Links: Field tripping in Nevada, mostly along I-80 and Highway 50

A River Runs through It [link to download], ESW 2016, E-59 NBMG: Truckee River Reno to Pyramid Lake

1915 Pleasant Valley earthquake centennial field trip guidebook: A public field trip to visit the largest earthquake in Nevada's history [link to download] E-58 NBMG: 50 miles south of Winnemucca

Fire and Ice—Geology of the Mount Rose quadrangle, Lake Tahoe, and the Carson Range [link to download pdf], ESW 2015, E-57 NBMG: Galena Creek Visitor Center to Incline Village

Carson Rocks! A Sesquicentennial Celebration of some of our Capital City's Geological High Points [link to download pdf], ESW 2014, E-56 NBMG: around Carson City

Geo- and Eco-Mapping around DRI (The Great Altered Rock Walking Tour) [link download pdf], 2014, E-55, NBMG: around DRI.

Mapping the Geology around the Desert Research Institute and Truckee Meadows Community College [pdf], ESW 2013, E-53, NBMG: around DRI.

"Tuff All Over": Exploring Faulted Volcanic Terrain in the Painted Hills, Virginia Mountains, West of Pyramid Lake [pdf], ESW 2012, E-52, NBMG: near Pyramid Lake.

"Life's a Beach": In Search of Ancient Shorelines and Volcanoes in the Grimes Point and Lahontan Mountains Area [pdf], ESW 2011, E-51, NBMG: near Fallon.

Geo-tripping in Nevada [pdf], NBMG map guide to many or most of the NBMG field trip guides in Nevada through E-50.

In search of Tufa, Tuff, and Tough Rocks [link to download pdf], ESW 2010, E-50, NBMG: stops are east of Pyramid Lake; trip guide includes Reno to Pyramid Lake, Pyramid Lake to Wadsworth, Pyramid Lake to Brady's Hot Springs, Brady's Hot Springs to Reno.

Digging Deeper into the Comstock [link to download pdf], ESW 2009, E-48, NBMG: Reno to Gold Hill.

No Child Left Inside: A field trip for Families and Rockhounds [link to download pdf], ESW 2008, E-47, NBMG: stops are near Fallon, east of Fallon, north of Fallon, and in the Truckee River Canyon along I-80; road guide runs from Reno to east of Fallon, Fallon to Trinity (junction of I-80 and 95), and Trinity to Reno.

Taking the Pulse of the Earth [link to download pdf], ESW 2007, E-46, NBMG: south of Reno (Slide Mountain, Steamboat, and Virginia Foothills; the latter two not available to public).

Rockin' Along the River [link to download pdf], ESW 2006, E-45 NMBG: Truckee River Verdi to Wadsworth

The great Highway 50 rock tour [link to download], ESW 2005, E-44 NBMG: Fallon to Middlegate

The Frenchman lake frolic [link to download], ESW 2004, E-43 NBMG: Frenchman Lake area, California, west of NV-CA border.

Get out, stay out, and stay alive [link to download], ESW 2003, E-42 NBMG: north of Reno towards Pyramid Lake.

In search of "the right tuff" but you can just "take it for granite" [link to download], ESW 2002, E-41 NBMG: north of Reno and to the west toward northern end of Red Rock Road.

Fossils and Ancient Lakes [link to download pdf], ESW 2001 field trip #2, E-40, NBMG: fossils near Nightingale.

Peavine Peak: Geology, plants, and mining history [link to download], ESW 2001 field trip #1, E-39, NBMG: Peavine.

Exploring east of the summit: A field trip guide to Steamboat Springs, Lake Tahoe, and the Comstock area [link to download pdf], ESW 2000, E-38 NBMG: Steamboat Springs, Lake Tahoe, Comstock.

Geology along America's loneliest highway [link to download pdf], ESW 2000 E-37 NBMG: Carson to Sand Mountain.

What's shakin' in the neighborhood? -- Road log [link to download pdf], ESW 1999 field trip #2, E-34 NBMG:  Reno, Mt. Rose fan/pediment, to Genoa fault scarp.

Turbulent times in the Truckee Meadows [link to download pdf], ESW 1999 field trip #1, E-33 NBMG: UNR to Verdi to Crystal Peak Mine.

Ancient lakes and volcanoes near Fallon: Field trip for families and rockhounds [link to download pdf], ESW 1998, E-28 NBMG: Fallon, Grimes Point, Soda Lake.

Link to NBMG's entire Educational series; most (all?) are available to download.

INQUA 2003 - Elko to Reno, Wadsworth Amp, Lone Mtn hwy 50, Reheis - no viewing online at Google books

Geothermal energy helps power Nevada | Elko Daily Free Press - Brady's Hot Spring, Beowawe, and "Hot Hole" in Elko

The Stories Behind I-80s Exit Sign Names - Part 1 | Backyard Traveler by Rich Moreno - various info about signs and areas, e.g., Nightingale and Brady's Hot Springs

Touring California and Nevada hot springs | Matt C. Bischoff - Brady's Hot Springs reaches 209*F (and other tidbits)

Links: Here Are a Few, But Great, Great Basin and Great Basin Divide Links

Great Basin—Mojave Desert Region - the hydrographic, physiographic, and floristic Great Basin (GB) regions and climate; v. good map of vegetation zones, lots on flora and fauna; pretty good map of the GB itself although it goes all the way to Colorado River (!!); Fremont coined "Great Basin".

