Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T08:59:38.180Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aeolian sediments in paleowetland deposits of the Las Vegas Formation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2021

Harland L. Goldstein Open the ORCID record for Harland L. Goldstein [Opens in a new window] ,
Kathleen B. Springer ,
Jeffrey S. Pigati ,
Marith C. Reheis  and
Gary L. Skipp
Harland L. Goldstein*
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, DenverCO80225
Kathleen B. Springer
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, DenverCO80225
Jeffrey S. Pigati
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, DenverCO80225
Marith C. Reheis
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, DenverCO80225
Gary L. Skipp
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, DenverCO80225
*
Corresponding author: Harland L. Goldstein, Email: hgoldstein@usgs.gov
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Las Vegas Formation (LVF) is a well-characterized sequence of groundwater discharge (GWD) deposits exposed in and around the Las Vegas Valley in southern Nevada. Nearly monolithologic bedrock surrounds the valley, which provides an excellent opportunity to test the hypothesis that GWD deposits include an aeolian component. Mineralogical data indicate that the LVF sediments are dominated by carbonate minerals, similar to the local bedrock, but silicate minerals are also present. The median particle size is ~35 μm, consistent with modern dust in the region, and magnetic properties contrast strongly with local bedrock, implying an extralocal origin. By combining geochemical data from the LVF sediments and modern dust, we found that an average of ~25% of the LVF deposits were introduced by aeolian processes. The remainder consists primarily of authigenic groundwater carbonate as well as minor amounts of alluvial material and soil carbonate. Our data also show that the aeolian sediments accumulated in spring ecosystems in the Las Vegas Valley in a manner that was independent of both time and the specific hydrologic environment. These results have broad implications for investigations of GWD deposits located elsewhere in the southwestern U.S. and worldwide.

