Trench logs from a strand of the Rock Valley Fault System, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

Abstract

The Rock Valley fault system trends northeasterly through the southeast corner of the Nevada Test Site. The system records left-lateral offset of Paleozoic and Tertiary rocks, although total offset amounts to only a few kilometers. Distinct scarps in alluvial deposits of Quaternary age and a concentration of seismicity, particularly at its north end, suggest that the Rock Valley fault system may be active. Two trenches were excavated by backhoe in 1978 across a 0.5-m-high scarp produced by a strand of the Rock Valley fault system. A detailed logging of the two Rock Valley fault trenches was undertaken during the spring of 1984. This report presents: (1) logs of both walls of the two trenches, (2) a general description of the lithologic units and the soils formed in these units that are exposed in and near the fault trenches, (3) observations of the clast fabric of unfaulted and faulted deposits exposed in the trench walls, and (4) a map of the surficial deposits in the vicinity of the trenches.