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Post by mohs on Sept 10, 2021 14:33:33 GMT -5
That is what I'm trying to establish now mohs. I believe the buttes themselves are ancient granite with two layers of landslide coatings. The southwest half of south Mountain is ~1.5 billion year old granite that was metamorphosed to gneiss. The northeastern half is 25 million year old granite. in the middle is 22 million year old granite that caused the northeast corner to brecciate. Something later caused the outer layer to brecciate again making two layers, the outer layer finer than the inner. That would provide the two slides. The first slide was MOSTLY rhyolite. The second slide was MOSTLY granite. So far I haven't found of there being any rhyolite on South Mountain. Perhaps most of it was removed with the first slide, and the rest with the second? Now, does the granite in the Barnes Butte Breccia match the granite from South Mountain? Earthquakes? www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/17203031/history-of-earthquakes-in-arizonaHowdy Dave I agree with the clastz originating from the South Mountain Metamorphic Kinematic Complex …mostly Where my confusion arises from is the process of the dates. South Mountain up-thrusted & shredded the clasticz. O.K cool. The thing is: what fault block then upthrusted & created the Papago's? I have difficult time understanding that clastz and the formation of the Pagago’s occurred all in one swell swoop. the clasticz came first. Then the Buttes formed a long times after,,,, just thinking out loud
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Post by 1dave on Sept 13, 2021 13:48:18 GMT -5
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Post by mohs on Sept 13, 2021 15:02:44 GMT -5
right on 1dave not sure I ever saw that pictorial before only vaguely familiar w/ the Rocking w/ Rock website. Thanks for posting! Yep metalsmith was real informative in this here discussion Hope he’s hounding healthily across the pond ! Now I just got back from quick inspection of Tempe Butte have stopped a couple time this week Still to hot to do anything serious Besides a small trailsting \ But I took a camera photo have some thoughts on its development will be posting my initial thoughts so stay tuned till then ... Ws
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Post by mohs on Sept 14, 2021 14:30:28 GMT -5
Here another conundrum This is Tempe Butte A quick shot from my Phone After I fiddle and sweated figuring it out Plus I had a hard shell taco At Master Taco But that another story…mostly Tempe Butte is located at 50th street & University That basically puts it in line 3 miles south off the Papago's Not that much of a distance The surrounding ground is fairly flat. The grounds around Papago's are quite elevated A humongous pediment of meta- granitoid. Yet the upper halves of the Tempe Buttes Are formed from what I consider to be metamorphic tuffacious rhyolite Billions and billions of tons ejected from some way past distant super volcano ! From the Superstitions Mountains, mostly ? Maybe, even from Utah of even Yellowstone. Anyway the pyroclastic flow was immense and that flow got buried and pressurized. Some time later—a violent thrust uplifted this tuff w/ a humongous granite pediment beneath. ! that the Tempe Buttes differs so much from their metamorphosed neighbors the Papago’s is of note They are so close by-- to be so different! The first thing you notice is the absence of the red bed Well...not prepared to go to far into this analysis So till then…. Ws __________________________________________________________________I do have a thought Which may account for the anomaly of the Tempe Buttes and Papago Buttes being so different in structure / Especially the absence of the red beds Tempe Buttes are on the south side of the Salt River ! The Papago’s on the north It is hypothesized that the red beds originated from the north. Carefree area? Is it possible that the Salt River stopped the southerly flow? Any thoughts on this is 1dave ?
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Post by 1dave on Sept 14, 2021 22:02:01 GMT -5
I wish mohs! I don't know near as much as I wish I did.
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Post by mohs on Sept 15, 2021 10:06:17 GMT -5
Right on 1dave Ya know we need to be wary of the Faustian bargain Besides these geological concerns are deep and these Buttes are deeper than known At least my one corundum is answered! What came first? The Salt River or the CamelHead Formation ? red bed flows were halted. The Salt River existed Hence--- the Salt River was there before the Buttes formation Ha !