Quaternary stratigraphic, hydrologic, and climatic history of the Great Basin, with emphasis on Lakes Lahontan, Bonneville, and Tecopa - Morrison, cited in the first ref, said the area of the GB "exceeds 500,000 square kilometers" ; this source is not available online, is part of DNAG - this volume.

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The Great Basin: A Natural Prehistory - Grayson, at Amazon. (and here's a Google Book preview.) A better map of the GB. Grayson discounts having the Salton Sea in the Great Basin on page 11. His map, page 12, also ends the Great Basin in Pahranagat Lake, as justified below (Witt etal, 2008):

Jonathan D.S. Witt, Doug L. Threloff, and Paul D.N. Hebert -
Genetic zoogeography of the Hyalella azteca species complex in the Great Basin: Rapid rates of molecular diversification in desert springs:
Geological Society of America Special Papers, 2008, 439, p. 103-114, doi:10.1130/2008.2439(05). Page 104 (clip from Google Books):

(Witt et al, 2008 is in GSA Special Papers 439:
Late Cenozoic Drainage History of the Southwestern Great Basin and Lower Colorado River Region: Geologic and Biotic Perspectives -
edited by Marith C. Reheis, Robert Hershler and David M. Miller).

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Fishes of the Great Basin - a Google Books preview - shows the White River above the lower end of Pahranagat Valley as in Great Basin.

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Google Earth image of the West with a lot of lines. The Great Basin divide according to me is in magenta, wrapping around the Great Basin. Note the two possibilities at Pahranagat Lake, and no Salton Sea.

There is a mention of the Great Basin divide (GBD) in "Ore Deposits of the Jarbidge Mining District" 1912, (Google Books preview).

The Jarbidge Mining District, 1923 - mentions the GBD.

Links: The Sump, Nevada

This is about as close as I've gotten to The Sump, a place in Nevada that I had never heard of until I was doing some research into stops for our Death Valley trip of last February. And mind you, the declivity I've pointed out in the photo above is just the southern entrance to this apparently intriguing place. Fossils have been found here!

While trying to figure out if The Sump would be a stop along the way or the way back (it wasn't), I collected a few links. Most of the links show only one picture from the place; a few show more. I'll leave it to you to do more investigation (and visitation, I hope!). The links are listed rather randomly. Links about the fossils, in particular, are at the bottom.

The "Sump"—Strange Name but Amazing Place - Backyard Traveler by Richard Moreno

The Sump, Esmeralda County, Nevada - Eastern Mojave Vegetation (schweich.com)

The Sump Canyon paradise - Terry's World (Terry Wright, geologist)

The Sump (Esmeralda County, Nevada) - Weekend Wanderluster

The Fossils:
Hardy, F.C., and Bonde, J., 2015, Stomping Around the Sump: Miocene Pygmy Gomphothere from Esmeralda County, Nevada [also here], in Pennell, W.M., and Garside, L.J., eds., New Concepts and Discoveries: GSN 2015 Symposium Proceedings: Geological Society of Nevada, p. 929-937.

Sand and Bone - a photo slide show (in color): "Go along with a band of UNLV researchers as they uncover the skull of an extinct elephant-like creature that once roamed Esmeralda County."

Photo Essay: In the Footsteps of the Elephant -  VegasSeven (really nice B&W photos)

Links: Auriferous Gravels in CA

Here are a few links about the Au-bearing gravels of the California foothills and Sierra Nevada. (It's time to get this out of my drafts folder.)

Early Tertiary Geology References - at Sierra Geology: where rocks meet the human environment (or vice versa) -- several good articles linked

Garside, Larry J., Henry, Christopher D., Faulds, James E., and Hinz, Nicholas H., 2005, The Upper Reaches of the Sierra Nevada Auriferous Gold Channels, California and Nevada, in Rhoden, H.N., Steininger, R.C., and Vikre, P. G., eds., Geological Society of Nevada Symposium 2005: Window to the World, Reno, Nevada, May 2005, p. 209-236.

Yeend, W.E., 1974, Gold-bearing gravel of the ancestral Yuba River, Sierra Nevada, California: U.S. Geological Survey Prof. Paper 772, 44 p., Plate 1 and Plate 2.

Links: Pumice and Pumicite

In keeping with my recent posts about Glass Mountain, Siskiyou County, CA, I've put together a few links relating mostly to pumice:

Chesterman, C.W., 1956, Pumice, pumicite, and volcanic cinders in California and Technology of pumice, pumicite, and volcanic cinders [pdf; text]: CDMG Bulletin 174, 119 p.

