This mountain range is south of Death Valley National Park, south of the Quail Mountains, and west of the Avawatz Mountains. It is named in the southern portion of the following USGS 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle maps: West of Leach Spring, Leach Spring, and Leach Lake; and the northern portion of West of Drinkwater Lake and Drinkwater Lake. The mountain range extends slightly into the northern edge of West of Nelson Lake and Nelson Lake 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle maps.
The highest peak in the Granite Mountains is an unnamed peak at 35°27′5.27″N116°35′45.38″W / 35.4514639°N 116.5959389°W / 35.4514639; -116.5959389 in the Drinkwater Lake 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle.[4] This peak has a summit elevation of 5,299 ft (1,615 m) above sea level.[5] A road and power line go to the top, where there are several structures and two radio facilities.[6] Microwave antennas and video cameras there are used to monitor military training exercises in the valley to the south and live-fire exercises conducted north of the range.[2][7]
Geology
According the geologic mapping of Jennings and others,[8][9] the Granite Mountains are almost entirely underlain by undifferentiated Mesozoicgranitic rocks. Only at the very west and southwestern parts of its mountains and hills are mapped as Cenozoicbasalts and basaltic pyroclastic rocks. In their subsequent geologic map, Miller and others,[10] identified the granitic rocks of Jennings and others as felsicplutonic rocks that weather to grus and Jennings and others' basaltic rocks as either mafic volcanic rocks or felsic volcanic rocks. In their text, Miller and others also refer to the presence of ...diverse metavolcanic rocks probably of Jurassic age... in the eastern Granite Mountains although metamorphic rocks are not mapped by them anywhere in the Granite Mountains.[10]
The Granite Mountains fault zone runs through most of the range. It consists of three main segments that are about 43.5 mi (70.0 km) in total length.[11][12] It is shown in pink in the figure in the Faults of Southern California Mojave Region.[13]
^Jennings, C.W., 1994. Fault Activity Map of California and Adjacent Areas with Location and Ages of Recent Volcanic Eruptions. California Geologic Data Map Series, Map No. 6. California Division of Mines and Geology.