Tuffs previously assigned to the Spearhead Member of the Thirsty Canyon Tuff in the Black Mountain area are reassigned to the newly named Pahute Mesa Member. Type locality is hill 5431, lat 37 deg 07' 45" N, long 116 deg 32' 35" W, south of Rocket Wash, Nye Co, NV in the Great Basin province. Overlies Rocket Wash Member and underlies Trail Ridge Member, both of Thirsty Canyon. Is an ash-flow sheet 70 m thick at type where it consists of a lower depositional unit of nonwelded to slightly welded high-silica rhyolite tuff with pumice fragments as much as 10 cm in diameter, and middle and upper units of partly to densely welded tuff with pumice fragments and blocks of non-vesiculated to slightly vesiculated low-silica rhyolite as much as 50 cm in diameter. Stratigraphic table. Derived from the Black Mountain volcanic center. Original volume estimated as 50-75 km. Erupted during a small portion of the same magnetic polarity as the Trail Ridge. Of late Miocene age.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Denver GNULEX).
New K-Ar age determinations on sanidine from Pahute Mesa Member give 7.8 +/-0.2 Ma.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Pahute Mesa member geographically extended into Bullfrog Hills 15' quad, Bullfrog Hills area, Nye Co, NV. Recognition of unit based on 1) modal analysis and 2) age of underlying basalt dated at 8.1 Ma.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Menlo GNULEX).
Within southwest Nevada volcanic field, Nye Co, NV, Great Basin province, units previously of formation rank are raised to group rank to allow for combining petrographically, geochemically, and temporally related lava flows and nonwelded tuffs with the principal correlative welded ash-flow tuff sheets (formerly members of the previous formation-rank tuffs). The ash-flow sheets are raised to formation rank and designated as "Tuff." Pahute Mesa is one of four formally named formations of Thirsty Canyon Group (rank raised). Younger than Rocket Wash Tuff (rank raised) of Thirsty Canyon; older than Trail Ridge Tuff (rank raised) of Thirsty Canyon. [Thirsty Canyon also consists of informal units not discussed in this report.] Nomenclature shown on table 1. Miocene age.
Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Denver GNULEX).
For more information, please contact Nancy Stamm, Geologic Names Committee Secretary.
Asterisk (*) indicates published by U.S. Geological Survey authors.
"No current usage" (†) implies that a name has been abandoned or has fallen into disuse. Former usage and, if known, replacement name given in parentheses ( ).
Slash (/) indicates name conflicts with nomenclatural guidelines (CSN, 1933; ACSN, 1961, 1970; NACSN, 1983, 2005, 2021). May be explained within brackets ([ ]).