Central Nevada thrust belt: its preseismic state of knowledge
- Anschutz Corp., Denver, CO (USA)
The Central Nevada thrust belt (CNTB) is an east-vergent intra-Cordilleran fold-thrust belt of probable Cretaceous age. It is 100 km (60 mi) wide and more than 300 km (190 mi) long and merges near Las Vegas with the Sevier segment of the Overthrust belt. The CNTB affects 7 km (22,000 ft) of Paleozoic shelf deposits and contains significant Paleozoic-sourced oil in Tertiary fault blocks with uncertain but possibly thrust-related internal structure. Ongoing frontier exploration in the CNTB looks for thrust juxtaposition (present over the full width of the CNTB) of Mississippian source rocks beneath Devonian reefal and fractured carbonate reservoirs. Source and reservoir are involved in subunconformity traps beneath the valley fill and in subthrust duplex traps anywhere. Surface sampling suggests that maturation of Mississippian organic matter was achieved by stratigraphic burial and was little affected by thrust loading and Neogene volcanism. Present knowledge of the CNTB is based on early wells in foothills anticlines, extensive surface mapping, the Cordilleran COCORP line, and seismic data of limited scope. Their regional synthesis and chance location of some prospective trends have been done by arranging the data into semibalanced cross sections. The authors have used Dahlstromian and Suppean geometry, the authors have assumed crustal responses to thrusting, and they have applied a modified Wernicke model of Tertiary extensional tectonics.
- OSTI ID:
- 5628897
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-890404--
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Vol. 73:3; ISSN 0149-1423; ISSN AABUD
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Stratigraphy, structural geology, and hydrocarbon habitat in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountain Foothills belt
Structure, burial history, and petroleum potential of frontal thrust belt and adjacent foreland, southwest Montana
Related Subjects
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
CENOZOIC ERA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
CROSS SECTIONS
EXPLORATION
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MAPPING
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
NEVADA
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESOURCES
TECTONICS
TERTIARY PERIOD
USA