Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Provenance of sandstones in the Golconda terrane, north central Nevada

Conference · · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)
OSTI ID:5211281
 [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley (United States)

The upper Paleozoic Golconda terrane of north-central Nevada is a composite of several structurally bounded subterranes made of clastic, volcanic, and carbonate rocks. The clastic rocks provide important clues for the interpretation of the provenance and paleogeographic settings of the different lithologic assemblages found in these subterranes. Two petrographically distinct sandstones are identified in the Golconda terrane in the Osgood Mountains and the Hot springs Range of north-central Nevada. The sandstone of the Mississippian Farrel Canyon Formation, part of the Dry Hills subterrane, is characterized by quartzose and sedimentary and lithic-rich clasts with a small feldspar component. in contrast, the sandstone of the Permian Poverty Peak (II) subterrane is a silty quartzarenite with no lithic component, and a very limited feldspar component. The sandstone of the Farrel Canyon Formation is similar to nonvolcanic sandstones reported from elsewhere in the Golconda terrane. Modal data reflect a provenance of a recycled orogen and permit the interpretation that it could have been derived from the antler orogen as has been proposed for other sandstones of the golconda terrane. The sandstone of the Poverty Peak (II) subterrane is more mature than any of the other sandstones in either the Golconda terrane, the Antler overlap sequence, or the Antler foreland basin sequence. Modal data put the Poverty Peak (II) sandstone in the continental block provenance category. The distinct extrabasinal provenances represented in these different sandstones support the idea that the Golconda basin was made up of complex paleogeographic settings, which included multiple sources of extrabasinal sediment.

OSTI ID:
5211281
Report Number(s):
CONF-9103128--
Journal Information:
AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Vol. 75:2; ISSN AABUD; ISSN 0149-1423
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Lithotectonic units in the Golconda allochthon, Nevada
Conference · Thu Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) · OSTI ID:5170881

Tectonostratigraphic relations in the Upper Paleozoic Havallah sequence, Golconda allochthon, Battle Mountain, Nevada: Significance of the Willow Creek thrust
Conference · Wed Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) · OSTI ID:5436286

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