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Post by mohs on Sept 15, 2021 15:20:21 GMT -5
another anomaly I noticeed This is the east side of the Tempe Butte In this example that slope is peppered w/ easily recognizable clasticz! Granite and meta-rhyolite variety in brownish soiled matrix, lacking that red beds of the Papa's The west side of those Buttes seems to be totally different! That slope is covered in a thick thick slick covering of what appears to be frozen molten metamorphic pyroclastic rhyolite And no easily seen clasticz ! Not sure how that occurs? Butte I’ll come up with some far fetched idea, mostly But ya know Dave your wise saying holds true in my Butte analysis The theory may be wrong, . . . . but It's MINE!
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Post by 1dave on Sept 15, 2021 15:35:06 GMT -5
Ah yes, my wise Butte sayings. From "The Boy with Green Hair." Here are some Arizona Earthquake Images you may find useful:
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Post by mohs on Sept 15, 2021 19:13:35 GMT -5
that little blue box in Prescott may be Little Chino Fault!
Lost Dutchman claims ha That the Superstitions earthquakes in 1887 re-arraigned the Spanish symbols
making the heart harder to find!
Then there the Frank Cushing excavation at Snaketown concerning earthquakes, collapsed walls, buried bodies…
mor on thhese anomalies later...
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Post by rockpickerforever on Sept 15, 2021 20:08:27 GMT -5
A few more AZ Red Rock Clasts for mohsWe've done a lot of traveling in AZ, we love the landscapes, and the rocks. These first several photos were taken to the east of Alamo Lake. Red rocks, no lava or basalt. One of my favorite pics from this trip Mountains to the north side of lake. Gash in center of mountain in above photo as seen through telephoto lens. There were some people mining for gold in this area. This area was littered with some nice chalcedony roses. Holes/shallow caves in rock cliff. Bob for scale More rocks and shrubbery. The rocks almost look like they are stacked in a wall. This is much further into AZ. Swansea is a Ghost town in La Paz County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town is associated with a large, but ultimately unsuccessful, copper mining operation. An arch seen on the way driving in. Another shot of it. I've got photos taken of the town, but since this thread is about AZ geology, I didn't post them here. To learn more about Swansea, you can visit this web site: Swansea 2.0Swansea was a past producer of Copper, silver, gold, iron.
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Post by mohs on Sept 15, 2021 20:20:32 GMT -5
o that Buttifull Jean ! really! you probably know that part of Az a lot better than I I'm ashamed to say I never been to Alamo Lake ! I plan on correcting that soon drove by it w/ Rockoonz on return from Washington St brother would go fishing there decades ago legendary trips ha so its on my holy bucket list I'm fooling w/ hotspot and internet provider crap butte I';; be back thanks for posting !!!
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Post by mohs on Sept 15, 2021 20:41:35 GMT -5
never knew about Swansea ! Oatman is on my holy bucketlist big time too!
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Post by mohs on Sept 15, 2021 20:43:08 GMT -5
do you see -what I see 1dave ?
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Post by mohs on Nov 1, 2021 10:21:30 GMT -5
1dave here's another example of contact metamorphosis large grain against fine grain and who know how many eons of difference ?
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Post by 1dave on Nov 1, 2021 11:00:05 GMT -5
do you see -what I see 1dave ? Papago Caves minus the tongues! Is there any mica in the Metamorphic section??
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Post by mohs on Nov 1, 2021 16:42:27 GMT -5
Yo 1dave good question So I took hike to inspect Both sides have mica inclusions Best I could tell That fine grain side is really compacted so hard- to determine What would be the implication of mica free?
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Post by 1dave on Nov 2, 2021 0:08:19 GMT -5
When sandstone turns to quartzite it gets lots of mica in it.
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Post by mohs on Nov 2, 2021 10:44:11 GMT -5
right on Dave maybe that one side is quartzite? maybe all of it hadn't consider that it appeared to be granite I may be wrong just like the desert vanish the underlying stone is quartzite that contact zone is distinct probably a scientific analysis could determine Age, type, location ectal...
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Post by mohs on Nov 2, 2021 15:33:11 GMT -5
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Post by mohs on Nov 2, 2021 18:36:39 GMT -5
the Most important this is To Protect That Butte !at all cost m stly right on 1dave working on getting clearance wild stories around here about underground complexes windows in the buttes it was ww2 training facility and POW camp lots of secrets got traded...
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