scholarly journals Magmatism, migrating topography, and the transition from Sevier shortening to Basin and Range extension, western United States

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens-Erik Lund Snee ◽  
Elizabeth L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Basin And Range ◽  
Range Extension ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Geologic Mapping ◽  
North American Cordillera ◽  
The North ◽  
Volcanic Tableland

ABSTRACT The paleogeographic evolution of the western U.S. Great Basin from the Late Cretaceous to the Cenozoic is critical to understanding how the North American Cordillera at this latitude transitioned from Mesozoic shortening to Cenozoic extension. According to a widely applied model, Cenozoic extension was driven by collapse of elevated crust supported by crustal thicknesses that were potentially double the present ~30–35 km. This model is difficult to reconcile with more recent estimates of moderate regional extension (≤50%) and the discovery that most high-angle, Basin and Range faults slipped rapidly ca. 17 Ma, tens of millions of years after crustal thickening occurred. Here, we integrated new and existing geochronology and geologic mapping in the Elko area of northeast Nevada, one of the few places in the Great Basin with substantial exposures of Paleogene strata. We improved the age control for strata that have been targeted for studies of regional paleoelevation and paleoclimate across this critical time span. In addition, a regional compilation of the ages of material within a network of middle Cenozoic paleodrainages that developed across the Great Basin shows that the age of basal paleovalley fill decreases southward roughly synchronous with voluminous ignimbrite flareup volcanism that swept south across the region ca. 45–20 Ma. Integrating these data sets with the regional record of faulting, sedimentation, erosion, and magmatism, we suggest that volcanism was accompanied by an elevation increase that disrupted drainage systems and shifted the continental divide east into central Nevada from its Late Cretaceous location along the Sierra Nevada arc. The north-south Eocene–Oligocene drainage divide defined by mapping of paleovalleys may thus have evolved as a dynamic feature that propagated southward with magmatism. Despite some local faulting, the northern Great Basin became a vast, elevated volcanic tableland that persisted until dissection by Basin and Range faulting that began ca. 21–17 Ma. Based on this more detailed geologic framework, it is unlikely that Basin and Range extension was driven by Cretaceous crustal overthickening; rather, preexisting crustal structure was just one of several factors that that led to Basin and Range faulting after ca. 17 Ma—in addition to thermal weakening of the crust associated with Cenozoic magmatism, thermally supported elevation, and changing boundary conditions. Because these causal factors evolved long after crustal thickening ended, during final removal and fragmentation of the shallowly subducting Farallon slab, they are compatible with normal-thickness (~45–50 km) crust beneath the Great Basin prior to extension and do not require development of a strongly elevated, Altiplano-like region during Mesozoic shortening.

LATE CRETACEOUS EXHUMATION OF UNDERPLATED METASEDIMENTARY ROCKS IN THE NORTH AMERICAN CORDILLERA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Matthews ◽  
◽  
Marie-Pier Boivin ◽  
Kirsten Sauer ◽  
Daniel S. Coutts
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
North American ◽  
North American Cordillera ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
The North

Holocene Climatic Variations Inferred from Treeline Fluctuations in the White Mountains, California

1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valmore C. LaMarche
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
North American Cordillera ◽  
Climatic Variations ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Pinus Longaeva ◽  
Bristlecone Pine ◽  
Dry Conditions

AbstractRemains of dead bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva Bailey) are found at altitudes up to 150 m above present treeline in the White Mountains. Standing snags and remnants in two study areas were mapped and sampled for dating by tree-ring and radiocarbon methods. The oldest remnants represent trees established more than 7400 y.a. Experimental and empirical evidence indicates that the position of the treeline is closely related to warm-season temperatures, but that precipitation may also be important in at least one of the areas. The upper treeline was at high levels in both areas until after about 2200 B.C., indicating warm-season temperatures about 3.5°F higher than those of the past few hundred years. However, the record is incomplete, relative warmth may have been maintained until at least 1500 B.C. Cooler and wetter conditions are indicated for the period 1500 B.C.-500 B.C., followed by a period of cool but drier climate. A major treeline decline occurred between about A.D. 1100 and A.D. 1500, probably reflecting onset of cold and dry conditions. High reproduction rates and establishment of scattered seedlings at high altitudes within the past 100 yr represents an incipient treeline advance, which reflected a general climatic warming beginning in the mid-19th century that has lasted until recent decades in the western United States. This evidence for climatic variation is broadly consistent with the record of Neoglacial advances in the North American Cordillera, and supports Antevs' concept of a warm “altithermal age” in the Great Basin.

