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Keith A. Howard

Publications and source records attributed to Keith A. Howard.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
USGS2008

Cenozoic evolution of the abrupt Colorado Plateau–Basin and Range boundary, northwest Arizona: A tale of three basins, immense lacustrine-evaporite deposits, and the nascent Colorado River

In northwest Arizona, the relatively unextended Colorado Plateau gives way abruptly to the highly extended Colorado River extensional corridor within the Basin and Range province along a system of major west-dipping normal faults, including the Grand Wash fault zone and South Virgin–White Hills detachment fault. Large growth-fault basins developed in the hanging walls of these faults. Lowering of base level in the corridor facilitated development of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. This trip explores stratigraphic constraints on the timing of deformation and paleogeographic evolution of the region. Highlights include growth-fault relations that constrain the timing of structural demarcation between the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range, major fault zones, synextensional megabreccia deposits, nonmarine carbonate and halite deposits that immediately predate arrival of the Colorado River, and a basalt flow interbedded with Colorado River sediments. Structural and stratigraphic relations indicate that the current physiography of the Colorado Plateau–Basin and Range boundary in northwest Arizona began developing ca. 16 Ma, was essentially established by 13 Ma, and has changed little since ca. 8 Ma. The antiquity and abruptness of this boundary, as well as the stratigraphic record, suggest significant headward erosion into the high-standing plateau in middle Miocene time. Thick late Miocene evaporite and lacustrine deposits indicate that a long period of internal drainage followed the onset of extension. The widespread distribution of such deposits may signify, however, a large influx of surface waters and/or groundwater from the Colorado Plateau possibly from a precursor to the Colorado River. Stratigraphic relations bracket arrival of a through-flowing Colorado River between 5.6 and 4.4 Ma.

Arizona, California, Nevada↗
USGS2007

Stratigraphy of Colorado River deposits in lower Mohave Valley, Arizona and California

Deposits in lower Mohave Valley and upper Topock Gorge near Topock, Arizona and Park Moabi, California record a succession of depositional and erosional events since late Miocene time that relate to the development of the Colorado River. Upper Miocene alluvial fans were deposited toward a depocenter east of the present valley bottom, indicating there was no valley outlet then through the area of Topock Gorge. The lower Pliocene Bouse Formation subsequently accumulated to thicknesses of at least 330 m in ancestral Mohave Valley before most of it was incised by a Colorado River that carried clasts as large as 0.9 m and drained southward through ancestral Topock Gorge. Pliocene fluvial sandstone and conglomerate exposed in this area record 160 m of subsequent aggradation. One or more sedimentary sequences of varied fluvial, paludal, and alluvial fan environments accumulated on the margin of the floodplain in Pleistocene time, including during deposition of the upper Pleistocene Chemehuevi Formation of Longwell (1936). River boulders as large as 1.2 m derived from Pliocene gravel were deposited in terraces along the river during later incision. Vertebrate fossil finds and historical descriptions of the 19th century enrich the history of the area

Arizona, California↗
USGS2007

Overview: The Chemehuevi Formation along the lower Colorado River

A distinctive set of fine-grained deposits occurs throughout the lower Colorado River Valley, extending from just below the mouth of Grand Canyon to well into the river delta below Yuma, AZ (Figure 1), an along-channel distance of over 700 km. Upstream of Parker, Arizona, the deposits consist of scattered erosional remnants up to 150 m above the modern floodplain. Below Parker, they occur in isolated outcrops but also underlie large continuous terraces such as Parker Mesa, Palo Verde Mesa, and Yuma Mesa. These deposits form the Chemehuevi Formation of Longwell (1936).

Arizona, California↗
USGS2005

Birth of the lower Colorado River–Stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence for its inception near the conjunction of Nevada, Arizona, and California

A detailed record of the late Cenozoic history of the lower Colorado River can be inferred from alluvial and (likely) lacustrine stratigraphy exposed in dissected alluvial basins below the mouth of the Grand Canyon. Numerous sites in Mohave, Cottonwood, and Detrital valleys contain stratigraphic records that directly bear on the mode, timing, and consequences of the river’s inception and integration in the latest Miocene–early Pliocene and its subsequent evolution through the Pleistocene. This field trip guide describes and illustrates many of these key stratigraphic relationships and, in particular, highlights evidence that supports the hypothesis of cascading lake-overflow as the principal formative mechanism of the river’s course downstream from the Grand Canyon.

