- Rainbow Basin
Rainbow Basin is a geological formation located approximately eight miles north of Barstow in the
Mojave Desert inSan Bernardino County ,California . It has been designated aNational Natural Landmark . Rainbow Basin is a mixture of private and public land, but it is managed by theBureau of Land Management , and is accessible to the public via an unpaved loop road. The basin is notable both for the fantastic and beautiful shapes of its rock formations and because of itsfossil beds, which have provided scientists with valuable information about life during the middleMiocene epoch, between 12 and 16 million years ago.Geology
Underneath Rainbow Basin is the massive
batholith that lies below much of the western Mojave (Dibblee 1968:15). Made from a type of rock calledquartz monzonite , thisbatholith dates to either theCretaceous , or possibly the lateJurassic period (Dibblee 1967:43). Early in theCenozoic Era thisbatholith was exposed in the area surrounding Rainbow Basin and bent downward as it underwent compression, to form a basin (Bureau of Land Management 1992:30). Sediments deposited in this basin became thesedimentary rocks that are most visible in Rainbow Basin today (Dibblee 1968:56-57). Further compression, uplift, and finally extension left these sedimentary formations deeply folded, the most prominent fold being the BarstowSyncline . These same stresses also produced several faults in the Rainbow Basin area (Bureau of Land Management 1992:30).The thick sedimentary layers can be divided into three distinct formations. The lowest is called the Jackhammer Formation, and it is composed of layers of
sandstone ,siltstone ,limestone , and conglomerate, all probably dating to the early to middleTertiary period (Dibblee 1968:18).Above this is the Pickhandle Formation. The sediments making up this formation are mostly of
volcanic origin –tuff ,rhyolite andandesite (Dibblee 1967:84), indicating that they were laid down during a period of activevolcanism . That time was probably during the earlyMiocene (Dibblee 1968:23).The highest of the three formations is the Barstow Formation, which is made up of layers of conglomerate,
limestone ,sandstone , andshale (Dibblee 1967:86). This formation dates to the middle to lateMiocene (Lindsay 1972:15) and it contains one of the largestCenozoic fossil assemblages inNorth America (Dibblee 1968:32). Most of the sediment that makes up the layers in this formation was stream-laid (Dibblee 1968:28), but there is a white layer ofrhyolitic tuff (sometimes called "marker tuff") near the top (Dibblee 1967:86).Finally, on top of everything else, is a relatively thin layer of
fanglomerate (alluvial fan deposits) laid down during the latePleistocene (Bureau of Land Management 1992:31). Differentialerosion of rocks of different hardness finished the job of sculpting the formations into the fantastic shapes that can be seen in Rainbow Basin today (Dibblee 1968:52).Fossil Beds
The majority of the
fossil beds in Rainbow Basin are found within thesedimentary rocks of the Barstow Formation. They include many animals not found inCalifornia today, includingcamels ,horses .mastodons , andflamingos (Lindsay 1972:15), (Bureau of Land Management 1992:33). This unique collection of animals is representative of the "Barstovian Land Mammal age". In1941 Rainbow Basin was designated the type reference for the "Barstovian Land Mammal age" by theNorth American Paleontological Society (Bureau of Land Management 1992:33).Access
Rainbow Basin is open to the public by means of a one-way dirt road that loops through the basin. There is no camping within Rainbow Basin itself, but the Owl Canyon Campground is nearby.
Fossils can not be collected without a permit. Anyone planning a trip to this natural landmark should keep in mind that it is adesert area, and take appropriate safety precautions.External links
* [http://www.blm.gov/ca/barstow/basin.html Rainbow Basin Natural Area BLM page]
* [http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/museum/exhibits/geological_sciences/slideshow.htm San Bernardino County Museum's "Barstow Fossil Beds: Motherlode of the Miocene" online slide show]References
*Bureau of Land Management
**1991 "Management Plan for the Rainbow Basin Natural Area." Barstow Resource Area, California Desert District, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, Barstow.*Dibblee Jr., Thomas W.
**1967 "Areal Geology of the Western Mojave Desert, California." Geological Survey Professional Paper no. 522. United States Government Printing Office, Washington D. C.*Dibblee Jr., Thomas W.
**1968 "Geology of the Fremont Peak and Opal Mountain Quadrangles, California." California Division of Mines and Geology, San Francisco.*Lindsay, Everett H.
**1972 "Small Mammal Fossils from the Barstow Formation, California." University of California Publications in Geological Sciences Vol. 93. University of California Press, Berkeley.
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