Piggyback basin in the Sevier orogenic belt, Utah: Implications for development of the thrust wedge

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Geology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1991)019<0827:PBITSO>2.3.CO;2· OSTI ID:5941840

Lawton, T F ^[1]; Trexler, Jr, J H ^[2]

---

1. New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces (United States)
2. Univ. of Nevada, Reno (United States)

Timing data on a frontal thrust system indicate that the Sevier thrust wedge of central Utah advanced rapidly to is ultimate structural front in {approximately}30 m.y., between early Albian and Campanian time. It then persisted by out-of-sequence thrusting for an additional 25 m.y., until the early Eocene. The key to the history of the frontal thrust is a piggyback basin that formed on the hanging wall. Unconformity-bounded sedimentary units within the basin thin both westward and eastward onto structures generated by thrust faulting. Up to 860 m of upper Campanian to lower Eocene strata accumulated between these structures, which consist of a ramp anticline in the west and a thrust duplex in the east. The newly recognized interaction of coeval deposition and thrust deformation permits revised limits on the inception and longevity of the frontal thrust system.

• OSTI ID: 5941840
• Journal Information: Geology; (United States), Journal Name: Geology; (United States) Vol. 19:8; ISSN GLGYB; ISSN 0091-7613
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
DEFORMATION
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
OROGENESIS
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
TECTONICS
USA
UTAH
WESTERN US OVERTHRUST BELT