Friday Field Foto #36: Thrust fault contact
November 30, 2007
This is near the Valley of Fire region in southernmost Nevada.
The gray rocks are Paleozoic carbonates, the vibrant orangish rocks are Jurassic eolian rocks. Older on top of younger — yay for thrust faults! If I remember, I think this is called the Keystone Thrust.
Note the person on the hillslope just below the gray cliff for scale.
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Yay, thrust faults!
I haven’t been there, but I’m going to Las Vegas for the Rocky Mtn/Cordilleran section GSA meeting in March. It’s very near Vegas, isn’t it?
Vally of Fire state park is very close to Vegas … this particular location is not in the park and we were taken there by someone actively working in the area. I’m not sure I could remember exactly how to get there…but I can do some checking.
Everyone knows it as the Keystone thrust, but Burchfiel argued that it’s actually the Wilson Cliffs thrust. Whatever. That’s a gorgeous photo.
Andrew…thanks for the link to the info!