Keywords

Groundwater dischargeAeolianDustLas Vegas FormationPaleohydrologyDesert wetlands
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 104 , November 2021 , pp. 1 - 13
Check for updates
Creative Commons
This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States.
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Birkeland, P.W., 1999. Soils and Geomorphology. Third Edition. Oxford University Press, New York. 448 pp.Google Scholar
Crafford, A.E.J., 2007. Geologic Map of Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 249,1 CD-ROM, 46 p., 1 plate. https://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/2007/249/index.html.Google Scholar
Gray, H.J., Mahan, S.A., Springer, K.B., Pigati, J.S., 2018. Examining the relationship between portable luminescence reader measurements and depositional ages of paleowetland sediments, Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Quaternary Geochronology 48, 80–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggerty, S.E., 1976. Opaque mineral oxides in terrestrial igneous rocks. In: Rumble, D. (Ed.), Oxide Minerals. Reviews in Minerology 3, Hg101–Hg300.Google Scholar
Haynes, C.V. Jr., 1967. Quaternary geology of the Tule Springs Area, Clark County, Nevada. In: Wormington, H.M., Ellis, D. (Eds.), Pleistocene Studies in Southern Nevada. Nevada State Museum Anthropological Papers 13, 1–104.Google Scholar
Longwell, C.R., Pampeyan, E.H., Bowyer, B., Roberts, R.J., 1965. Geology and mineral deposits of Clark County, Nevada. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 62, 218 p.Google Scholar
Lora, J.M., Mitchell, J.L., Tripati, A.E., 2016. Abrupt reorganization of North Pacific and western North American climate during the last deglaciation. Geophysical Research Letters 43, 11,796–11,804. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machette, M.N., 1985. Calcic soils of the southwestern United States. In: Weide, D. (Ed). Soils and Quaternary Geology of the Southwestern United States Geological Society of America Special Paper 203, 1–21.Google Scholar
Moore, D.M., Reynolds, R.C., 1989. X-ray Diffraction and the Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 332 p.Google Scholar
Murphy, N.P., Guzik, M.T., Cooper, S.J.B., Austin, A.D., 2015. Desert spring refugia: museums of diversity or evolutionary cradles? Zoological Scripta 44, 693–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orndorff, R.L., Van Hoesen, J.G., Saines, M., 2003. Implication of new evidence for late Quaternary glaciation in the Spring Mountains, Southern Nevada. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 36, 37–45.Google Scholar
Osborn, J., Lachniet, M., Saines, M., 2008. Interpretation of Pleistocene glaciation in the Spring Mountains of Nevada: Pros and cons. In: Duebendorfer, E.M., Smith, E.I. (Eds.), Field Guide to Plutons, Volcanoes, Faults, Reefs, Dinosaurs, and Possible Glaciation in Selected Areas of Arizona, California, and Nevada. Geological Society of America Field Guide 11, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado. pp. 153–172.Google Scholar
Page, W.R., Lundstrom, S.C., Harris, A.G., Langenheim, V.E., Workman, J.B., Mahan, S.A., Paces, J.B., et al. , 2005. Geologic and geophysical maps of the Las Vegas 30’ x 60’ quadrangle, Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada, and Inyo County, California. 1:100,000 scale. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2814, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigati, J.S., Bright, J.E., Shanahan, T.M., Mahan, S.A., 2009. Late Pleistocene paleohydrology near the boundary of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts, southeastern Arizona, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 286–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigati, J.S., Miller, D.M., Bright, J., Mahan, S.A., Nekola, J.C., Paces, J.B., 2011. Chronology, sedimentology, and microfauna of ground-water discharge deposits in the central Mojave Desert, Valley Wells, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 123, 2224–2239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigati, J.S., Rech, J.A., Quade, J., Bright, J., 2014. Desert wetlands in the geologic record. Earth-Science Reviews 132, 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigati, J.S., Springer, K.B., Honke, J.S., 2019. Desert wetlands record hydrologic variability within the Younger Dryas chronozone, Mojave Desert, USA. Quaternary Research 91, 51–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J., 1986. Late Quaternary environmental changes in the upper Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Quaternary Research 26, 340–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quade, J., Pratt, W.L., 1989. Late Wisconsin groundwater discharge environments of the Southwestern Indian Springs Valley, southern Nevada. Quaternary Research 31, 351–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reheis, M.C., 2003. Dust deposition in Nevada, California, and Utah, 1984–2002. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03–138, 1–11. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/ofr-2003-2138.Google Scholar
Reheis, M.C., Budahn, J.R., Lamothe, P.J., 2002. Geochemical evidence for diversity of dust sources in the southwestern United States. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 66, 1569–1587. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(01)00864-X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reheis, M.C., Sowers, J.M., Taylor, E.M., McFadden, L.D., Harden, J.W., 1992. Morphology and genesis of carbonate soils on the Kyle Canyon fan, Nevada, U.S. Geoderma 52, 303–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, E., Springer, K.B., 2016. First records of Canis dirus and Smilodon fatalis from the late Pleistocene Tule Springs local fauna, upper Las Vegas Wash, Nevada. PeerJ 4, e2151. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, E., Springer, K.B., Sagebiel, J.C., 2017. The Tule Springs local fauna: Rancholabrean vertebrates from the Las Vegas Formation, Nevada. Quaternary International 443A, 105–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepard, F.P., 1954. Nomenclature based on sand-silt-clay ratio. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 24, 151–158.Google Scholar
Springer, A.E., Stevens, L.E., 2009. Spheres of discharge of springs. Hydrogeology Journal 17, 83–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springer, K.B., Manker, C.R., Pigati, J.S., 2015. Dynamic response of desert wetlands to abrupt climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112, 14522–14526.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Springer, K.B., Pigati, J.S., 2020. Climatically driven displacement on the Eglington fault, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Geology 48, 574–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Springer, K.B., Pigati, J.S., Manker, C.R., Mahan, S.A., 2018. The Las Vegas Formation. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1839, 62 p. https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsoar, H., Pye, K., 1987. Dust transport and the question of desert loess formation. Sedimentology 34, 139–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Goldstein et al. supplementary material

Goldstein et al. supplementary material

Download Goldstein et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 13.8 MB