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U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 2006-1042
Version 1.0

Gravity and Magnetic Data in the Vicinity of Virgin Valley, Southern Nevada

By Robert L. Morin

2006

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Isostatic gravity map of Virgin Valley (from figure 2)

Gravity and magnetic data were collected in the vicinity of Virgin Valley to help better characterize the buried sedimentary Mesquite and Mormon basins. Detailed gravity measurements were made over the buried saddle between the Mesquite and Mormon basins, discovered by earlier gravity studies, in order to calculate the depth to pre-Cenozoic basement. The purpose of this study was to provide estimates of sedimentary fill in this area prior to drilling a water well on Mormon Mesa. The calculated depth-to-basement results in an estimate of about 1.5 km of alluvial fill in this area. Additional gravity data were collected to help better define the shape and magnitude of the anomaly associated with the Mesquite Basin. Testing of an experimental towed magnetometer was also carried out, which showed very good correlation with an existing aeromagnetic survey.

Download this report as an 18-page PDF document (of2006-1042.pdf; 10.1 MB)

Go to the data folder that contains ASCII files (gravity-data.txt, mesquite-mag-data.txt, and mormon-mesa-mag-data.txt; 864 KB total)

Go to the eps folder that contains Encapulated PostScript (.eps) versions of the nine figures. These are the original high-quality vector files that were downsampled for the text (41.2 MB total)

For questions about the content of this report, contact Bob Morin.

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URL of this page: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1042/
Maintained by: Michael Diggles
Date created: February 21, 2006
Date last modified: February 21, 2006 (mfd)