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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Geomorphology

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Theses/Dissertations

2012

Earth sciences

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The Fluvial Muddy Creek Formation Near Overton, Nevada, Carl Taylor Swenberg May 2012

The Fluvial Muddy Creek Formation Near Overton, Nevada, Carl Taylor Swenberg

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Muddy Creek Formation (MCF) may represent an ancestral Colorado River deposit. To test this hypothesis, I mapped exposures of the MCF within the Virgin River Depression (VRD), a rift basin in the central Basin and Range. This is the first study to analyze fluvial MCF facies and test their viability as ancestral Colorado River deposits.

Mapping, paleocurrent analysis, conglomerate provenance, and architectural elements analysis were used in order to characterize the fluvial MCF near Overton NV. Architectural elements analysis revealed that MCF fluvial facies are most closely associated with those of a high-energy sand-bed braided river system. These results …