Carlin Canyon, Nevada

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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	East of the Carlin tunnels on I-80 are thick horizontal Tertiary continental deposits.
	The unconformity is easy to see north of I-80 just west of the tunnels near Carlin. The truncation of the vertical layers marks the unconformity.
	There's a pulloff immediately west of the tunnels but re-entering the highway is dangerous because traffic in the tunnels is invisible. Sound rather than sight is the best indicator.
	Exit at the first Carlin exit and head south until the street ends. There is a sign for the canyon.
	View of the highway and railroad tunnels
	The road follows old US 50 under the interstate
	The truncation of the vertical layers marks the unconformity.
	The BLM has recognized the geologic significance of the site.
	View of I-80 and the tunnels.
	Left and below: vertical Cambrian conglomerate layers. Near the unconformity they include siltstones and cherts.
	Left and below: close-ups of the unconformity. Cambrian conglomerates are vertical and orange, late Paleozoic limestones are gray and dipping to the right.
	Late Paleozoic limestones
	Close-up of late Paleozoic limestones
	Cliff of late Paleozoic limestones
	Although little more than a stream, the Humboldt River snakes around and through the ranges of Nevada and furnishes a travel route followed by everyone from Indians to the modern Interstate.
	A placard on the far end of the road just before it ends describes the history of the route.
	View north along the Humboldt River to the unconformity. The hill left of the river is a dip slope in the limestone.
	Closer view of the unconformity, here visible mostly by color contrast.
	Left and below: views south along the Humboldt River looking back toward the historical marker. The dip slope is on the right side of the river.
	View west from the unconformity of the vertical conglomerate layers.
	The unconformity actually can be traced for some distance. Here we see a ridge of vertical conglomerate in the foreground and dipping limestone layers on the top of the distant ridge. This view is looking east from near the geologic marker.
	The Interstate tunnels actually cut through the unconformity. The red band right of the tunnels marks the start of the vertical conglomerates, and most of the face consists of limestone. Because we are looking perpendicular to the strike, the angular relationships are not obvious. There is actually a double unconformity here. At far left horizontal fan deposits can be seen resting on the limestones.
	Fan deposits (left of the yellow sign), limestone (yellowish blocky material) and conglomerates (reddish). The conglomerate band can also be traced horizontally across the hill to the right of the cut. The top is the unconformity.

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Created 7 April 2003, Last Update 10 August 2004

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