HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (16) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Colgan, J. P. Articles by Miller, E. L. Search for Related Content Articles by Colgan, J. P. Articles by Miller, E. L. GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Cenozoic Tectonic Evolution of the Basin and Range Province in Northwestern Nevada

Joseph P. Colgan^*,, Trevor A. Dumitru^*, Peter W. Reiners^**, Joseph L. Wooden^*** and Elizabeth L. Miller^*

^* Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
^** Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E 4^th Street, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA
^*** U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, 345 Middlefield Road, California 94025, USA

Corresponding author: Present address: U. S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, MS 901, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA; jcolgan{at}usgs.gov

A regional synthesis of new and existing geologic and thermochronologic data document late Cretaceous - early Cenozoic regional erosion, Oligocene - Miocene volcanism, and subsequent late Miocene extension of the Basin and Range Province in northwestern Nevada and northeastern California. Across an 220-km-wide region between the Santa Rosa and Warner Ranges, conformable sequences of 35 to 15 Ma volcanic rocks are cut by only a single generation of high-angle normal faults that accommodated 23 km of total east-west extension (12%). Fission-track, (U-Th)/He, geologic, and structural data from the Pine Forest Range show that faulting there began at 11 to 12 Ma, progressed at a relatively constant rate until at least 3 Ma, and has continued until near the present time. Extension in the Santa Rosa Range to the east took place during the same interval, although the post-6 Ma part of this history is less well constrained. Less complete constraints from adjacent ranges permit a similar timing for faulting, and we infer that extensional faulting in northwestern Nevada began everywhere at 12 Ma and has continued up to the present. Faulting in the Warner Range in northeastern California can only be constrained to have begun between 14 and 3 Ma, but may represent westward migration of Basin and Range extension during the Pliocene. Compared to the many parts of the Basin and Range in central and southern Nevada, extension in northwestern Nevada began more recently, is of lesser total magnitude, and was accommodated entirely by high-angle normal faults. Fission-track data document Late Cretaceous unroofing of Cretaceous (115 –100 Ma) granitic basement rocks in northwestern Nevada, followed by a long period of relative tectonic quiescence that persisted through Oligocene and Miocene volcanism until the onset of Basin and Range extension at 12 Ma. The low magnitude of extension (12%) and early Tertiary stability suggest that the modern 31 km thick crust in northwestern Nevada was only slightly thicker (35 km) prior to extension at 12 Ma, and was no thicker than 38 km in the Late Cretaceous. This stands in contrast to other parts of the Basin and Range, where the crust was thickened to at least 45 to 50 km by Cretaceous thrusting and subsequently thinned to 30 km by large magnitude (>50%) extension.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. J. Martin, S. J. Wyld, J. E. Wright, and J. H. Bradford The Lower Cretaceous King Lear Formation, northwest Nevada: Implications for Mesozoic orogenesis in the western U.S. Cordillera Geological Society of America Bulletin, March 1, 2010; 122(3-4): 537 - 562. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. J. Van Buer, E. L. Miller, and T. A. Dumitru Early Tertiary paleogeologic map of the northern Sierra Nevada batholith and the northwestern Basin and Range Geology, April 1, 2009; 37(4): 371 - 374. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J.C. Fosdick and J.P. Colgan Miocene extension in the East Range, Nevada: A two-stage history of normal faulting in the northern Basin and Range Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2008; 120(9-10): 1198 - 1213. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. P. Colgan, D. L. Shuster, and P. W. Reiners Two-phase Neogene extension in the northwestern Basin and Range recorded in a single thermochronology sample Geology, August 1, 2008; 36(8): 631 - 634. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Z. J. Gonsior and J. H. Dilles Timing and evolution of Cenozoic extensional normal faulting and magmatism in the southern Tobin Range, Nevada Geosphere, August 1, 2008; 4(4): 687 - 712. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. W. Lerch, E. Miller, M. McWilliams, and J. Colgan Tectonic and magmatic evolution of the northwestern Basin and Range and its transition to unextended volcanic plateaus: Black Rock Range, Nevada Geological Society of America Bulletin, March 1, 2008; 120(3-4): 300 - 311. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. R. Wallace, M. E. Perkins, and R. J. Fleck Late Cenozoic paleogeographic evolution of northeastern Nevada: Evidence from the sedimentary basins Geosphere, February 1, 2008; 4(1): 36 - 74. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. R. Unruh, T. A. Dumitru, and T. L. Sawyer Coupling of early Tertiary extension in the Great Valley forearc basin with blueschist exhumation in the underlying Franciscan accretionary wedge at Mount Diablo, California Geological Society of America Bulletin, November 1, 2007; 119(11-12): 1347 - 1367. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Hershler, H.-P. Liu, and D. W. Sada ORIGIN AND DIVERSIFICATION OF THE SOLDIER MEADOW SPRINGSNAILS (HYDROBIIDAE: PYRGULOPSIS), A SPECIES FLOCK IN THE NORTHWESTERN GREAT BASIN, UNITED STATES J. Mollus. Stud., July 11, 2007; (2007) eym014v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]