Presley, G.C., 2006, Pumice, pumicite, and volcanic cinder, in Kogel, J.E., Trivedi, N.C., Barker, J.M., and Krukowski, S.T., eds., Industrial rocks and minerals (7th ed.): Littleton, CO, Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., p. 743–754.

Pumice and Pumicite Statistics and Information - USGS links and reports.

What is the fate of the pumice rafts? (2012) - at Eruptions.

Pumice flows (down the page), a type of pyroclastic flow - at SDSU.

Pumice - at MEC.

Pumice - at Minerals Zone.

Pumice - at Sandatlas.

Pumice - at Volcano Discovery.

Views from Glass Mountain

After we finally arrived at our chosen overlook part way up Glass Mountain, we milled about a bit (it was a geology field trip, after all), and then we gathered 'round a map that one of our tour leaders, Julie Donnelly-Nolan, had placed on the ground.

Above, my rock hammer is in front of blocks of relatively light-colored, vesiculated, rhyolite obsidian (AKA pumice, but in this case it's pumiceous flow-rock, not tephra).

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Before I get to a few views of the area, I'll go into the geology just a little:

Julie Donnelly-Nolan points to her map of the Glass Mountain dacite-rhyolite flow, Siskiyou County, CA.

The map, not included as part of our field guide packet (Coyner, 2015), was created by Julie, a geologist for the USGS. She's been working in the area for many years. The map is similar to a map by Eichelberger (1981), which he published in an article about magma mixing at Glass Mountain, an article that is part of a larger field guide to several volcanic areas in Idaho, Oregon, and northern California (Johnston and Donnelly-Nolan, 1981). The road log for the Glass Mountain part of our GSN trip was taken in large part from the Medicine Lake Highland road log section of that larger field guide (Donnelly-Nolan et al., 1981). If you check out the guidebook, be sure to read Wes Hildreth's tribute to David A. Johnston, who died at Mt. St. Helens in 1980. The 1981 field guide was published after his death.

As you can see below in a rotated version of the map, the Glass Mountain dacite-rhyolite flow "consists of three dacitic eastern lobes which grade westward to rhyolite and are overlain by rhyolite lobes" (Donnelly-Nolan et al., 1981, and in Coyner, 2015). Well, maybe not all of that is obvious at first glance, but read on.

Map showing the silica content of different parts of the Glass Mountain dacite-rhyolite flow (Donnelly-Nolan, unpublished). North is up.

During the rest of this post, I'll be referring to the dacite flow lobe (purple, in the northeast), the rhyodacite flow lobe (red with a central ribbon of orange, in the southeast), and the south flow lobe (mixed orange, red, and purple, in the south to southeast). I'll also mention the rhyolite flow lobe (the central and northern orange area, including a well-definable flow and central dome area with margins that overlap the slightly older dacite and rhyodacite lobes), and the mixed area centered between the dacite and rhyodacite lobes.

On the map, the highest silica parts of the flow, the rhyolite, are in orange; the parts of the flow with lowest silica content, the dacite, are in purple; the areas with silica content in between rhyolite and dacite, essentially rhyodacite, are in red. NOTE: Though by many classification schemes the silica content of rhyolite is about 68 or 69% and higher (the USGS appears to be using two different cutoffs), and the silica content of dacite ranges from about 63-68% or 69%; TAS diagrams show dacite compositions as high as 72-75% (depending on what version of TAS one happens to choose; here's one; TAS explained here and here; and a lot more about the classification of igneous rocks—including all kinds of diagrams, references, and a flow chart—can be perused here). Rhyodacite is a term generally used for rock composisitons between rhyolite and dacite (USGS, OSU), rather than a specific field in most classification systems.

The colorful map (I love color!) shows that the lithologic composition of the overall flow, which is thought to have erupted during the course of several or many days or weeks rather than over several months or years, is quite variable. The complexities of magma mixing and eruption to produce this variability are described by Eichelberger (1975, 1981). Basically, it's complicated: first, basalt intrudes a rhyolite magma chamber; then mixing creates rhyodacite and dacite, which float to the top of the chamber in his eruption scenario; eruption, triggered by the mixing, produces dacite, then rhyodacite, then rhyolite.

Below, I decided to see what kind of map I would come up with going mostly by color and topographic expression of the flows (with a lot of help from Julie's map).

Google Earth image of the Glass Mountain dacite-rhyolite flow.

Here, I've delineated the dark areas with purple lines, the light, viscous, and some banded areas with orange lines, and the in between areas with red lines.

You can see that there are several areas where the lines I've drawn could be moved around, for example some of the banded areas: do they belong properly in our red or orange category?

I've added some colorful fill to facilitate comparison to the geologic map.

Here's the rotated map again (and it's skewed).

