Extensional collapse along the Sevier Desert reflection, northern Sevier Desert basin, western United States

Coogan, James C.; DeCelles, Peter G.

doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024<0933:ecatsd>2.3.co;2

Cited by 30 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…Our re-evaluation of the subsurface data is inconsistent with a related second pillar of the detachment hypothesis: that as much as 47 km of normal slip is needed to account for the offset of Coogan & DeCelles 1996Stockli et al 2001;DeCelles & Coogan 2006). Both the Pavant thrust and the structurally higher Canyon Range thrust are erosionally truncated at the western margin of the southern SDB (Fig.…”

Section: Sevier Desert Detachmentcontrasting

confidence: 57%

“…As a practical matter, hypotheses can be tested only with reference to specific examples, and if evidence is to be regarded as compelling in the manner implied by the quote with which this paper begins, it ought to withstand scrutiny, not simply lead to conclusions that are known in advance to be correct. Otton (1995); 14 Coogan & DeCelles (1996); 15 Otton (1996); 16 Wills & Anders (1996); 17 Anders et al (1998a); 1 -4,7 Lateral continuity of SDR inclined at 118 over 7000 km 2 beneath Sevier Desert basin (SDB) and (down dip) within deformed Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic rocks of Mesozoic orogen (Fig. 3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1; see also Figs 2 & 3) (McDonald 1976;Allmendinger et al 1983;Smith & Bruhn 1984;Von Tish et al 1985;Mitchell & McDonald 1986, 1987Planke & Smith 1991;Otton 1995;Coogan & DeCelles 1996;Stockli et al 2001) is now largely published Thelin & Pike (1991). (Anders & Christie-Blick 1994;Wills & Anders 1999;Anders et al 2001;Wills et al 2005; for a discussion of contrasting views, see Allmendinger & Royse 1995;Anders et al 1995Anders et al , 1998aWills & Anders 1996;Otton 1996;Coogan & DeCelles 1998;Hintze & Davis 2003;DeCelles & Coogan 2006). Here, we summarize the evidence for an alternative interpretation: that the purported detachment is instead a regional unconformity of Palaeogene age (Gradstein et al 2004) fortuitously aligned down dip in some seismic reflection profiles with a Mesozoic thrust fault.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Observations from the Basin and Range Province (western United States) pertinent to the interpretation of regional detachment faults

Christie‐Blick

Anders

Wills

et al. 2007

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This paper summarizes the results of completed and ongoing research in three areas of the Basin and Range Province of the western United States that casts doubt on the interpretation of specific regional detachment faults and the large extensional strains with which such faults are commonly associated. Given that these examples were influential in the development of ideas about low-angle normal faults, and particularly in making the case for frictional slip at dips of appreciably less than the 308 lock-up angle for m 0.6 (where m is the coefficient of friction), we advocate a critical re-examination of interpreted detachments elsewhere in the Basin and Range Province and in other extensional and passive margin settings.The Sevier Desert 'detachment' of west-central Utah is reinterpreted as a Palaeogene unconformity that has been traced to depth west of the northern Sevier Desert basin along an unrelated seismic reflection (most probably a splay of the Cretaceous-age Pavant thrust). The absence of evidence in well cuttings and cores for either brittle deformation (above) or ductile deformation (below) is inconsistent with the existence of a fault with as much as 40 km of displacement. The Pavant thrust and the structurally higher Canyon Range thrust are erosionally truncated at the western margin of the southern Sevier Desert basin, and are not offset by the 'detachment' in the manner assumed by those inferring large extension across the basin.The Mormon Peak detachment of SE Nevada is reinterpreted as a series of slide blocks on the basis of detachment characteristics and spatially variable kinematic indicators that are more closely aligned with the modern dip direction than the inferred regional extension direction. A particularly distinctive feature of the detachment is a basal layer of up to several tens of centimetres of polymictic conglomerate that was demonstrably involved in the deformation, with clastic dykes of the same material extending for several metres into overlying rocks in a manner remarkably similar to that observed at rapidly emplaced slide blocks. The Castle Cliff detachment in the nearby Beaver Dam Mountains of SW Utah is similarly regarded as a surficial feature, as originally interpreted, and consistent with its conspicuous absence in seismic reflection profiles from the adjacent sedimentary basin.The middle Miocene Eagle Mountain Formation of eastern California, interpreted on the basis of facies evidence and distinctive clast provenance to have been moved tectonically more than 80 km ESE from a location close to the Jurassic-age Hunter Mountain batholith of the Cottonwood Mountains, is reinterpreted as having accumulated in a fluvial-lacustrine rather than alluvial fanlacustrine setting, with no bearing on either the amount or direction of tectonic transport. The conglomeratic rocks upon which the provenance argument was based are pervasively channelized, with erosional relief of less than 1 m to as much as 15 m, fining-upwards successions at the same scale and abundant trough ...

