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Science 9 August 1991:
Vol. 253. no. 5020, pp. 654 - 657
DOI: 10.1126/science.253.5020.654
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Articles

40Ar/39Ar Age of the Lathrop Wells Volcanic Center, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

BRENT D. TURRIN 1, DUANE CHAMPION 2, and ROBERT J. FLECK 2

1 U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, and Institute of Human Origins, Geochronology Center, 2453 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709
2 U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025

Paleomagnetic and 40Ar/39Ar analyses from the Lathrop Wells volcanic center, Nevada, indicate that two eruptive events have occurred there. The ages (136 ± 8 and 141 ± 9 thousand years ago) for these two events are analytically indistinguishable. The small angular difference (4.7°) between the paleomagnetic directions from these two events suggests they differ in age by only about 100 years. These ages are consistent with the chronology of the surficial geological units in the Yucca Mountain area. These results contradict earlier interpretations of the cinder-cone geomorphology and soil-profile data that suggest that at least five temporally discrete eruptive events occurred at Lathrop Wells approximately 20,000 years ago.

Submitted on January 22, 1991
Accepted on June 3, 1991


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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