My "map" or cartoon as drawn on the Google Earth image is comparable to the rotated geological/compositional map (yay!); but really, this was just an inconsequential exercise, one that could have easily produced a considerably different map, possibly by using as many as 5 major fields (for example, if the banded-looking areas were picked out separately, and with the upper, well-defined rhyolite flow that heads off to the northeast drawn as a separate unit). Without chemistry or an already existing geologic map, this is the sort of exercise that could be done prior to heading into the field, giving the mapper an idea what to check out, although just taking an aerial image or air-photo into the field would serve the same purpose.

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Well, that was really a kind of long aside, almost like a post within a post!

Besides hanging around the map and hefting large rocks, the view from the east side of the rhyolite flow (see our location below the post) was good—not great simply because of the low-hanging clouds that hadn't lifted.

Photo looking south.

I thought I might have the actual top of Glass Mountain in this photo, way over to the right, but the dome-shaped peak was covered with clouds. Instead, we can see the steep face of the rhyolite flow where it abuts a highly mixed part of the flow: the central section between the rhyodacite and dacite flow lobes (see map above).

Photo looking nearly due east.

This view looks out across the dacite flow lobe (dark brown and mostly in shadow past the light-colored rhyolite blocks in the foreground). Timber Mountain, the circular, gently sloped mountain dead center in the distance, is shown to be underlain by the the "older basaltic andesite of Timber Mountain" on Sheet 2 of this map (Donnelly-Nolan, 2010). It has been dated at 1.820±0.042 Ma, i.e., late Pliocene.

Oh, and btw, the Glass Mountain flow erupted about 900 years ago: it has a calibrated radiocarbon age of 890 BP (Donnelly-Nolan et al., 2007).

With the blocky rocks of the dacite flow lobe in the foreground, we look northeasterly in this photo. That's probably Double Head Mountain just left of center; the north edge of Timber Mountain is on the far right.

And now, we've already started back down. I'll have a few more photos along in a while...

A Few References:
A Web Browser Flow Chart for the Classification of Igneous Rocks - a lot of info (largely from Le Bas and Streckeisen, 1999, and other related sources), and a flow chart

Tephra and Volcaniclastic Rocks - good overall classification scheme, though it doesn't reference any primary sources, and allows agglutinate to occur only in basaltic rocks

Coyner, Alan (ed.), 2015, Geological Society of Nevada 2015 fall field trip guidebook: Geology of the Far Northwestern Great Basin: Quartz Mountain gold deposit, Oregon, and Lava Beds National Monument and Glass Mountain Pumice Deposit, California [for sale here, but not yet listed]: Geological Society of Nevada, Special Publication No. 60, 71 p.

Donnelly-Nolan, J. M., 2010, Geologic map of Medicine Lake Volcano, Northern California: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2927, scale 1:50,000, Sheet 1 and Sheet 2, Pamphlet to accompany the map, 48p.

Donnelly-Nolan, J.M., Ciancanelli, E.V., Eichelberger, J.C., Fink, J.H., Heiken, Grant, 1981, Roadlog for field trip to Medicine Lake Highland. in Johnson, D., and Donnelly-Nolan, J., eds., Guides to some volcanic terranes in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and northern California: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 838, p. 141–149.

Donnelly-Nolan, J. M., Nathenson, M., Champion, D. E., Ramsey, D. W., Lowenstern, J. B. & Ewert, J. W., 2007, Volcano hazards assessment for Medicine Lake Volcano, Northern California: U.S.Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report, 2007-5174-A, 26 p

Eichelberger, J.C., 1975, Origin of andesite and dacite: Evidence of mixing at Glass Mountain in California and at other circum-Pacific volcanoes: Geological Society America Bulletin 86, v. 10, p 1381-1391.

Eichelberger, J.C., 1981, Mechanism of magma mixing at Glass Mountain, Medicine Lake Highland volcano, California, in Johnson, D., and Donnelly-Nolan, J., eds., Guides to some volcanic terranes in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and northern California: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 838, p. 183-189.
jpg of lava chemistry figure (Eichelberger, 1981)

Hildreth, Wes, 1981, David Alexander Johnston, 1949-1980, in Johnson, D., and Donnelly-Nolan, J., eds., Guides to some volcanic terranes in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and northern California: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 838, p. viii-x.

Johnston, D.A., and Donnelly-Nolan, J.M., 1981, Guides to Some Volcanic Terranes in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Northern California [pdf version; also here in html]: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 838, 189 p.

Links: Field Tests for Gold and Silver (or other Elements or Metals, and Sometimes Minerals)

After reviewing links on my 2009 blowpipe tests post (spurred on by this recent comment on another post), I decided to do a little more research concerning field tests for gold, silver, and other metals (primarily; some of these links are for minerals in general, though I haven't included links for the usual hardness, scratch, and other well-known tests and characteristics). The articles and books listed below may include information about blow-pipe tests (B) or info about other types of tests (O). Some include general gold, silver, and other metal or mineral prospecting information (P), many include information about other metals or elements besides gold and silver (ME), a few include info about minerals, not just elements (M), and a couple are more unknown in their coverage because they are not available in full online (U). I've listed them by year.

