Fission track evidence for widespread early to Middle miocene extension in the northern Basin and Range province

Conference · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:5436090

Dumitru, T; Miller, E; Savage, C ^[1]; Gans, P ^[2]; Brown, R ^[3]

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1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Geological Dept.
2. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Geological Science Dept.
3. La Trobe Univ., Bundoora, Victoria (Australia). Geology Dept.

The northern Basin and Range province has experienced multiple periods of extension but the precise timing and relative importance of the various periods is poorly known. Geologic data in many areas suggest inception of extension was closely tied with the southward sweep in earliest magmatism, which is Eocene in southern Idaho, Oligocene in east-central Nevada, and Miocene in southern Nevada. Ar/Ar ages suggest that extension continued into the Early Miocene in areas such as the Raft River, Albion, Ruby, and Snake Range metamorphic core complexes. Youthful topography and recent faulting have been taken as indicating that faulting leading to present physiography is commonly younger than [approximately]10 Ma. New apatite fission track cooling age and track length data, supplemented by other information, point to the Early to Middle Miocene as an additional time of very significant extension-induced uplift and range formation. Many ranges in a 700-km-long north-south corridor from the Utah-Nevada-Idaho border to southernmost Nevada experience extension and major exhumation in Early to Middle Miocene time. Whether extension of Early to Middle Miocene age is restricted to this corridor or is more widespread is unclear due to the paucity of similar data to the east and west. Reconnaissance apatite ages from the Toiyabe Range and environs (NV) are [approximately]15 Ma and geologic data indicate Early to Middle Miocene extension at Yerington NV (Proffet and Dillis, 1984). Thus, it appears from the available data that the Early to Middle Miocene was an important, and previously little recognized, period of major extension over broad areas of the northern Basin and Range.

• OSTI ID: 5436090
• Report Number(s): CONF-9305259--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 25:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
AGE ESTIMATION
APATITES
CENOZOIC ERA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FISSION TRACKS
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
GEOMORPHOLOGY
IDAHO
IGNEOUS ROCKS
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
MINERALS
MIOCENE EPOCH
NEVADA
NORTH AMERICA
OROGENESIS
PARTICLE TRACKS
PHOSPHATE MINERALS
ROCKS
TERTIARY PERIOD
USA
UTAH
VOLCANIC ROCKS