The Stirling Quartzite is a geologic formation in the northern Mojave Desert of Inyo County, California and Nye County and Clark County, Nevada.USGS.gov: "Stratigraphy and Structure Death Valley, California"; U.S. Government Printing Office; 1966.

It can be seen in the Panamint Range and Funeral Mountains adjoining Death Valley within Death Valley National Park; and in the Spring Mountains in Clark County. It also preserves rare fossils dating back to the Ediacaran period of the Neoproterozoic Era.

Geology The formation underlies the Wood Canyon Formation and overlies the Johnnie Formation. The formation itself, as the name suggests, mainly consists of quartzite rocks, interbedded with varying sandstones, siltstones, carbonate rocks and occasional pebble conglomerates. It is also noted that the mineral feldspars appears throughout the formation, which are weather from rounded to sub-angular grains.

Dating Whilst most studies agree that the Stirling Quartzite is firmly Ediacaran in age due to the base of the overlying Wood Canyon Formation being aged at the latest Ediacaran and the lower strata of the Johnnie Formation having a recovered date of , the Stirling Quartzite has not been properly dated, excluding provenances within the formation.

Using detrital zircon geochronology on two zircon sample groups, NR9 and NR30, collected from the aforementioned provenances within the Upper and Lower members of the Stirling Quartzite respectively. The age range recovered for the NR9 samples was between and , whilst the age range recovered for the NR30 samples was between and .

Paleobiota The Stirling Quartzite is home to very few and rare Ediacaran fossils, with assignments to all fossils found within being tentative at best.

incertae sedis

GenusSpeciesNotesImagesCloudinaCloudina sp.Tubular organism, tentative assignment.NimbiaN. occlusaDiscoidal organism, tentative assignment.

Ichnogenera

GenusSpeciesNotesImagesPlanolitesPlanolites isp.Burrows, occur right at the top of the "Upper Member".

See also

List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in California List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Nevada

References