Titus Canyon/Megabreccia
GF2i. Location/Access:(36o 49.298’N, 117o 09.908’W) Site GF2i is located 2.9 miles down the canyon from the previous stop and 22.6 miles from the highway. It is best visible on the south canyon wall at eye level.
Best Time: Anytime as this wall is usually in shadow.
Geology: A very interesting rock. The term “megabreccia” implies a rock composed of very large angular fragments. The large gray fragments are composed of limestone and the white material between the fragments is also a form of limestone: Travertine. As the gray blocks moved apart, the white travertine, probably deposited by groundwater, filled in the spaces. A little further down the canyon, you can see the layered growth pattern of the travertine more clearly. This rock’s origin is obviously tectonically controlled by folding or perhaps faulting at some distance. There is another example of this type of rock across Death Valley at Site NP4c in Cottonwood Canyon. You are getting close to the end of Titus Canyon. In fact, people often walk to this site from the parking area at the mouth of the canyon. At this point and on down to the canyon bottom, you are in the classic hourglass narrows of a desert canyon where all the water and mudflow/debris flow materials have come together from the broad, more open canyon above and have scoured the limestone walls of the canyon into the smooth sides you see here.