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Section: Sevier Desert Detachmentcontrasting

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Observations from the Basin and Range Province (western United States) pertinent to the interpretation of regional detachment faults

Christie‐Blick

Anders

Wills

et al. 2007

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“…Studies in the northern and southern basin have also yielded dramatically different estimates of total extension along the detachment. Research in the northern Sevier Desert basin, relying on displacements of assumed Mesozoic thrust-fault cutoffs across the detachment surface, has suggested a minimum displacement of 28 km to 38 km (Von Tish and others, 1985) or more (Coogan and DeCelles, 1996). Planke (ms, 1987) and Planke and Smith (1991), using a method based on cross-sectional area balance of displaced Tertiary rocks and growth strata, calculated total extension at only 6.2 km, based on seismic data from only 20 km south of the COCORP profile used to derive the far greater extension estimate of Von Tish and others (1985).…”

Section: Arguments Against the Detachment Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large gray box shows area of figure 10; smaller gray box gives area covered by figure 12. Dashed lines correspond to new seismic data loaned for this study from Seismic Exchange, Inc. (SEI); dotted lines correspond to new seismic data loaned for this study from Vastar Resources (V); solid lines correspond to Pan Canadian (PC) seismic profiles published by McDonald (1976), COCORP seismic lines published by Von Tish and others (1985), GSI lines published by Mitchell and McDonald (1987), and UHR-2 line published by Coogan and DeCelles (1996). For clarity, location of Atlantic-Richfield lines published by Planke (ms, 1987) is not shown here; location of those lines can be found in Planke and Smith (1991).…”

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Pattern of Mesozoic thrust surfaces and Tertiary normal faults in the Sevier Desert subsurface, west-central Utah

Wills¹

2005

American Journal of Science

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Most tectonic models for the Sevier Desert basin, west-central Utah, envision it as the result of large-magnitude, normal-sense slip on a regional detachment fault. That interpretation, based principally on seismic reflection data, has helped shape views on the tectonics of the northeastern Great Basin area and, in a larger sense, the historical development of ideas about low-angle normal faulting. In recent years, however, several researchers have suggested, based on rock-mechanical, field, and subsurface evidence, that the hypothesized detachment fault does not exist and that the basin must have another explanation. Even among proponents of the detachment model, opinion has differed regarding the hypothesized extensional fault's total displacement, estimates for which vary widely; the timing of detachment slip; and whether the hypothesized fault represents a "new" Tertiary extensional structure or an extensional reactivation of the Mesozoic Pavant thrust. A comprehensive reinterpretation of available subsurface data for the basin, including several previously unpublished seismic profiles, suggests: (1) that slip on the hypothesized detachment must have ceased by the Miocene in the southern Sevier Desert; (2) that estimates of large-magnitude offset on the hypothesized detachment are essentially unconstrained by structural data and need to be reevaluated; and (3) that models that view the hypothesized detachment as a Tertiary extensional reactivation of a Mesozoic thrust are likely incorrect. The newly available seismic data demonstrate that reflections from the Pavant thrust do indeed closely align with reflections from the Paleozoic/Tertiary contact in many parts of the northern Sevier Desert basin; however, to the south these same thrust fault reflections are directly traceable to a position well above the down dip projection of the presumed detachment within the Paleozoic Cricket Mountains block. Erosional truncation of the thrust faults and the absence in the south of other reflections aligned with the Paleozoic/Tertiary contact preclude extensional backsliding on a Mesozoic thrust fault. These interpretations, if correct, are incompatible with the detachment hypothesis and necessitate alternative explanations for the basin's origins.

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Subsurface fault geometries and crustal extension in the eastern Basin and Range Province, western U.S.

et al. 2010

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Extensional collapse along the Sevier Desert reflection, northern Sevier Desert basin, western United States

Cited by 30 publications

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Observations from the Basin and Range Province (western United States) pertinent to the interpretation of regional detachment faults

Observations from the Basin and Range Province (western United States) pertinent to the interpretation of regional detachment faults

Pattern of Mesozoic thrust surfaces and Tertiary normal faults in the Sevier Desert subsurface, west-central Utah

Subsurface fault geometries and crustal extension in the eastern Basin and Range Province, western U.S.

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