Provisional geologic map of the Deseret Peak East quadrangle, Tooele County, Utah (OFR-450)

By: T. J. Copfer and J. P. Evans

The Stansbury Mountains consists of Paleozoic rocks folded into the north-south trending Deseret anticline. Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian rocks are absent in the central part of the range where basal Mississippian units rest unconformably on Cambrian beds. Paleozoic uplift, Mesozoic contraction, and Cenozoic extension have created a series of broad folds, large thrust faults, and a variety of normal faults within the range and at the range-basin margin.

Detailed mapping of the quadrangle yields new interpretations on stratigraphy of the Oquirrh Basin, fault and fold geometry, identification of additional structures, and clarification on existing structures. This study sheds light upon the structural and tectonic history of this part of the Basin and Range Province. Studies show that the area is dominated by bedrock springs, with the presence of abundant and thick Quaternary deposits burying drainages and mantling hill slopes. The influence of bedrock on groundwater flow paths and stream base flow is suggested by local anecdotal reports that high snowfall in the Deseret Peak region generates high discharge 10 miles south in Clover Creek, though they are not in the same drainage basin.

Other Information:
Published: 2005
Pages: 31 p.
Plates: 3 pl.
Scale: 1:24,000
Location: Tooele County
Media Type: Paper Publication