Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Predictive Modeling Of Terrestrial Radiation Exposure From Geologic Materials, Daniel A. Haber

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Aerial gamma ray surveys are an important tool for national security, scientific, and industrial interests in determining locations of both anthropogenic and natural sources of radioactivity. There is a relationship between radioactivity and geology and in the past this relationship has been used to predict geology from an aerial survey. The purpose of this project

is to develop a method to predict the radiologic exposure rate of the geologic materials in an area by creating a model using geologic data, images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), geochemical data, and pre-existing low spatial resolution aerial surveys …

Garnet Dating, Pressure-Temperature Time Paths And Kinematic Analysis Of The Schist Of Upper Narrows, Raft River Mountains, Northwestern Utah: Tectonic Implications Of Pressure-Temperature-Time-Deformation Paths, Alison Christine Lacy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The hinterland of the Sevier orogenic belt underwent multiple episodes of synconvergent extension, prior to a brief transitional phase from shortening to overall extension that affected the entire orogen during the Early Eocene. The timing of the final transition from contraction to extension, while well documented in the Sevier fold-thrust belt, remains poorly constrained within the hinterland. The study of metamorphic rocks within the hinterland region provides a unique perspective on the nature of deformational events as well as the timing of the transition from contractional to extensional processes. Garnets from the schist of Upper Narrows in the western Raft …

Pennsylvanian To Cretaceous Folds And Thrusts In South-Central Nevada: Evidence From The Timpahute Range, Angela Giovanna Russo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Understanding Permian and Mesozoic contractional structures from southern California to northern Nevada requires correlation through south-central Nevada. After the Devonian-Mississippian Antler orogeny through the Permian-Triassic Sonoma orogeny and then up to the Sevier orogeny, south-central Nevada was thought to have remained tectonically inactive. However, Pennsylvanian through Jurassic age deformation is documented to the south in Death Valley and to the north. Identifying geometries, spatial relationships, and relative timing of deformations in the Timpahute Range, south-central Nevada, is an essential piece to completing the overall understanding of Nevada geology. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze deformational structures …

Evaluation Of Possible Source Rocks In Northern Nye County, Nevada: Implications For Hydrocarbon Exploration, Inessa Yurchenko

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The presence of oil outside of Railroad Valley, northern Nye County has sparked the interest of exploration companies in Nevada. The geology in this region is very complex and the level of petroleum exploration is low. In order to understand the distribution of oil, a complete petroleum systems analysis is required. Previous studies confirmed that the Mississippian Chainman Shale and Cretaceous to Paleocene Sheep Pass Formation, Member B are source rocks. However, a number of other possible source rocks exist in northern Nye County, but they are not confirmed because of incomplete datasets. The goal of this thesis project is …

The Behavior Of Zircon During Partial Melting In Anatectic Migmatites: Insights To Metamorphism, Deformation And Tectonism In The Central Santa Fe Range, Northern New Mexico, Michelle Renee Stropky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Three lithologic assemblages exposed in the central Santa Fe Range, northern New Mexico include (1) a septum of Proterozoic low temperature (~700oC, 5.5 kbars), semi-pelitic anatectic migmatites surrounded by (2) deformed megacrystic biotite granite that is intruded by (3) discrete plutons of largely undeformed hornblende biotite tonalite. Metamorphic fabrics in the migmatite record three deformation events (D1 - D3); a composite S1/S2 fabric (D1 and D2) that formed contemporaneous with anatexis and is folded about a southwest plunging map-scale (D3) antiform. The megacrystic granite exhibits a pervasive S1 subsolidus foliation that parallels the S1/S2 fabric in the migmatite and is …

Deciphering The Evolution Of Ore Fluids At The Batu Hijau Copper-~Gold Porphyry Deposit, Sumbawa, Indonesia, Jordan Thomas Armstrong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Fluid inclusions contained within quartz veins from the Batu Hijau Cu-Au porphyry deposit in Indonesia were analyzed to track the evolution of fluid temperature, pressure, and composition during the formation of the deposit to better understand the formation of this and other Cu-Au porphyry deposits in order aid future exploration. A combination of petrography, microthermometry, synchrotron x-ray fluorescence, and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry were used to determine the temperature, pressure, and compositional aspects of the deposit.

Four types of fluid inclusions were recognized at Batu Hijau based on the volume percent of the vapor bubble; inclusions were classified as …

Muddy Creek Formation: A Record Of Late Neogene Tectonics And Sedimentation In Southern Nevada, Thomas William Muntean

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Late Neogene Muddy Creek Formation (MCF), exposed in the vicinity of Lake Mead in southern Nevada, represents the youngest widespread Cenozoic sedimentary sequence in the region and is the focus of this study. Historically, the MCF has been largely ignored, with limited previous studies providing only regional-scale constraint on the age, stratigraphy, and mode of deposition for the formation; resulting in a data gap for our understanding of the Late Cenozoic tectonic and sedimentological evolution of southern Nevada.

