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Abstract
Deposits in lower Mohave Valley and upper Topock Gorge near Topock, Arizona and Park Moabi, California record a succession of depositional and erosional events since late Miocene time that relate to the development of the Colorado River. Upper Miocene alluvial fans were deposited toward a depocenter east of the present valley bottom, indicating there was no valley outlet then through the area of Topock Gorge. The lower Pliocene Bouse Formation subsequently accumulated to thicknesses of at least 330 m in ancestral Mohave Valley before most of it was incised by a Colorado River that carried clasts as large as 0.9 m and drained southward through ancestral Topock Gorge. Pliocene fluvial sandstone and conglomerate exposed in this area record 160 m of subsequent aggradation. One or more sedimentary sequences of varied fluvial, paludal, and alluvial fan environments accumulated on the margin of the floodplain in Pleistocene time, including during deposition of the upper Pleistocene Chemehuevi Formation of Longwell (1936). River boulders as large as 1.2 m derived from Pliocene gravel were deposited in terraces along the river during later incision. Vertebrate fossil finds and historical descriptions of the 19th century enrich the history of the area
Study Area
| Publication type | Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Conference Paper |
| Title | Stratigraphy of Colorado River deposits in lower Mohave Valley, Arizona and California |
| Year Published | 2007 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Northridge, California State University |
| Contributing office(s) | Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center |
| Description | 7 p. |
| Larger Work Title | Wild, Scenic and Rapid, a trip down the Colorado River trough: Field trip guide and abstracts from the 2007 Desert Symposium |
| First page | 50 |
| Last page | 56 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona, California |
| Other Geospatial | Mohave Valley |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |