this axis, the combined thickness of these strata or their apparent equivalents decreases progressively from nearly 12,000 feet in the Funeral Mountains to only a few hundred feet in the Marble Mountains 160 miles toward the south. The isopachous lines drawn near the southeastward bend in the Garlock fault zone are nearly parallel with this major break, and the projected zero contour is about 10 miles southwest of it. This pattern strongly suggests that the structural element south and southwest of the Garlock fault, generally referred to as the Mojave block, existed as a topographic high in late Precambrian-Cambrian time.