The Delamar Mountains are a mountain range in Lincoln County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, named after Captain

Joseph Raphael De Lamar Joseph Raphael De Lamar (September 2, 1843 – December 1, 1918) was an American politician and businessman who owned and operated mines in the western United States and Canada. After working as a ship's captain, a contractor and a trader in t ...

. The range extends for approximately in a NNE–SSW orientation with a width of about . Surrounding ranges include the Burnt Springs Range and the Chief Range to the north, the

Clover Mountains The Clover Mountains are a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada. The Clover Mountains Wilderness makes up a large part of the mountain range. The Clover Mountains are the southern mountains on the east perimeter of the Meadow Valley Wash ...

and Meadow Valley Mountains to the east and the

Sheep Range The Sheep Range is located north of Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States. It is found in both Clark and Lincoln Counties in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. The mountains reach a peak at Hayford Peak, above sea level between the Las Veg ...

and South Pahroc Range on the west. The Delamar Valley lies to the west, the Kane Springs Valley to the east and the Coyote Springs Valley lies to the south of the range.''Clover Mts., Nevada–Utah,'' 30x60 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1978

U.S. Route 93 U.S. Route 93 (US 93) is a major north–south U.S. Numbered Highway in the western United States, that connects U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in Wickenburg, Arizona, with British Columbia Highway 93 at the Canadian border (north of ...

traverses the north end of the range between Crystal Springs and Caliente. The elevation of the route reaches 6243 feet at Oak Springs Summit pass.

Nevada State Route 317 State Route 317 (SR 317) is a state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by ...

follows Rainbow Canyon south along the northeast margin of the range between Caliente and

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * Elgin, Manit ...

. The range's crest forms part of the

Great Basin Divide The Great Basin Divide in the western United States is the ridgeline that separates the Great Basin from the Pacific Ocean watershed, which completely surrounds it. The Great Basin is the largest set of contiguous endorheic watersheds of No ...

between the Meadow Watershed and the Dry Lake Watershed, which includes Delamar Dry Lake and the old mining townsite of Delamar.

Wilderness

The Delamar Mountains Wilderness covers 111,066 acres in the southern portion of the range and was established in 2004. The wilderness contains a multitude of peaks and hills connected by a network of washes, draws, and canyons. Elevations range from 2,600 feet (792 m) to 6,200 feet (1889 m). Wildlife include the

desert bighorn sheep The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The ...

as well as

desert tortoise The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii'') is a species of tortoise in the Family (biology), family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico ...

s in the lower elevation bajada sections.

Geology

The range contains

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedim ...

which were faulted and deformed during the

Sevier orogeny The Sevier orogeny was a mountain-building event that affected western North America from northern Canada to the north to Mexico to the south. The Sevier orogeny was the result of convergent boundary tectonic activity, and deformation occurred fr ...

. Two periods of silicic

volcanism Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...

occurred during the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

producing multiple layers of ash flow

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

. The first occurred during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

to early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

(27 to 18.6 Ma) with sources from the Central Nevada Caldera Complex and Caliente Caldera events. The Kane Springs Wash Caldera in the central part of the Delamar range and extending into the adjacent Meadow Valley Mountains erupted at 14.5 Ma producing the Kane Wash Tuff.Page, W.R., 1995, ''Low Angle Faults in Devonian Rocks of the Southern Delamar Mountains, Lincoln County, Nevada,'' pp 205-216 in USGS Bulletin 2056-G

References

{{reflist

External links

Delamar Mountains Facts Sheet
- BLM
Delamar Mountains Wilderness
- Friends of Nevada Wilderness Mountain ranges of Nevada Mountain ranges of the Great Basin Mountain ranges of Lincoln County, Nevada Wilderness areas of Nevada