Mesozoic Burial, Mesozoic And Cenozoic Exhumation Of The Funeral Mountains Core Complex, Death Valley, Southeastern California, Mengesha Assefa Beyene

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Funeral Mountains of Death Valley National Park, CA, provide an opportunity to date metamorphism resulting from crustal shortening and subsequent episodic extensional events in the Sevier hinterland. It was not clear whether crustal shortening and thus peak temperature metamorphism in the hinterland of the Sevier-Laramide orogenic wedge have occurred whether in Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous , Late Cretaceous or somewhere between. Particularly ambiguous is the timing of crustal shortening in the deep levels of the hinterland of the Sevier belt, now manifest in the metamorphic core complexes, and how and when these middle-to-lower crustal rocks were exhumed. A 6-point …

Provenance Of The Miocene-Pliocene Muddy Creek Formation Near Mesquite, Nevada, Steven Wayne Forrester

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The provenance, stratigraphy, and depositional history of the Miocene-Pliocene Muddy Creek Formation (MCF) in southern Nevada are poorly studied and poorly constrained. Previous studies of the MCF have concluded that the formation consists of lacustrine, eolian, and fluvial deposits. Currently the age of deposition is loosely constrained between 8.5 and 4.1 Ma. This study documents the evolution of one portion of the eastern extent of the MCF and determines its provenance and depositional history at Flat Top and Mormon Mesas in Nevada; and near Beaver Dam and Littlefield, Arizona.

This study intended to determine whether the MCF was deposited by …

The Origin Of Brucite In Hydrothermally Altered Limestone Near Devil Peak, Nevada, Rhonda L. Knupp

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Open-space brucite was identified in veins crosscutting hydrothermally altered limestone near the Devil Peak rhyolite plug in southern Nevada. The brucite occurs with serpentine, calcite, chalcedony, hydromagnesite, dolomite, and clinochlore.

Brucite usually forms as a replacement mineral, but textural evidence indicates that the brucite at Devil Peak precipitated in open space. The presence of chalcedony in veins indicates the temperature of the hydrothermal fluid was <180^oC during and after mineral deposition. Thermodynamic modeling shows this temperature is too low for replacement brucite to form, thus the low temperature of alteration may be a factor in this unusual occurrence of …

The Geology Of The Tuff Of Bridge Spring: Southern Nevada And Northwestern Arizona, Shirley Ann Morikawa

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Tuff of Bridge Spring (TBS) is a regionally-widespread, andesite to rhyolite (59.50 to 74.91 wt. %) ash-flow tuff of mid-Miocene age (ca. 15.2 Ma) that is exposed in the northern Colorado River extensional corridor of southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. Determination of the areal distribution, geochronology, lithology, geochemistry, and internal stratigraphy of the TBS is important for its establishment as a reliable stratigraphic reference horizon for tectonic reconstructions of the extensional corridor during the middle Miocene. Based on reoccurring patterns of major and trace element variation, the TBS is divided into constant Cr/variable SiO₂ and variable Cr/variable SiO …

Geology And Ore Deposits Of The Johnnie District, Nye County, Nevada, Stanley Wayne Ivosevic

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Johnnie district, in the northwestern Spring Mountains, Nye County, Nevada, may have produced a little under 100,000 troy oz of gold, since the discovery of the district in 1890.

An approximately 13,000-ft-thick (4,000 m) section of east-dipping upper Precambrian through Middle Cambrian miogeosynclinal clastic and carbonate rocks is exposed in the district. The strata are, in order of decreasing age, the Johnnie Formation, Stirling Quartzite, Wood Canyon Formation, Zabriskie Quartzite, and Carrara and Bonanza King Formations. These are overlain by Cenozoic units which include and older unit and a younger unit of fanglomerate, the older containing a megabreccia deposit, …

Stratigraphic Comparison Of The Precambrian Wyman And Johnnie Formations In The Western Great Basin, California, Johnnie Nathan Moore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Precambrian Johnnie Formation in the Death Valley area and to the south is separable into two facies. The southern facies contains six distinct members: the transitional, quartzite, lower carbonate-bearing, siltstone, upper carbonate-bearing, and Rainstorm members. Dolomite, quartzite, and mudstone characterize the southern facies, as does the presence of the Johnnie oolite. To the north the Johnnie oolite pinches out and the amount of mudstone in the formation increases. The dominantly mudstone northern facies contains local gray limestone lenses closely similar to limestone in the Wyman Formation in the White-Inyo Mountains. Generally outcrops of the northern facies of the Johnnie …

Surficial Geology Of The Las Vegas Quadrangle, Nevada, Charles Edgar Price Jr

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Las Vegas 15-minute quadrangle, located in the south part of the state of Nevada, includes about 240 square miles in and around the city of Las Vegas; it is in the basin and range province. The quadrangle includes a broad valley floor that was once a lake bottom, a bordering area of badlands and rolling hills developed in Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, an outer marginal area of alluvial fans, and the surrounding mountains.

The mountains constitute about three per cent of the total land surface and are composed of rock ranging in are from Precambrian to Tertiary. The remainder …