Regional seismic reflection profile from Railroad Valley to Lake Valley, east-central Nevada, reveals a variety of structural styles beneath Neogene basins

Conference · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:5875393

Potter, C J; Grow, J A; Lund, K; Perry, Jr, W J; Miller, J J; Lee, M W ^[1]

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1. Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States)

Two seismic reflection lines that compose a 90-km east-west profile at approximately 38{degree}25{prime}N latitude, east-central Nevada, help define the structure beneath Railroad Valley, White River Valley, the southern Egan Range, Cave Valley, Muleshoe Valley, the southern Schell Creek Range, and Lake Valley, Preliminary seismic interpretations are being integrated with ongoing geologic mapping, gravity, and magnetic studies and with drill-hole data along this transect. In the Grant Canyon oil field of Railroad Valley, a gently west-dipping normal fault appears to have controlled the development of the Neogene basin. The fault is clearly defined by fault-plane reflections and by terminations of east-dipping reflections from Tertiary and Paleozoic strata that have rotated toward the fault; the fault projects to nearby outcrops of a major low-angle extensional fault mapped in the Grant Range to the east. White River Valley at this latitude consists of three east-dipping half-grabens and two intervening basement highs. Two half-grabens in the western part of the valley are bounded by west-dipping faults with intermediate to steep dips. East-dipping reflections in the southern Egan Range correspond to a homoclinal Paleozoic panel overlain by a veneer of Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary rocks. The north end of Muleshoe Valley yields a narrow sag basin pattern between the southern Schell Creek Range and Dutch John Mountain, with no well-defined bounding faults. Lake Valley, on the east end of the profile, is a broad, complex basin containing normal faults with opposing dips. The progressive steepening of westerly dips in basin-fill beneath the west side of the basin suggests the presence of a major east-dipping listric fault.

• OSTI ID: 5875393
• Report Number(s): CONF-9107109--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Journal Volume: 75:6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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