| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602
Early to mid-Cretaceous dextral strike-slip faulting, involving up to 400 km displacement, has been documented in the southern Sierra Nevada of California.In western Idaho, the Salmon River suture juxtaposes unrelated oceanic and continental rocks along a major, near-vertical shear zone that was active in the Early to mid-Cretaceous. These two structural zones have been treated as separate entities; however, new data indicate that they likely connect via a structural discontinuity in northwest Nevada and southeast Oregon, herein called the western Nevada shear zone (WNS).
Current structures within the WNS record dip-slip contractional deformation; however, regional relations (structural and stratigraphic) indicate a mismatch in the early Mesozoic geology of rocks across the WNS that is best explained by dextral strike-slip displacement of several 100 km. These relations argue that an early strike-slip structure along the WNS was reactivated and obscured during later regional shortening deformation, most likely related to the Cretaceous Sevier orogeny. The WNS is along strike and broadly coeval with the Salmon River suture zone and strike-slip boundaries in the Sierra Nevada. We hypothesize that all these features are related elements of a major structural boundary in the western United States Cordillera. This boundary is interpreted to have accommodated significant dextral strike-slip displacement of outboard arc terranes of the Cordillera in the Early Cretaceous, followed by reactivation as a localized contractional zone in the mid-Cretaceous during the Sevier orogeny. Cretaceous batholiths of the United States Cordillera closely parallel the boundary, which we suggest formed a major crustal flaw that localized and facilitated emplacement of arc magmas.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  T. A. LaMaskin, R. J. Dorsey, and J. D. Vervoort Tectonic Controls on Mudrock Geochemisry, Mesozoic Rocks of Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho, U.S.A.: Implications for Cordilleran Tectonics Journal of Sedimentary Research, December 1, 2008; 78(12): 765 - 783. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Giorgis, W. McClelland, A. Fayon, B. S. Singer, and B. Tikoff Timing of deformation and exhumation in the western Idaho shear zone, McCall, Idaho Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2008; 120(9-10): 1119 - 1133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. S. Oldow and E. S. Singleton Application of Terrestrial Laser Scanning in determining the pattern of late Pleistocene and Holocene fault displacement from the offset of pluvial lake shorelines in the Alvord extensional basin, northern Great Basin, USA Geosphere, June 1, 2008; 4(3): 536 - 563. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. R. Dickinson Accretionary Mesozoic-Cenozoic expansion of the Cordilleran continental margin in California and adjacent Oregon Geosphere, April 1, 2008; 4(2): 329 - 353. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. E. Jones Crafford Paleozoic tectonic domains of Nevada: An interpretive discussion to accompany the geologic map of Nevada Geosphere, February 1, 2008; 4(1): 260 - 291. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. J. Dorsey and T. A. LaMaskin Stratigraphic record of Triassic-Jurassic collisional tectonics in the Blue Mountains province, northeastern Oregon Am J Sci, December 1, 2007; 307(10): 1167 - 1193. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W.C. McClelland and J.S. Oldow Late Cretaceous truncation of the western Idaho shear zone in the central North American Cordillera Geology, August 1, 2007; 35(8): 723 - 726. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. R. Dickinson and W. R. Dickinson Geotectonic evolution of the Great Basin Geosphere, December 1, 2006; 2(7): 353 - 368. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. P. Colgan, T. A. Dumitru, P. W. Reiners, J. L. Wooden, and E. L. Miller Cenozoic Tectonic Evolution of the Basin and Range Province in Northwestern Nevada Am J Sci, October 1, 2006; 306(8): 616 - 654. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. P. Colgan, T. A. Dumitru, M. McWilliams, and E. L. Miller Timing of Cenozoic volcanism and Basin and Range extension in northwestern Nevada: New constraints from the northern Pine Forest Range Geological Society of America Bulletin, January 1, 2006; 118(1-2): 126 - 139. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. D. Gray and J. S. Oldow Contrasting structural histories of the Salmon River belt and Wallowa terrane: Implications for terrane accretion in northeastern Oregon and west-central Idaho Geological Society of America Bulletin, May 1, 2005; 117(5-6): 687 - 706. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. M. King, J. W. Valley, D. F. Stockli, and J. E. Wright Oxygen isotope trends of granitic magmatism in the Great Basin: Location of the Precambrian craton boundary as reflected in zircons Geological Society of America Bulletin, March 1, 2004; 116(3-4): 451 - 462. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. G. DeCelles Late Jurassic to Eocene evolution of the Cordilleran thrust belt and foreland basin system, western U.S.A. Am J Sci, February 1, 2004; 304(2): 105 - 168. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 W. C. McClelland and J. S. Oldow Displacement transfer between thick- and thin-skinned decollement systems in the central North American Cordillera Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2004; 227(1): 177 - 195. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. DeGraaff-Surpless, S. A. Graham, J. L. Wooden, and M. O. McWilliams Detrital zircon provenance analysis of the Great Valley Group, California: Evolution of an arc-forearc system Geological Society of America Bulletin, December 1, 2002; 114(12): 1564 - 1580. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