scholarly journals Petrogenesis of Mesozoic, Peraluminous Granites in the Lamoille Canyon Area, Ruby Mountains, Nevada, USA

2003 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 713-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-Yun Lee ◽  
Calvin G. Barnes ◽  
Arthur W. Snoke ◽  
Keith A. Howard ◽  
Carol D. Frost
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Heat Input ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Dehydration Melting ◽  
Granitic Gneiss ◽  
Peraluminous Granites ◽  
Ruby Mountains ◽  
Sevier Orogeny ◽  
Biotite Dehydration Melting

Abstract Two groups of closely associated, peraluminous, two-mica granitic gneiss were identified in the area. The older, sparsely distributed unit is equigranular (EG) with initial εNd ∼ − 8·8 and initial 87Sr/86Sr ∼0·7098. Its age is uncertain. The younger unit is Late Cretaceous (∼80 Ma), pegmatitic, and sillimanite-bearing (KPG), with εNd from −15·8 to −17·3 and initial 87Sr/86Sr from 0·7157 to 0·7198. The concentrations of Fe, Mg, Na, Ca, Sr, V, Zr, Zn and Hf are higher, and K, Rb and Th are lower in the EG. Major- and trace-element models indicate that the KPG was derived by muscovite dehydration melting (<35 km depth) of Neoproterozoic metapelitic rocks that are widespread in the eastern Great Basin. The models are broadly consistent with anatexis of crust tectonically thickened during the Sevier orogeny; no mantle mass or heat contribution was necessary. As such, this unit represents one crustal end-member of regional Late Cretaceous peraluminous granites. The EG was produced by biotite dehydration melting at greater depths, with garnet stable in the residue. The source of the EG was probably Paleoproterozoic metagraywacke. Because EG magmatism probably pre-dated Late Cretaceous crustal thickening, it required heat input from the mantle or from mantle-derived magma.

PROBING THE CORE OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CORDILLERA -- INSIGHTS FROM GEOLOGIC MAPPING OF THE PEQUOP MOUNTAINS, NE NEVADA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew V. Zuza ◽  
◽  
Christopher D. Henry ◽  
Michael W. Ressel ◽  
Charles H. Thorman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Geologic Mapping ◽  
North American Cordillera ◽  
The Core ◽  
The North

Extracting ore-deposit-controlling structures from aeromagnetic, gravimetric, topographic, and regional geologic data in western Yukon and eastern Alaska

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. SJ75-SJ102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matías G. Sánchez ◽  
Murray M. Allan ◽  
Craig J. R. Hart ◽  
James K. Mortensen
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Spatial Density ◽  
Variable Intensity ◽  
North American Cordillera ◽  
Magmatic Arc ◽  
Fault Systems ◽  
The North ◽  
Dextral Strike Slip Fault ◽  
Geologic Maps ◽  
First Vertical Derivative

Aeromagnetic lineaments interpreted from reduced-to-pole (RTP) magnetic grids were compared with gravity, topography, and field-based geologic maps to infer regional structural controls on hydrothermal mineral occurrences in a poorly exposed portion of the North American Cordillera in western Yukon and eastern Alaska. High-frequency and variable-intensity aeromagnetic lineaments corresponding to discontinuities with an aeromagnetic domain change were interpreted as steep-dipping and either magnetite-destructive or magnetite-additive faults. These structures were interpreted to be predominantly Cretaceous in age and to have formed after the collision of the Intermontane terranes with the ancient Pacific margin of North America. To demonstrate the reliability of the aeromagnetic interpretation, we developed a multidata set stacking methodology that assigns numeric values to individual lineaments depending on whether they can be traced in residuals and first vertical derivative of RTP aeromagnetic grids, isostatic residual gravity grids, digital topography, and regional geologic maps. The sum of all numeric values was used to estimate the likelihood of the aeromagnetic lineament as a true geologic fault. Fault systems were interpreted from zones of lineaments with high spatial density. Using this procedure, 10 major northwest-trending fault systems were recognized. These were oriented subparallel to the regional Cordilleran deformation fabric, the mid-Cretaceous Dawson Range magmatic arc, and well-established crustal-scale dextral strike-slip fault systems in the area. These orogen-parallel fault systems were interpreted to play a structural role in the emplacement of known porphyry Cu-Au and epithermal Au systems of mid-Cretaceous (115–98 Ma) and Late Cretaceous (79–72 Ma) age. The procedure also identified seven northeast-trending, orogen-perpendicular fault-fracture systems that are prominent in eastern Alaska and exhibit sinistral-to-oblique extensional kinematics. These structures were interpreted to govern the emplacement of Late Cretaceous (72–67 Ma) porphyry Mo- and Ag-rich polymetallic vein and carbonate replacement systems in the region.