Merritt, W.H., 1911, Field Testing for Gold and Silver: A Practical Manual for Prospectors and Miners: Crosby Lockwood and Son, London. (B, O, P)

Osborn, H.S. and Von Bernewitz, M.W., 1920, Prospector's Field Book and Guide: Henry Cary Baird & Co., Inc., New York. (B, O, P, ME, M)

Davison, E. H., 1937. Field tests for minerals [snippet view only]. London: Chapman & Hall. (M, U)

Fansett, G.R., 1940, Field Tests for the Common Metals: Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 147. (B, O, P, ME)

Stevens, R. E., and Carton, M. K., 1948, Simple field test for distinguishing minerals by abrasion pH: American Mineralogist, v.33, p. 31-50. (O, M)

Roseveare, G.H., 1966, Field Tests for the Common Mineral Elements: Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull 175. [this appears to be a reprint or update of ABM Bulletin 147 linked above] (B, O, P, ME)

Franke, W.A., (no date, prob 1990s), Quick assays in mineral identification, A guide to experiments for mineral collectors and geoscientists in field work. Published online. (B, O, ME)

Pray, R.E., 2006, How to Prospect for Silver Field Tests You Can Use to Detect the Hidden Metal [abs only, or subscription required]: ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal (P, U)

Basic Field Tests for Gold and Various other Metals - at Nevada Outback Gems (O, P, ME)

And of course there now is portable or handheld xrf. This is my favorite model (although I've used only two models from one manufacturer).

Links: Nevada Highway 8A

8A sign taken by yours truly in 2015

I had a comment on an old post a while back about how there is no more Highway 8A in Nevada, and so how that makes me some kinda liar or irresponsible person or something for mentioning the old road designation in said post, so I sat down one day (probably that very day) and Googled up a bunch of links for old (and current) 8A. I've grouped the links by category, the first group being links to recent photos of 8A up in the north part of Washoe County where signs for 8A still exist (I took photos of 8A signs there in August, 2015).

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Photos:
"Jim Stolpa" (1993) - photo of "of NV Road 8A where Jim Stolpa..." by Acey Harper Pictures on Getty Images

"NV-8A East - Nevada State Line" - Flickr photo taken Oct 2006, by Zach

"NV-8A East - Travel At Your Own Risk" - Flickr photo taken Oct 2006, by Zach

Trip & Pics Part Two - Antelope, Wild Horses, Ruby Pipeline, Remote Nevada (2011) - mention  and pics of 8A (and the Stolpas) in a travel blog post

Steep and Rocky's Black Rock Desert Ride (2012) - mention and pic(s) of 8A on page 2 at Adventure Rider (motorcycle trips)

"Route 8A Near Vya, Nevada" - Flickr photo taken Nov 2013, by Ken Lund

"Route 8A Near Massacre Lake and Vya, Nevada" - Flickr photo taken Nov 2013, by Ken Lund

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Various Links for 8A in NW Nevada:
Gateway Communities - Cedarville, via 8A, is the "western gateway to the High Rock country"

Camping, BLM California - Applegate Field Office - directions using 8A

Nevada RV Parks & Campgrounds - The Happy Camper Club - directions to Old Yella Dog Ranch via 8A

U.S. 395 route in CA - Facebook post - mentions 8A at the CA-NV stateline

Sherriff's Office investigates fatal accident in northern Washoe County - This is Reno - occurred on S.R. 8A

Lost fire update at Inciweb - NV S.R. 34 closed at S.R. 8A

News about the Lost fire at YubaNet.com - updates on NV S.R. 34 and 8A

Nevada State Route 8A at Rediff - "Former State Route 8A...signs remain...still de facto connects SR 140 with California."

Nevada lawmakers avoid tax fairness issue - mention of routes 8A and 34

Google Groups discussion about Highway 140 - mention of 8A

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Various Links for 8A in Central Nevada:
District Attorney Presses for Charges in Slaying Case - archive from 1955; mention of 8A north of Carvers in Big Smoky Valley

Nevada State Journal article (1963) - "The 65 mile project will run east from Tonopah to State Route 8A junction."

Placer Gold Deposits of Nevada - USGS Bull 1356 (1973) - p. 36, 42, 62, 65: access to prospects/properties near Battle Mountain and Tonopah

A History of Smoky Valley, Nevada (1997) - see Chapter 20, about Carvers

Growing Up in Central Nevada 1941-1959 (2010) - mention of 8A in a memoir

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Various Real Estate Listings on 8A:
Several near Vya (listed as Gerlach)
Near or in Battle Mountain
NOTE: There are more of these; particular listings may not remain active!

