Geologic Map of the Hart Peak Quadrangle, California and Nevada: A Digital Database

Introduction

The Hart Peak 1:24,000-scale quadrangle is located about 12 km southwest of Searchlight, Nevada, comprehending the eastern part of the Castle Peaks, California, and most of the Castle Mountains and the northwestern part of the Piute Range, in California and Nevada. The Castle Peaks area constitutes the northeasternmost part of the northeast-trending New York Mountains. The Castle Mountains straddle the California-Nevada State line between the Castle Peaks and north-trending Piute Range. The southern part of the Piute Range, near Civil War-era Fort Piute, adjoins Homer Mountain mapped by Spencer and Turner (1985). Adjacent and nearby 1:24,000-scale quadrangles include Castle Peaks, East of Grotto Hills, Homer Mountain, and Signal Hill, Calif.; also Tenmile Well and West of Juniper Mine, Calif. and Nev.

The oldest rocks in the Hart Peak quadrangle are Early Proterozoic gneiss and foliated granite that crop out in the northern part of the quadrangle on the eastern flank of the Castle Peaks and in the central Castle Mountains (Wooden and Miller, 1990). Paleozoic rocks are uncommon and Mesozoic granitic rocks are not found in the map area. The older rocks are overlain nonconformably by several km of Miocene volcanic deposits, which accumulated in local basins. Local dikes and domes are sources of most Miocene eruptive units; younger Miocene intrusions cut all the older rocks. Upper Miocene to Quaternary gravel deposits interfinger with the uppermost volcanic flows; the contact between volcanic rocks and the gravel deposits is unconformable locally. Canyons and intermontane valleys contain dissected Quaternary alluvialfan deposits that are mantled by active drainage and alluvial fan detritus.

First posted February 22, 1999