40Ar/39Ar age of the Lathrop Wells Volcanic Center, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Turrin BD, Champion D, Fleck RJ. 1991. 40Ar/39Ar age of the Lathrop Wells Volcanic Center, Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Science. 253(5020):654-657

Paleomagnetic and 40Ar/39Ar analyses from the Lathrop Wells volcanic center, Nevada, indicate that two eruptive events that have occured there. The ages (136 +/- 8 and 141 +/- 9 thousand years ago) for these two events are analytically indistinguishable. The small angular difference (4.7 degrees) between the palcomagnetic directions from these two events suggests they differ in age by only about 100 years. These ages are consistent with the chronology of the surficial geological units in the Yucca Mountain area. These results contradict earlier interpretations of the cinder-cone geomorphology and soil-profile data that suggest that at least five temporally discrete eruptive events occured at Lathrop Wells approximately 20,000 years ago.

Type
Journal Article
Authors
Turrin, Brent; Champion, Duane; Fleck, Robert
Units
DEVA
Keywords
Isotopic Dating, Lathrop Wells Volcanic Center Yucca Mountain NV

Series

Browse the catalog