Arizona, California, Nevada↗
USGS2005

The upper crust laid on its side: tectonic implications of steeply tilted crustal slabs for extension in the basin and range

Tilted slabs expose as much as the top 8–15 km of the upper crust in many parts of the Basin and Range province. Exposures of now-recumbent crustal sections in these slabs allow analysis of pre-tilt depth variations in dike swarms, plutons, and thermal history. Before tilting the slabs were panels between moderately dipping, active Tertiary normal faults. The slabs and their bounding normal faults were tilted to piggyback positions on deeper footwalls that warped up isostatically beneath them during tectonic unloading. Stratal dips within the slabs are commonly tilted to vertical or even slightly overturned, especially in the southern Basin and Range where the thin stratified cover overlies similarly tilted basement granite and gneiss. Some homoclinal recumbent slabs of basement rock display faults that splay upward into forced folds in overlying cover sequences, which thereby exhibit shallower dips. The 15-km maximum exposed paleodepth for the slabs represents the base of the brittle upper crust, as it coincides with the depth of the modern base of the seismogenic zone and the maximum focal depths of large normal-fault earthquakes in the Basin and Range. Many upended slabs accompany metamorphic core complexes, but not all core complexes have corresponding thick recumbent hanging-wall slabs. The Ruby Mountains core complex, for example, preserves only scraps of upper-plate rocks as domed-up extensional klippen, and most of the thick crustal section that originally overlay the uplifted metamorphic core now must reside below little-tilted hanging-wall blocks in the Elko-Carlin area to the west. The Whipple and Catalina Mountains core complexes in contrast are footwall to large recumbent hanging-wall slabs of basement rock exposing 8-15 km paleodepths that originally roofed the metamorphic cores; the exposed paleodepths require that a footwall rolled up beneath the slabs.

Book↗
USGS2003

Hydrogeologic factors that influence ground water movement in the desert southwest United States

A project to study ground-water and surface-water interactions in the desert southwestern United States was initiated in 2001 by the Tucson, Arizona office of the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). One of the goals of the Southwest Ground-water Resources Project was to develop a regional synthesis that includes the use of available digital geologic data, which is growing rapidly due to the increasing use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Included in this report are the digital maps and databases of geologic information that should have a direct impact on the studies of ground-water flow and surface-water interaction. Ground-water flow is governed by many geologic factors or elements including rock and soil permeability, stratigraphy and structural features. These elements directly influence ground-water flow, which is key to understanding the possible inter-connectivity of aquifer systems in desert basins of the southwestern United States. We derive these elements from the evaluation of regional geology and localized studies of hydrogeologic basins. These elements can then be applied to other unstudied areas throughout the desert southwest. This report presents a regional perspective of the geologic elements controlling ground-water systems in the desert southwest that may eventually lead to greater focus on smaller sub-regions and ultimately, to individual ground-water basins.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New ↗
USGS2003

Geologic map of the Hiller Mountain Quadrangle, Clark County, Nevada, and Mohave County, Arizona

Map Scale: 1 :24,000 Map Type: colored geologic map The Hiller Mountains Quadrangle straddles Virgin Canyon in the eastern part of Lake Mead. Proterozoic gneisses and granitoid rocks underlie much of the quadrangle . They are overlain by upper Miocene basin-filling deposits of arkosic conglomerate, basalt, and the overlying Hualapai Limestone. Inception of the Colorado River followed deposition of the Hualapai Limestone and caused incision of the older rocks. Fluvial gravel deposits indicate various courses of the early river across passes through highlands of the Gold Butte- Hiller Mountains-White Hills structural block . Faults and tilted rocks in the quadrangle record tectonic extension that climaxed in middle Miocene time.