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Stolpa Links mentioning 8A:
Family Rescued After Being Lost in Snow for a Week : Storm: Soldier walks for help after leaving his wife and baby in a cave. All three are in good condition. - LATimes, January 7, 1993

Family Survives Western Storms After Spending 4 Snowbound Days In Cave - Chicago Tribune, January 7, 1993

Travelers On 'Road To Nowhere' Wonder How Family Survived - Orlando Sentinel, January 10, 1993

Stranded family recounts ordeal - The Baltimore Sun, January 8, 1993

Staying Alive: Stranded Nine Days in a Snowy Nevada Wasteland, a Brave Young Family Survives on Faith, Love, Grit—and a Little Basic Training - People.com, February 8, 1993

The travails of a treacherous trip - Tahoe Daily Tribune, December 13, 2004

I should not be alive… (2006) - Blog post at Mrudulat's Blog

Inspiring True Stories Of Survival. - 2008 forum at Stormfront.org

The Stolpa family, marooned east of Vya, 1993 - 2011 forum at Wander The West

Anyone Remember this Story? - 2012 forum at Houzz

Tale of survival: The Stolpa story, Part I - Tahoe Weekly, December 25, 2013

Soldier walks for help after leaving his wife and baby in a cave - July 22, 2014 blog post on tttracy's blog

Santa Cruz Sentinel article (1993) - "It began to seem like the end of the world for the Stolpa family when no other vehicles appeared on Washoe County road 8A."

Stolpa Truck Location kmz location on 8A, Google Earth

Snowbound full transcript

NOTE: Many dead links (11Jun22)

The Beginning of an El Niño Trip: North-Central and Western Nevada

An El Niño has supposedly set in (starting when, exactly, I'm not sure). And if precipitation continues to be anything like it has been during the last several weeks, I hope it's here for the the long haul, that is, into the winter.

Rain shower in the northern part of the East Range near Winnemucca, NV, looking SW. Photo taken May 17th, 12:03 pm. The highest, roundish mass on the left is probably Dun Glen Peak.

Rain showers in the Eugene Mountains to the east of the East Range, looking west. Photo taken May 17th, 12:10 pm.

The low hills of the southern Pah Rah Range, as seen from the JA Nugget, looking NE. Photo taken May 17th, 4:35 pm.

March 2015 ENSO discussion: El Niño is here
NOAA, March 5th.

Scientists Suggest a Strong El Nino Is Possible. Why Should You Care?
The Weather Channel, May 14th.

El Nino Delivers Drought-Busting but Flooding Rain to Texas; California May be Next
AccuWeather.com, May 19th.

With El Niño likely, what climate impacts are favored for this summer?
NOAA, May 28th.

2014 Top Ten Posts at LFD...

...and, like last year and the year before, a few more. And to quote paraphrase myself from last year:

Because of the vagaries of stat reporting (in this case, by Google Analytics), I'm listing both the top ten posts for the year (in large font, with respective Top Ten number), and the top two one or two posts for every month (non-ten-rated posts are in a smaller font).

And so, the top 10 posts, plus 14 extra, along with a few pretty pictures:

January:

• De-Icing at the Anchorage Airport #5
• Where in the West: Dean and Burke Channels; Thunder Mountain and Tzeetsaytsul Peak, B.C. #6

• A Bit More about Toulon Peak #9

February:

• New Snow in North-Central Nevada (my only post for February!!)

March:

• Where in the West: Big Hole, Hole-in-the-Ground, and Fort Rock #4

• Fieldwork in the US: A Map

April:

• I-80 Yesterday: Very Windy

• Across the West and Back Day 2: Beyond the Wasatch

May:

• The Road to Majuba: Keep Out Sign #7
• The Middle Adit at Majuba Hill #8

June:

• Views from Majuba Hill
• It Was a Devilish Sort of Day

July:

• Escape from the July 20 Haboob in Western Nevada #3

• A Trinket from Majuba Hill

August:

• Rhyolite Porphyry from Majuba Hill I #10
• Rhyolite Porphyry from Majuba Hill III

September:

• Varying Water Levels at a Few Reservoirs in California
• Dust Hole

October:

• First Trip into the Ruby Mountains of Nevada #2

• Geologists: The Cowboys of Science

November:

• A Hanging Valley in Lamoille Canyon #1

• Links: Headwaters of the Susan River and Lassen Volcanic National Park

December:

• Cliffs of the Ruby Mountains: More Views from the Hanging Valley Pullout

• Links: Lamoille Canyon Geology

Links: Lamoille Canyon Geology

Geologic Map of the Ruby Mountains, Nevada - USGS Map I-1136 (Howard, Kistler, Snoke, and Willden, 1979)

Geologic Map of the Lamoille Quadrangle, Elko County, Nevada - NBMG Map 125 (Howard, 2000)

Geology of the Lamoille Quadrangle, Elko County, Nevada - text for Map 125 (Howard, 2000)

Lamoille canyon nappe in the Ruby Mountains metamorphic core complex, Nevada - GSA, Cordilleran Section, DNAG, Centennial Field Guide, v. 1 (Howard, 1987)

