Mukul Sharma

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Northern Sierra Nevada

• Mukul Sharma
• Dartmouth College

Geology Gold Mineralization Mining
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Plate Tectonics
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Ophiolite
Continents grow by peripheral accretion.
Ophiolites mark the location where the two
continental masses were sutured together.
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Global distribution of ophiolites formed during
the 750 million years
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Outboard continental blocks of North America
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Feather River Serpentinite
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Mother Lode!!
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Summary of what we will learn in this segment

• Rocks that make up
• The ancient oceanic crustFeather river belt
  Ophiolite
  
• Ancient sediments deposited in the trenches and
  their metamorphism
  
• The Sierra Nevada
• Gold mineralization
• Host rocks mechanisms that concentrate gold
• History of California Gold Rush Mining methods

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Moon over the northern Sierras