Report↗
USGS2002

Geologic Map of the Sheep Hole Mountains 30' x 60' Quadrangle, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California

This data set describes and maps the geology of the Sheep Hole Mountains 30' x 60' quadrangle in southern California. The quadrangle covers an area of the Mojave Desert characterized by desert ranges separated by broad basins. Ranges include parts of the Old Woman, Ship, Iron, Coxcomb, Pinto, Bullion, and Calumet mountains as well as Lead Mountain and the Kilbeck Hills. Basins include part of Ward Valley, part of Cadiz Valley including Cadiz Lake playa, and broad valleys occupied by the Bristol Lake and Dale Lake playas. Bedrock geologic units in the ranges range in age from Proterozoic to Quaternary. The valleys expose Neogene and Quaternary deposits. Proterozoic granitoids in the quadrangle include the Early Proterozoic Fenner Gneiss, Kilbeck Gneiss, Dog Wash Gneiss, granite of Joshua Tree, the (highly peraluminous granite) gneiss of Dry Lakes valley, and a Middle Proterozoic granite. Proterozoic supracrustal rocks include the Pinto Gneiss of Miller (1938) and the quartzite of Pinto Mountain. Early Proterozoic orogeny left an imprint of metamorphic mineral assemblages and fabrics in the older rocks. A Cambrian to Triassic sequence deposited on the continental shelf lies above a profound nonconformity developed on the Proterozoic rocks. Small metamorphosed remnants of this sequence in the quadrangle include rocks correlated to the Tapeats, Bright Angel, Bonanza King, Redwall, Bird Spring, Hermit, Coconino, Kaibab, and Moenkopi formations. The Dale Lake Volcanics (Jurassic), and the McCoy Mountains Formation of Miller (1944)(Cretaceous and Jurassic?) are younger Mesozoic synorogenic supracrustal rocks in the quadrangle. Mesozoic intrusions form much of the bedrock in the quadrangle, and represent a succession of magmatic arcs. The oldest rock is the Early Triassic quartz monzonite of Twentynine Palms. Extensive Jurassic magmatism is represented by large expanses of granitoids that range in composition from gabbro to syenogranite. They include the Virginia May Quartz Monzonite and other members of the Bullion Intrusive Suite, the Chubbock Porphyry, and rocks that form the Goat Basin pluton, Music Valley pluton, and Ship Mountains pluton. The Jurassic plutons range in emplacement depths from mid-crustal to hypabysasal. Mafic and felsic dikes that probably are part of the Late Jurassic Independence dike swarm intrude the Jurassic batholithic rocks. A Mesozoic ductile fault (tectonic slide), the Scanlon thrust, places an inverted sequence of lower Paleozoic rocks and their Proterozoic basement over a lower plate of younger Paleozoic and Triassic rocks. The lower- plate rocks are internally sliced and folded. They in turn are superposed along an attenuation tectonic slide, the Kilbeck fault, over highly strained tectonic schist. The major tectonic slides and associated fabrics are cut by Late Cretaceous batholithic rocks. Widespread Late Cretaceous granitoids assigned to the Cadiz Valley batholith and the Old-Woman Piute Range batholith together form a contiguous super-unit of granite and granodiorite compositions. The Old- Woman Piute Range batholith includes the granite of Sweetwater Wash in the Painted Rock pluton and the Old Woman Mountains Granodiorite forming the Old Woman pluton. The large Cadiz Valley batholith is divided into the Iron Mountains Intrusive Suite and the Coxcomb Intrusive Suite. The Iron Mountains Intrusive Suite includes the Granite Pass Granite (which forms the Granite Pass pluton), the Danby Lake Granite Gneiss, and the Iron Granodiorite Gneiss. The Coxcomb Intrusive Suite consists of many units including the Clarks Pass Granodiorite, the Sheep Hole Mountains Granodiorite (forms the Sheep Hole Mountains pluton), and the Sheep Hole Pass Granite (forms the Sheep Hole Pass pluton). The Cretaceous rocks were emplaced at a range of deep to shallow depths, and their intrusion resulted in an aureole 2-3 km wide in older rocks. Mylonitic fabrics developed through a thickness of >1.3 km, together

Miscellaneous Field Studies Map↗
USGS2002

Geologic map of the Battle Ground 7.5-minute quadrangle, Clark County, Washington

This digital map database, compiled from previously published and unpublished data, and new mapping by the authors, represents the general distribution of bedrock and surficial deposits of the Battle Ground 7.5 minute quadrangle. The database delineates map units that are identified by general age and lithology following the stratigraphic nomenclature of the U.S. Geological Survey. The scale of the source maps limits the spatial resolution (scale) of the database to 1:24,000 or smaller.