scholarly journals Jurassic–Cenozoic tectonics of the Pequop Mountains, NE Nevada, in the North American Cordillera hinterland

Geosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew V. Zuza ◽  
Christopher D. Henry ◽  
Seth Dee ◽  
Charles H. Thorman ◽  
Matthew T. Heizler
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Metamorphic Core Complex ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Normal Faulting ◽  
Core Complex ◽  
The West ◽  
North American Cordillera ◽  
The North ◽  
Metamorphic Core

The Ruby Mountains–East Humboldt Range–Wood Hills–Pequop Mountains (REWP) metamorphic core complex, northeast Nevada, exposes a record of Mesozoic contraction and Cenozoic extension in the hinterland of the North American Cordillera. The timing, magnitude, and style of crustal thickening and succeeding crustal thinning have long been debated. The Pequop Mountains, comprising Neoproterozoic through Triassic strata, are the least deformed part of this composite metamorphic core complex, compared to the migmatitic and mylonitized ranges to the west, and provide the clearest field relationships for the Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonic evolution. New field, structural, geochronologic, and thermochronological observations based on 1:24,000-scale geologic mapping of the northern Pequop Mountains provide insights into the multi-stage tectonic history of the REWP. Polyphase cooling and reheating of the middle-upper crust was tracked over the range of <100 °C to 450 °C via novel 40Ar/39Ar multi-diffusion domain modeling of muscovite and K-feldspar and apatite fission-track dating. Important new observations and interpretations include: (1) crosscutting field relationships show that most of the contractional deformation in this region occurred just prior to, or during, the Middle-Late Jurassic Elko orogeny (ca. 170–157 Ma), with negligible Cretaceous shortening; (2) temperature-depth data rule out deep burial of Paleozoic stratigraphy, thus refuting models that incorporate large cryptic overthrust sheets; (3) Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene intrusions and associated thermal pulses metamorphosed the lower Paleozoic–Proterozoic rocks, and various thermochronometers record conductive cooling near original stratigraphic depths; (4) east-draining paleovalleys with ~1–1.5 km relief incised the region before ca. 41 Ma and were filled by 41–39.5 Ma volcanic rocks; and (5) low-angle normal faulting initiated after the Eocene, possibly as early as the late Oligocene, although basin-generating extension from high-angle normal faulting began in the middle Miocene. Observed Jurassic shortening is coeval with structures in the Luning-Fencemaker thrust belt to the west, and other strain documented across central-east Nevada and Utah, suggesting ~100 km Middle-Late Jurassic shortening across the Sierra Nevada retroarc. This phase of deformation correlates with terrane accretion in the Sierran forearc, increased North American–Farallon convergence rates, and enhanced Jurassic Sierran arc magmatism. Although spatially variable, the Cordilleran hinterland and the high plateau that developed across it (i.e., the hypothesized Nevadaplano) involved a dynamic pulsed evolution with significant phases of both Middle-Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous contractional deformation. Collapse long postdated all of this contraction. This complex geologic history set the stage for the Carlin-type gold deposit at Long Canyon, located along the eastern flank of the Pequop Mountains, and may provide important clues for future exploration.

