Allochthonous deep-water basin deposits of the western US: Implications for Paleozoic paleogeography and plate margin tectonics

Conference · Wed Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:5098348

Miller, E L ^[1]

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1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Geology Dept.

The stratigraphy and sedimentology of the lower Paleozoic Roberts Mts. and upper Paleozoic Golconda allochthons can be used to reconstruct their general paleogeographic setting in the Paleozoic. Basalt pillow lavas and radiolarian chert, were once considered straightforward evidence that the allochthons represented imbricated ocean crust formed at sites far removed from continental influences. Better stratigraphic definition, provenance studies and geochemistry of lavas now indicate that clastic components were derived from the continental shelf or interior and basalts in the Roberts Mountains allochthon were erupted in an intraplate setting through thinned continental crust (Madrid, 1987). Both in the earliest Mississippian and in the Late Permian, the Antler Basin (Roberts Mts.) and the Havallah Basin (Golconda) received proximal detritus from island arc sources to the west, immediately prior to closure of the basins by thrust-faulting. These data suggest that both systems of basins formed as marginal basins by rifting on the continental shelf (Antler Basin) and along the continental margin (Havallah Basin) and were flanked to the west by active island arcs at least during part of their history. As such, their stratigraphy provides a great deal of insight regarding tectonism along the western plate margin of North America during the Paleozoic.

• OSTI ID: 5098348
• Report Number(s): CONF-9305259--
• Journal Information: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Vol. 25:5; ISSN GAAPBC; ISSN 0016-7592
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
BASALT
CALIFORNIA
CHEMISTRY
CONTINENTAL CRUST
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EARTH CRUST
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
IGNEOUS ROCKS
NEVADA
NORTH AMERICA
OCEANIC CRUST
PALEOZOIC ERA
PETROGENESIS
PETROLOGY
PLATE TECTONICS
RIFT ZONES
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
STRATIGRAPHY
TECTONICS
USA
VOLCANIC ROCKS