Geology of the Desert Hot Springs-Upper Coachella Valley Area, California (with a selected bibliography of the Coachella Valley, Salton Sea, and vicinity)

The Desert Hot Springs area is in the upper Coachella Valley at the junction of three natural geomorphic provinces of California--the Transverse Ranges, the Peninsular Ranges, and the Colorado Desert. The mapped area is about 100 miles east of Los Angeles and lies principally in north central Riverside County. The oldest rocks in the area are Precambrian(?) amphibolitic and migmatized paragneisses of the San Gorgonio igneous-metamorphic (Chuckwalla) complex. They are intruded by Cretaceous diorite porphyry, Cactus Granite, quartz monzonite, intrusive breccia, and basic plutonic rocks. Of probable late Paleozoic age are the metamorphic rocks of the San Jacinto Mountains which form spurs projecting into San Gorgonio Pass and Coachella Valley