Landslide deposits and mechanisms in the eastern Spring Mountains, Nevada, USA

Abstract

ABSTRACT Large-scale landslide deposits (covering >1 km2) are prevalent throughout the Basin and Range province. However, their presence and importance in the evolution of the Basin and Range remain poorly recognized. On this field trip, we will visit four landslide deposits along the eastern flank of the Spring Mountains on the western margin of Las Vegas Valley. The first half of the day will be spent looking at vertical and lateral textures within the Blue Diamond landslide deposit, which mostly caps hills and ridges between the southern ends of the Wilson Cliffs and Blue Diamond Hill. We interpret this deposit as having a two-phase emplacement, with an initial rock avalanche emplacement onto Blue Diamond Hill, followed by failure as a rock compound landslide along weak gypsum layers in the Kaibab Formation. During the second half of the day, we will visit a smaller rock avalanche deposit (La Madre), a large rock compound slide that resulted from failure of the northern flank of Blue Diamond Hill (Red Rock Wash), and a large block of Paleozoic rock that likely was emplaced as either a rock compound slide or a rock planar slide (Lone Mountain).