FUNERAL MOUNTAINS
The southern end of the Funeral Mountains, between
Death Valley and Death Valley Junction in southeastern California, is accessed
by walking on a large alluvial fan (fanglomerate) northward from Rt. 190.
The succession in this region consists of Proterozoic to Mississippian marine
sedimentary rocks, overlain by Cenozoic nonmarine sedimentary rocks.
Above:
Bat Mountain, at the southern end of the Funeral Mts. The Paleozoic
section here is made up of Devonian-Mississippian sandstones &
limestones. Looking ~N.
Above: “11240 Peak”, consisting of dark reddish-colored
conglomerates of the Amargosa Valley Formation (Oligocene-Miocene, ~20-25
my). Looking NE.
Above:
Geologists looking at the Tin Mountain Limestone (Kinderhookian Stage, lower
Lower Mississippian) exposed on the western face of a small ridge just
southeast of Bat Mountain (see
map). Looking ~S.
What are the geologists looking at? See pic
below.
Above:
Large mudmound (bioherm) in the Tin Mountain Limestone. Much of the Tin
Mountain Limestone here consists of crinoidal limestones.
Above:
Southern end of Bat Mountain, including “Hill 2997” (small bump at left-center),
with Kinderhookian limestones of the Tin Mountain Ls. Looking ~W.
Above:
Geologist climbing a steep limestone cliff in the southern Funeral Mountains,
collecting samples intended for isotope analysis. This is the lower Tin
Mountain Limestone (unit t2 of McAllister, 1974, USGS Bulletin 1386)
(Kinderhookian Stage, lower Lower Mississippian).