The Triassic section north of Currie, Elko County, Nevada
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
More than 600 m of Triassic strata are exposed just N of Currie, Nevada in secs. 8--9 T29N, R64E. The Thaynes Formation is 468 m of limestone, calcareous shale and siltstone that rest disconformably on the Permian Gerster Formation. A 7.7-m-thick interval of ammonite packstones is 8.8 m above the base of the Thaynes in the NW1/4NW1/SW1/4 sec. 8. Ammonites from these packstones indicate the Tardus Zone of late Smithian age. The Shinarump Formation of the Chinle Group (Upper Triassic) disconformably overlies the Thaynes Formation and is 19.4 m of trough-crossbedded, silica-pebble conglomerate and quartzarenite with silicified wood in the SW1/4SW1/4SW1/4 sec. 9. Shinarump crossbeds dip to the N. Chinle Group strata above the Shinarump are 169.2 m thick and consist of reddish brown siltstone, fine sandstone and minor micritic limestone. Ripple laminations and horizontal bedding are the dominant bedforms. These strata are assigned to the Rock Point Formation, the top of which is cut by a fault N of Currie. Upper Triassic nonmarine strata north of Currie are the northwesternmost outcrops of the Chinle Group. Rock Point strata here are tidal flat facies that indicate proximity of the Late Triassic shoreline in northeastern Nevada. However, it is likely that the Chinle Group strata N of Currie are allochthonous, having been originally deposited to the E in what is now Utah.
- OSTI ID:
- 5098721
- 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
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