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Carbonate Shelf Sequence - Dolomite, limestone, and shale (NVSOc;0)

Geologic Formation in NV

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Lithology

Dolostone

Limestone

Shale

Geologic Age

Middle Ordovician – Llandovery (471.4 Ma – 434.2 Ma ago)

Geologic Unit Label

SOc

Ely Springs Dolomite and Hanson Creek Formation are the main formations included in this unit. Many of the rocks in this unit are not assigned to a formation. A large section of the carbonate platform from Early Devonian through latest Ordovician time is represented by dolomitic rocks. They commonly look similar, have poor biostratigraphic control, and thus are not always well differentiated on the county maps. Additionally, not all of the dolomite is primary, and thus boundaries between secondary dolomite and other rock units have been misinterpreted as primary stratigraphic boundaries, further confusing the stratigraphy of the lower Paleozoic shelf (Nichols and Silberling, 1977a). Rocks in this unit correspond to sequence 4 of Cook and Corboy (2004). This unit includes rocks deposited immediately above the Eureka Quartzite, but disconformably below the Lone Mountain and Laketown Dolomites, hence it includes the Silurian and uppermost Ordovician. Rocks included in unit SOc that are mapped as the Hanson Creek Formation are depositionally overlain by the Roberts Mountains Formation of unit DSt in the northern and western part of the exposure area. The SOc rocks mapped as Hanson Creek Formation are difficult to distinguish from units DSt and DOts, and should more appropriately be included in unit DOts, but inconsistent mapping makes this difficult. In general unit SOc is not differentiated from unit OCc in Clark County, and thus unit DSc lies directly on unit OCc. In Lincoln and Nye Counties unit SOc lies directly on the Eureka Quartzite (Ocq) and is overlain by the Laketown Dolomite (DSc). In southern Nye County, rocks mapped as Ely Springs Formation are grouped with the Eureka Quartzite as unit Ocq. In White Pine and eastern Elko Counties, the Eureka Quartzite is not mapped separately, and unit SOc therefore lies directly on unit OCc, which includes the quartzite. Also in White Pine and eastern Elko Counties, unit DSc is not differentiated from unit SOc, so SOc is overlain directly by unit Dcd. In the northern and western areas of exposure where unit SOc is mapped as Hanson Creek Formation it is overlain depositionally by unit DSt of the Slope assemblage.

— USGS

Taxonomy

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Geologic Formation