The Delamar Mountains are a mountain range in Lincoln County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, named after Captain

Joseph Raphael De Lamar Joseph Raphael De Lamar (September 2, 1843 – December 1, 1918) was a prominent mine owner and operator in the western United States and Canada, as well as a financier and speculator, from the late 1870s until his death in 1918. Early life ...

. The range extends for approximately in a NNE–SSW orientation with a width of about . Surrounding ranges include the

Burnt Springs Range The Burnt Springs Range is a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to ...

and the Chief Range to the north, the Clover Mountains 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 Vega ...

and South Pahroc Range on the west. The

Delamar Valley Delamar Valley is one of the central Nevada desert basins and the southern portion of the Dry Lake Watershed, including a low point on the serpentine section of the Great Basin Divide The Great Basin Divide in the western United States is the ...

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 numbered highway in the western United States. The southern terminus is at US 60 in Wickenburg, Arizona. The northern terminus is at the Canadian border north of Eureka in Lincoln Cou ...

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 in Lincoln County, Nevada, Lincoln County, Nevada. It connects the ghost town of Elgin, Nevada, Elgin north to U.S. Route 93 in Nevada, U.S. Route 93 (US 93) in the city of Caliente, Nevada, Caliente. ...

follows Rainbow Canyon south along the northeast margin of the range between Caliente and Elgin. 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 Delamar Dry Lake is a dry lake bed located in the Dry Lake Watershed near Alamo in Lincoln County, Nevada. It is located on federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Delamar Dry Lake Landing Strip Delamar Lake Landing Strip, ...

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 Mexic ...

s in the lower elevation bajada sections.

Geology

The range contains

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ...

sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particle ...

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 or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called a ...

occurred during the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configu ...

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 ...

. The first occurred during the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...

to early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first 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 means "less recen ...

(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

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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