WorldWide Drilling Resource

Alaska Miners Association Phone: 907-563-9229 Fax: 907-563-9225 ama@alaskaminers.org www.alaskaminers.org ELKO / Mining Expo Phone: 775-738-4091 Fax: 775-738-2420 jennifer@elkocva.com www.exploreelko.com WorldWide Drilling Resource ® is proud to be a member of these mining associations. Northwest Mining Association Phone: 509-624-1158 Fax: 509-623-1241 nwma_info@nwma.org Women in Mining 866-537-9694 wim@womeninmining.org 55 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JULY 2013 Red Rock Canyon by Harry W. Short Engineering Geologist Red rock canyon is another of my favorite geologic places in the Mojave Desert. It is off State Highway 14 a few miles north of Mojave, California. At the park entrance you are transferred back over millions of years in geologic time. You face a striking spectrum of beauti- ful multicolored rock formations whose vertical orientation resembles flutes and accordion-like pleats. A dark-colored flow from an ancient volcano covers the rock exposures. Native Americans lived in the park for hundreds of years before the arrival of the white man. Their religious areas, grinding holes, food, and tool-making areas have been identified by archae- ologists. Gold was discovered by early prospectors, but no significant amounts were found that merited mining. The remains of ancient camels, horses, and rhinoceroses have been uncovered in the park. The canyon has an assemblage of native plant species including Joshua trees, cheesebush, creosote plants, bur- sage, Indian tea, and saltbush. Sedimentary rocks in the Ricardo Formation are Miocene age (8-19 mya) and about 6500 feet thick, consisting of white clay and red sandstone capped with volcanic rocks. Its beds were depos- ited in a deep basin that was uplifted; the resulting slopes dip gently west with steep cliffs on the east. The sculpturing of the cliff faces was done by centuries of water action. In 1988, the Ricardo Formation was divided into Dove Springs and Cudahy Camp. The Ricardo Formation sediment features many cross-bedded layers of sandstones, thin horizontally bedded mudstones and conglomerates, deposit- ed in river floodplains and lakes. The region was subjected to periods of vol- canic eruptions of ash, cinders, and lava flows while the Ricardo Formation was being deposited. The volcanoes that created the volcanic rock in the region have long since eroded away and their locations have never been found. Some writers have referred to the Red Rock Canyon Park as a “sympho- ny in stone”. The park is a spectacular, fragile area where camping and hiking is allowed, and needs consideration by all visitors to protect its delicate ecolog- ical system. Many commercials and old western movies were filmed in the park, and its clear winter skies are havens for stargazers. If you are watchful at night, you may run into the Lone Ranger, Tom Mix, or Roy Rogers. Harry Harry Short may be contacted via e-mail at admin@ worldwidedrillingresource.com