New investigations of Pleistocene glacial and pluvial records in northeastern Nevada; Day 3: Elko to Logan: The Lamoille Type Locality and Lamoille Canyon (p. 20-24) - in Geologic Field Trips to the Basin and Range, Rocky Mountains, Snake River Plain, and Terranes of the U.S. Cordillera; GSA Field Guide 21 (Munroe and Laabs, 2011)

Links: Headwaters of the Susan River and Lassen Volcanic National Park

Geologic Map of Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity, California:
main page at USGS

Geologic Map of Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity, California:
Sheet 1, geologic map

Geologic Map of Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity, California:
Sheet 2, correlation chart

Geologic Map of Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity, California:
Sheet 3, figures

Geologic Map of Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity, California:
pamphlet (write up of the geology)

Susan River (Wikipedia)

Susan River Area Rapid Watershed Assessment (USDA NRCS)

Bizz Johnson Trail and Susan River (BLM)

Bizz Johnson Trail and Susan River (Friends of the River)

Great Basin (NPS)

Great Basin (Wikipedia)

Ishi, Thousand Lakes & Caribou Wilderness (order the wilderness map)

2013 Top Posts at LFD

...and, like last year, a few more. And to quote myself from last year:

Because of the vagaries of stat reporting (in this case, by Google Analytics), I'm listing both the top ten posts for the year (in large font, with respective Top Ten number), and the top two posts for every month (non-ten-rated posts are in a smaller font).

I've done the same this year, except that in 2013 there were so few posts during the last three months of the year, that I've only listed one each for October, November, and December.

And so, the top 10 posts, plus 14 extra:

January:

• Deskcrop: Dumortierite and Dumortierite Schist #5
• Map Comparisons

February:

• Things You Find in the Field: World's Worst Road?
• Five Year Blogger-versary!!

March:

• Jungle Fever, A Documentary about the Bre-X Gold Scam #3

• Repost: Blackhawk Landslide, California - from Pathological Geomorphology #4

• A Geologist Who Preferred to be Called a Prospector #9

• Things Your Find in the Field: Metal Bars, Mine Dump, and Adit #10

April:

• Accretionary Wedge #56: Landscapes as seen by a Geologist #2
• Things You Find in the Field: Dikes and Drill Holes

May:

• Fault Breccia on Slickenside Ridge
• Things You Find in the Field: Pyramidal Objects #3

June:

• Update from the Lake: Hornets' Nest #1

• Tufa Dome north of I-80–U.S. 95 Junction #6

• Seeing Geology in Patterns #7

July:

• Accretionary Wedge #58: Beware of the Signs! #8

• Things You Find in the Field: Another Rock Wall

August:

• Huge Amounts of Smoke in Nevada from California Fires
• Las Vegas Growth from Google Timelapse

September:

• Across the West and Back Day 2: Pequop Summit to West Wendover
• Across the West and Back Day 2: Across the Salt Lake Desert

October:

• Across the West and Back Day 2: Are We Lost Yet?

November:

• Update from the Lake and a Tribute

December:

• Things You Find in the Field: Speed Traps

Earth Science Week 2013

Earth Science Week, organized yearly since 1998 by AGI, began yesterday. This year's theme, "Mapping Our World," is designed to highlight "the many exciting uses of maps and mapping technologies in the geosciences."

For my small part this year, I noticed a map at ESW that shows links to a Google Maps map showing earth science organizations for each state. The one for Nevada, for example, can be seen here.

I went a little bit farther and added each organization and location on the map (generated originally by user ESW, Earth Science Week) to a map of my own, to which I added a few other organizations. That map is embedded below.

View Nevada Geological Organizations in a larger map

I was working on this post last week, when at some point my computer or browser or both went into overload or freezing mode, and I had to reboot, somehow losing the draft of the post in the process. I had added only a few Nevada geological organizations to my embedded map; all the ones I added consist entirely of statewide and chapter meeting places of the Geological Society of Nevada.

The GSN website has a large number of geological links — to state, U.S., Canadian, and other foreign geological surveys, to various professional organizations, and to various State of Nevada departments and divisions. You will also find many other geological links, including several for the USGS. I had started to add the location of the USGS Nevada district office to my map, when I realized my small but increasingly time consuming project had been put in jeopardy by the U.S. government #shutdown. I couldn't find out where the district office in Nevada is located! (The district office referred to may be the USGS Nevada Water Science Center office in Carson City rather than a geologic field office, not sure.) Instead of the website linked to at this URL, I got the main USGS page and the following announcement:

Current USGS main page, retrieved 14Oct2013.

In any case, check out the other geological links at the GSN. And check out their interactive map showing locations in Nevada where their publications (mostly field trip guides from the many GSN symposia and biannual to yearly field trips.

A few Ruby Mountains Links

Because a certain local organization will be having a fall rendezvous in the Ruby Mountains the last weekend of the month, I'm posting a few relevant links for all bash-goers to ponder while sitting around the campfire or while hiking the trails (or arm-waving from below).