Geochronology and paleoenvironment of pluvial Harper Lake, Mojave Desert, California, USA

2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna L. Garcia ◽  
Jeffrey R. Knott ◽  
Shannon A. Mahan ◽  
Jordon Bright
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
North American ◽  
Mojave Desert ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Jet Stream ◽  
Geologic Mapping ◽  
The North ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating ◽  
Marine Climate

AbstractAccurate reconstruction of the paleo-Mojave River and pluvial lake (Harper, Manix, Cronese, and Mojave) system of southern California is critical to understanding paleoclimate and the North American polar jet stream position over the last 500 ka. Previous studies inferred a polar jet stream south of 35°N at 18 ka and at ~ 40°N at 17–14 ka. Highstand sediments of Harper Lake, the upstream-most pluvial lake along the Mojave River, have yielded uncalibrated radiocarbon ages ranging from 24,000 to > 30,000 14C yr BP. Based on geologic mapping, radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating, we infer a ~ 45–40 ka age for the Harper Lake highstand sediments. Combining the Harper Lake highstand with other Great Basin pluvial lake/spring and marine climate records, we infer that the North American polar jet stream was south of 35°N about 45–40 ka, but shifted to 40°N by ~ 35 ka. Ostracodes (Limnocythere ceriotuberosa) from Harper Lake highstand sediments are consistent with an alkaline lake environment that received seasonal inflow from the Mojave River, thus confirming the lake was fed by the Mojave River. The ~ 45–40 ka highstand at Harper Lake coincides with a shallowing interval at downstream Lake Manix.

scholarly journals The unevenness of the north Iberian crustal root, a snapshot of an elusive stage in margin reactivation

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Fernández-Viejo ◽  
Patricia Cadenas ◽  
Jorge Acevedo ◽  
Sergio Llana-Fúnez
Keyword(s):  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Current View ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
The North ◽  
Cantabrian Range ◽  
Cantabrian Region ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Mountain Systems ◽  
Rugged Topography

Crustal roots are identified in collision chains worldwide. Frequently mirroring the summits of mountain systems, they elegantly encapsulate the concept of isostasy. The rugged topography of northern Iberia results from convergence with the European plate during the Alpine orogeny that formed the Pyrenean-Cantabrian mountain range. From east to west, the range comprises three distinct parts: the Pyrenees, the Basque Cantabrian region, and the Cantabrian Mountains. The identification of the Pyrenean root in the 1980s and the observation of a similar geometry beneath the Cantabrian range in the 1990s gave place to the current view of crustal thickening as a continuous feature, resulting from the northward subduction of Iberian crust. Recent developments in rift architecture have delivered a complex rifting template for the area prior to convergence, and contrasting views based on two-dimensional restorations have led to a debate over its evolution. A crucial geophysical constraint is Moho topography. Using two different data sets and techniques, we present the most accurate Moho surface to date, evidencing abrupt changes throughout the orogen. The complexity of hyperextended margins underlies the current Moho topography, and this is ultimately transferred to the nonuniform orogenic pattern found in northern Iberia.

PORT CAMPBELL REVIEWED: METHANE AND CHAMPAGNE

1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 418 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.D. Foster ◽  
A.J. Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Seismic Survey ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
3D Seismic ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
Natural Gas Markets ◽  
The North ◽  
Industrial Markets ◽  
Western Victoria ◽  
Gas Fields

Gas fields in the Port Campbell Embayment cur­rently supply all the natural gas markets (non-LPG) in western Victoria as well as commercial quanti­ties of carbon dioxide (C02) to industrial markets. Initial discoveries made between 1979 and 1981 were brought on-stream in 1986 with production from the North Paaratte field. Another substantial discovery was made in 1988, the Iona gas field, followed by the Boggy Creek C02 field in 1991, then the My lor and Langley fields in 1994. Discovery of Mylor marked the first recovery of oil from the Late Cretaceous Waarre Formation. Extensive 2D seis­mic data sets have been recorded in the region since 1979, and the first 3D seismic survey in the Otway Basin was carried out in 1993 extending beyond the area of the initial discoveries. No data on the fields have been published for nearly a decade and little detail about the structural and stratigraphic geol­ogy of the Late Cretaceous in the area has been documented. Summaries of the fields are presented incorporating many insights gained from interpre­tation of the 3D seismic data and its verification by the 'rotary lie detector'.

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