Miscellaneous Field Studies Map↗
USGS1997

Preliminary geologic map of the Little Piute Mountains, California: A digital database

The Little Piute Mountains Digital database contains digital geologic and geographic information for the study area. The geology was mapped at a scale of 1:8,000, and the topographic information was input from the Little Piute Mountains, CA 1:24,000 quadrangle. The accuracy of the spatial information is limited to the input scale. Postscript files, originally published in paper format as Open-file map 95-598, have been included for those who do not have access to a geographic information system. The files are equivalent to those which produced the hard-copy open file. They can be printed on any device equipped to print postscript files of the appropriate file size.

California↗
USGS1995

Sources of the Early Cretaceous plutons in the Turtle and West Riverside Mountains, California

Ages and initial isotopic ratios of Early Cretaceous (˜100 Ma) plutons of the Cordilleran Interior in the southern Turtle and West Riverside mountains distinguish them from Late Cretaceous plutons in surrounding ranges in the eastern Mojave Desert. Furthermore, the studied plutons have isotopic and geochemical characteristics more similar to plutons of Cretaceous age in the coastal batholiths (Peninsular Ranges and Sierra Nevada) than to most Mesozoic plutons in the Cordilleran Interior. The studied plutons are calcic, in contrast to the mostly cak-alkaline Mesozoic plutons of the eastern Mojave Desert. Distinctive isotopic signatures of the granitoids include lower initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of 0⋅705–0⋅710, δ 18 O of +6⋅3 to +7⋅7‰, 208 Pb/ 204 Pb of 38⋅3–39⋅5, and higher ε Nd of −3⋅86 to −9⋅60 than the Late Cretaceous plutons in the region. The distinctive characteristics of these Early Cretaceous plutons are probably both location and time specific and result from: (1) emplacement in a cold, untapped ‘Mojave-type’ Proterozoic upper crust, (2) a significant component of basaltic magmas partially melted from the asthenosphere or subcontinental lithosphere and (3) a magmatic component derived from Proterozoic, mafic, lower crust. They interacted less with their crustal hosts than did the later, more voluminous Late Cretaceous plutons.

California↗
USGS1995

The generation of oceanic rhyolites by crystal fractionation: the basalt-rhyolite association at Volcán Alcedo, Galápagos archipelago

Alcedo volcano is one of six shield volcanoes on Isabela Island in the western Galápagos Islands. Although Alcedo is dominantiy basaltic, it is unusual in that it also has erupted ∼1 km 3 of rhyolite. The rhyolitic phase marked a 10-fold decrease in the mass-eruption rate of the volcano, and the volcano has returned to erupting basalt. The basalts are tholeiitic and range from strongly to sparsely porphyritic. Olivine and plagiodase are the liquidus phases in the most primitive basalts. The MgO and Ni concentrations in the most primitive basalts indicate that they have undergone substantial differentiation since extraction from the mantle. The rhyolites contain the assemblage oligoclase-augite-titanomagnetite-fayalite-apatite and sparse xenoliths of quenched basalt and cumulate gabbros. Intermediate rocks are very rare, but some are apparently basaltrhyolite hybrids, and others resulted from differentiation of tholeiitic magma. Several modeling approaches and Sr-, Nd-, and O-isotopic data indicate that the rhyolites resulted from ∼ 90% fractionation (by weight) of plagiodase, augite, titanomagnetite, olivine, and apatite from the most primitive olivine tholeiite. The data are inconsistent with the rhyolites originating by crustal anatexis. The extreme Daly gap may be caused by the large increase in viscosity as the basaltic magma differentiates to intermediate and siliceous compositions; highly evolved magmas are eruptible only after they become saturated with volatiles by second boiling. The close association of the hybrid intermediate magmas and magmatic inclusions with the climactic plinian eruption indicates mixing between mafic and silicic magmas immediately before eruption. Rhyolite production was favored by the decrease in supply of basaltic magma as Alcedo was carried away from the focus of the Galápagos hotspot. A three-stage model for the magmatic evolution of a Galápagos volcano is proposed. In the first stage, the supply of basaltic magma is large. Basaltic magma continually intrudes the subcaldera magma chamber, buffering the magmas' compositional and thermal evolution. As the volcano is carried away from the basaltic source, the magma chamber is allowed to cool and differentiate, as exemplified by Alcedo's rhyolitic phase. Finally, the volcano receives even smaller influx of basalt, so a large magma chamber cannot be sustained, and the volcano shifts to isolated basaltic eruptions.

Galapagos Islands↗