Geology of the Lamoille Canyon:
http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/dox/m125text.pdf (the text)
http://www.nbmg.unr.edu/dox/m125plate.pdf (the map)

Passive Seismic Imaging of Ruby Mountains Core Complex

“Nice” (gneiss) Rocks at Island Lake on the side of Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains Elko County, Nevada

Hiking the Ruby Mountains

Backpacking in the Ruby Mountains

Ruby Mountains at Peakbagger

Ruby Mountains at Travel Nevada

Ruby Mountains at Wikipedia

2012 Top 10 Posts at LFD...

...and a few more.

Because of the vagaries of stat reporting (in this case, by Google Analytics), I'm listing the both the top ten posts for the year (in large font, with respective Top Ten number), and the top two posts for every month (non-ten-rated posts are in a smaller font). One reason for going on to listing the top two posts per month (or four posts in one particularly popular month, February), is that post ratings for the last few months of every year, as indicated by stats, are not as reliable as post ratings for earlier in the year (ratings are not static and change as time goes on).

As usual, the year started out with a bang. Some of the tapering of top posts (and certainly all of the tapering of my number of posts per month) resulted from me not having as much time to blog starting in mid-March or so; some of the apparent tapering of top posts is a result of the way stats accrue per post, with the last three months of 2012 garnering zero Top Ten posts so far, but maybe one or two of those posts will actually make it into the Top Ten by the middle of next year. Also, FWIW, I have noticed quite a drop in blog hits over the last two months, starting with NaNoWriMo, when presumably everyone was writing, and perhaps fewer people were reading.

And so, here are the Top Ten posts, with a few extras so that each month shows at least the top two posts for that month, giving us a total of 26 posts.

January
A Soak at Spencer Hot Springs #5
Stop Censorship Header | Stop SOPA Links #7

February
De Re Metallica #1
South of Center: Potts Ranch #3
Top Ten Reasons I love detachment faults / core complexes #4
ENE of Center: Breccia at Devils Gate #8

March
Goodbye... #10
Backroads: Too Cold to Change a Flat, and other Considerations

April
SW to SWxS of Center: West Northumberland Canyon
Views from Winnemucca Mountain

May
Wedge #45: Geological Pilgrimage
Busy Days!

June
American 101 Geo-Sites Meme #9
Field Book Scribbles

July
Geo-beers: Gimme an Icky #2
Two Spots on the Humboldt River

August
Smoke in the Black Rock & Smoke Creek Deserts
Pinnacles above Midas

September
Mud Pot at Sulphur Works #6
Views of Lassen

October
Geologic Map Day
Accretionary Wedge #50: The Fire at Field Camp

November
V is for Vein
Friday Photo: Dumortierite

December
Rock Walls at the Champion Mine Lower Workings
Dumortierite at the Champion Mine, Nevada

Sites Worth Exploring

I've added a few sites and blogs to my sidebar, mostly in the "Other" category but also in the "Roads and Highways" category:

NoeHill
NoeHill in The West
NoeHill in Nevada

CALIFORNIA BLOG

Geology on US Interstate 80 

westernviews.us

Mountains, Deserts and Glaciers

SouthwestDesertLover

Check them out!

Rock Color Links

Here are a few links I find useful in comparing RGB, HEX, and UCL or Munsell colors, though these don't all match the original Rock Color Chart, which is no longer available. The new Rock Color Chart colors do not match the old chart completely, and is organized in a way that I find difficult for real world use.

Geological ROCK-COLOR CHART - online pdf version (new)

The original - no longer available, though QCQA says, "Discontinued...Check with us later," and "Usually ships within 24 hours" — NOT.

RGB Chart & Multi Tool: HEX, RGB, Munsell.
Universal Color Language, Level 3: Munsell and HEX.
NBS/ISCC Color System: Munsell and HEX

Color Theory: Completed Munsell Color Charts - Gnomicon blog - 5R page.

http://colors.bravo9.com/nbs-iscc-rc-rock-color-chart/swatch/: This site is *still* down (permanently?), and my notes don't tell me what it was.

More About Colors:
Color-Name Dictionaries

Robert Krimen > Color-Library

Also:
The Michel-Lévy Interference Color Chart - although the colors look a little washed out

Mirage Links

This post at Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) got me started.

Mirage - Wikipedia

An Introduction to Mirages - Andrew Young at SDSU: links, explanations, and many more pages

Mirages & Refraction - Atmospheric Optics

Superior Mirage - NSIDC

Inferior Mirage - Polar Image

Highway Mirage - EPOD

Green Flash - Atmospheric Optics: also see the subsections

An Introduction to Green Flashes - Andrew Young at SDSU: links, explanations, and many more pages

Green Flashes at a Glance - Andrew Young at SDSU: a few basics

Green-flash Fallacies and Misconceptions - Andrew Young at SDSU

Pictures of Green Flashes - Andrew Young at SDSU: links to pictures and much more

Green Flash Simulations - Andrew Young at SDSU: links to the simulations are near the bottom of the page under What's available

Mirage here at LFD