Paleogeographic and structural setting of Miocene strata in central western Nevada
- Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks as old as 19 Ma are widely distributed in central western Nevada. They are greatly more abundant than older Cenozoic strata and are commonly interpreted to have formed in fault-bounded basins that mark the onset of widespread extension in the Basin and Range Province. Miocene strata are largely coeval with a magmatic arc that extended south southeast near the boundary of the Basin and Range and Sierra Nevada Provinces. This arc produced voluminous andesitic flows and lahars that locally interfinger with the Miocene strata. Miocene depositional basins apparently varied greatly in size. The largest that can be defined clearly is the Esmeralda Basin that was at least 65 km long and 45 km wide. Other basins may have been larger but are difficult to reconstruct; still other basins may be small and isolated, particularly within the magmatic arc. Lacustrine deposits and minor interfingering deltaic and distal fluvial units predominate; near-source, coarse alluvial-fan and megabreccia landslide deposits are locally conspicuous. coarse near-source deposits, particularly landslide deposits, are interpreted to be adjacent to basin-bounding normal faults. The Esmeralda, Coal Valley, and Gabbs Valley-Stewart Valley-Tonopah Basins are interpreted to be related to large-scale Miocene extension. Other basins may be (1) pull-apart structures related to strike-slip faults, (2) downdropped blocks in areas of cross-cutting normal and/or strike-slip faults related to changes in the extension direction or (3) grabens or half-grabens related to uniform extension. Younger Cenozoic basins, including present-day basins, overprint and cut across the Miocene basins.
- OSTI ID:
- 5128036
- 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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