Geometry and depositional history of the southern Antler foreland basin, Eleana FM, Nevada Test Site
- Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences
Analysis of the Mississippian Eleana Formation on the Nevada Test Site allows new insight into the history of filling and three-dimensional shape of the southern end of the Antler foreland basin. Previous work has shown that the Eleana Fm. comprises a relatively thick section of submarine-fan sediments, time equivalent to the deep-marine Chainman Shale and the fluvial to shallow-marine Diamond Peak Fm. in central Nevada. The mudstone section originally described as the upper part of the Eleana Fm. is coeval with, but does not record, submarine-fan deposition, and is not discussed here. The Eleana Fm. occurs in at least two fault slices that juxtapose unlike stratigraphic sections. Lower plate stratigraphy includes multiple channel-complex and fan lobe facies, with dominant paleoflow to the south-southwest, changing upward to southeast. Upper plate strata comprise a single, fining-upward sequence of inner-fan channel conglomerate and sandstone, giving way upward to intra-channel pelagic sediments, with dominant paleoflow to the south and southwest. Submarine fan deposition persisted from latest Devonian until at least latest Mississippian time. The upper plate has apparently been carried eastward over the lower, but accurate restoration of original lateral relationships between fault slices is not yet possible. The upper plate is interpreted as the main, axial submarine-fan, while the lower plate is thought to be a prograding eastern fan-fringe deposit. These strata record the filling of a remnant ocean basin that persisted at the southern end of the orogen after the basin was filled to sea-level in the north. This basin was filled axially by sediments from the north, both recycled early foreland fill and Antler orogenic sediments and volcanics.
- OSTI ID:
- 5023782
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9305259-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:5; Conference: 89. annual meeting of the Cordilleran Section and the 46th annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Reno, NV (United States), 19-21 May 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
DEPOSITION
NEVADA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
STRATIGRAPHY
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOMETRY
NEVADA TEST SITE
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
MATHEMATICS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
ROCKS
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
580000* - Geosciences