Sierra Blanca Canyon Wash:
From Willow Canyon to Cascabel Formation

 

Note: this page is in initial form.

(Click on the image to enlarge it.)

The Hot Springs Canyon Thrust Fault is shown in the map at left as a black saw-toothed line.

At lower left portion, the Willow Canyon Formation (Kb) is marked in green. Above it, you cross the boundary with the Cascabel Formation (Kc), marked in yellow. Sierra Blanca is displayed in pink, representing the intrusive Galiuro Volcanics Formation.

 

At the Boundary:

The map below left shows the photostation No. 15, the location of the Thrust Fault. As you can see, it is located at the intersection of two large washes, at a rather level grade, the smaller one coming in from the east. Below right, a view of this confluence looking upstream, with the side-wash coming in on the right. The hillock in the foreground exposes Willow Canyon Formation. (Click on each image to enlarge it.)

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Below, two views of the Willow Canyon Formation along the east bank hillock just below the confluence. Note the sharp tilt of the Formation upwards toward the northeast, and how some of it attains colors from dark salmon to an almost orange color.(Click on each image to enlarge it.)

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In the map shown above, you can see a smaller side-wash descending from Sierra Blanca into a point just above the confluence. Below left, this wash enters at lef-center, and the WCF-CF interface is upstream from it a short distance, to the right of mid-photo. Below right, a close-up of the interface, with WCFat upper-left, thrusting against the CF cobble-to-boulder conglomerate at lower right: (Click on each image to enlarge it.)

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Below, a view of the interface from the other side of the wash. This gives a more vivid view of the collision, with the coarse CF conglomerate in the lower left half of the image, the WC finer, sharply tilting material at upper right. In the right-hand image, a red line marks roughly the point of the interface. (Click on each image to enlarge it.)

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Below, a view directly upstream from this point, showing the dark rosy-brown Cascabel Formation conglomerate exposed along both flanks of the wash: (Click on each image to enlarge it.)

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