Mohave Community College

ROCKS OF MOHAVE COUNTY
An Educational Landscape Project by Dr. Doyle Wilson

(Click on the links to the right to view rock locations.)

Introduction - This project is intended to present an opportunity for visitors at the Lake Havasu City Campus to learn about the geologic diversity of Mohave County, the fifth largest county (at 13,470 sq. miles) in the lower forty-eight states. (That's bigger than the states of Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticutt, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maryland.) The county encompasses the three main distinct geologic provinces recognized in Arizona; the Colorado Plateau, the Basin and Range, and the Transition Zone between the other two regions (Figure 1). Boulder-sized specimen with distinctive features from these provinces have been collected, placed on campus by province and signed with a rock description, including an approximation where the rock was found in the county (Figure 2a and 2b).

Figure 1

Figure 2a

Figure 2b

Rocks from a distinct subset of the Basin and Range, known as the Colorado River Extensional Corridor, have been separated on campus from the main Basin and Range group. Not all rock types can be represented as some do not weather into boulders, but break down into much smaller particles. Unconsolidated sediments, shales, and various volcanic units are such examples. A brief geologic description of each area is given below. Geologic time periods given in the descriptions can be referred to on an accompanying geologic time chart.

A Brief Overview of the Geology of Mohave County - For a brief overview of the geology of Mohave County, please look at the pages for the Basin & Range, Colorado River Corridor, and Colorado Plateau.