English: Carbonate megabreccia in California, USA.

This outcrop is along the walls of Titus Canyon in the Grapevine Mountains of Death Valley National Park, California. The mountain range is a horst - an uplifted block formed by extensional tectonics. To the west of here is Death Valley, which is a graben - a down-dropped block formed by the same process. In terrains with horsts and grabens, major normal faults define the boundaries between mountain ranges and valleys. Death Valley is an especially low graben. Its valley floor reaches well below sea level (about 280 feet).

The rocks seen here consist of a carbonate megabreccia. Breccias are poorly sorted rocks with angular clasts - a mix of large and small pieces, with angular-shaped large pieces. Many specific varieties of breccia exist (e.g., volcanic breccia, sedimentary breccia, karst collapse breccia, impact breccia, fault breccia, etc.). This one is a fault breccia. The gray colored clasts are limestone fragments of the Cambrian-aged Bonanza King Formation. The light-colored material between the clasts is calcite cement.

Locality: Titus Canyon Narrows, Grapevine Mountains, Death Valley National Park, eastern Inyo County, California, USA