Intraplate extensional tectonics of the Eastern basin‐Range: Inferences on structural style from seismic reflection data, regional tectonics, and thermal‐mechanical models of brittle‐ductile deformation

Smith, Robert B.; Bruhn, Ronald L.

doi:10.1029/jb089ib07p05733

Cited by 386 publications

(231 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Although some of the seismic lines of the Great Salt Lake Basin have been published in previous studies [Smith and Bruhn, 1984;Bortz et al, 1985;Viveiros, 1986], reprocessing of the data improved the imaging of the fault plane and deformed hanging wall strata. Data improvements were achieved principally by careful velocity analysis, dip-moveout correction, noise reduction filtering, and migration [Yilmaz, 1987].…”

Section: Seismic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Localization of listric faults at thrust fault ramps beneath the Great Salt Lake Basin, Utah: Evidence from seismic imaging and finite element modeling

Mohapatra¹,

Johnson²

1998

J. Geophys. Res.

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Abstract. Reflection seismic data from the Great Salt Lake Basin, Utah, show that the major basin-bounding normal faults decrease in dip from ~60 ø at the surface to ~100-20 ø at depths as shallow as 4-6 km. This rapid decrease in fault dip at depths shallower than the brittle-ductile transition zone in the Basin and Range Province suggests an explanation other than a gradual change of rheology and stress orientations with depth. Using a dense grid of seismic data, gravity data, borehole data, and published geologic information from islands in the lake, we constrain the position of the Sevier age Willard thrust and a footwall imbricate and show their reactivation as normal faults during Tertiary extension. In the absence of surface geologic information, we use available subsurface information from the lake to draw an analogy with the Ogden duplex in the Wasatch Front, where Cenozoic normal faulting was superimposed on an earlier Sevier age thrust regime to give rise to listric normal faults. Our interpretations are consistent with finite element modeling results, which demonstrate that extensional slip on preexisting thrust ramps leads to the formation of energetically favored synthetic normal faults, some of which may merge with the thrust ramp and obtain listric geometries. Further slip on these listric faults gives rise to secondary synthetic and antithetic faults resulting in hanging wall grabens.

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Section: Seismic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Localization of listric faults at thrust fault ramps beneath the Great Salt Lake Basin, Utah: Evidence from seismic imaging and finite element modeling

Mohapatra¹,

Johnson²

1998

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…It is bounded at the northern end by the Archean Uinta axis (Charleston transverse zone) and at the southern end by the early Paleozoic Leamington transverse zone (Figure 1a). During the Cretaceous Sevier orogeny, these ancient lateral boundaries served as slip accommodation zones between adjoining salients of the Sevier fold-thrust belt [Tooker, 1983;Smith and Bruhn, 1984;Paulsen and Marshak, 1999;Kwon and Mitra, 2001]. The structures within the Provo salient can be generally described in the context of ''the foothills family of structures'' of Dahlstrom [1970].…”

Section: Natural Example In the Sevier Fold-thrust Belt: Provo Salientmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The six main thrusts from west to east are the Sheeprock thrust (SRT), the Tintic Valley thrust (TVT), the East Tintic -Stockton thrust (ETT-ST) system, the Midas thrust (MT), the Charleston -Nebo thrust (C-NT) system and the frontal blind thrusts (BT) that form a triangle zone adjacent to the undeformed foreland of the Wasatch Plateau ( Figure 1) [Morris and Shepard, 1964;Black, 1965;Mabey and Morris, 1967;Morris and Lovering, 1979;Christie-Blick, 1983;Morris, 1983;Tooker, 1983;Smith and Bruhn, 1984;Lawton, 1985;Bruhn et al, 1986;Mitra, 1997;Mukul and Mitra, 1998]. …”

Section: Natural Example In the Sevier Fold-thrust Belt: Provo Salientmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of predeformational basin geometry in the kinematic evolution of a thin‐skinned orogenic wedge: Insights from three‐dimensional finite element modeling of the Provo salient, Sevier fold‐thrust belt, Utah

2007

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[1] In fold-thrust belts, sedimentary cover rocks are detached from undeformed basement and undergo crustal-scale shortening and internal deformation. We have investigated a three-dimensional (3-D), nonlinear, elastic-plastic finite element model using the restored Provo salient of the Sevier belt as our initial configuration. In the model the deformed sedimentary prism displays large-scale geometries that are seen in many natural fold-thrust belts (e.g., arcuate salient, wedge-shaped cross section) and kinematics that are compatible with observations in the internal and external portions of the Provo salient; these suggest that the model can be used to predict geologic information that is generally not available from detailed observational studies in natural fold-thrust belts (e.g., strain history, material displacements, stress conditions). The model results indicate symmetric, noncoaxial, plane strain paths with consistent stress and strain orientations and material displacement directions in the middle of the 3-D wedge, and fully 3-D, nonsymmetric, noncoaxial, nonplane strain paths with out-of-transport material displacements over the lateral boundaries. The results from test runs further suggest that oblique ramps with strike direction less than 20°from the regional transport direction behave like lateral ramps, and those with strike direction greater than 80°from the regional transport direction behave similar to frontal ramps. Oblique ramps with dips greater than 60°behave like tear faults. These variations in different parts of the wedge are caused mainly by interaction between the transport parallel motion of the moving wedge and the preexisting footwall template of ramps and flats that the wedge has to ride over during its evolution.Citation: Kwon, S., G. Mitra, and R. Perucchio (2007), Effect of predeformational basin geometry in the kinematic evolution of a thin-skinned orogenic wedge: Insights from three-dimensional finite element modeling of the Provo salient, Sevier fold-thrust belt, Utah,

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“…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).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Intraplate extensional tectonics of the Eastern basin‐Range: Inferences on structural style from seismic reflection data, regional tectonics, and thermal‐mechanical models of brittle‐ductile deformation

Abstract: The general lack of a correlation between earthquakes and surface faulting in the

Cited by 386 publications

References 46 publications

Localization of listric faults at thrust fault ramps beneath the Great Salt Lake Basin, Utah: Evidence from seismic imaging and finite element modeling

Localization of listric faults at thrust fault ramps beneath the Great Salt Lake Basin, Utah: Evidence from seismic imaging and finite element modeling

Effect of predeformational basin geometry in the kinematic evolution of a thin‐skinned orogenic wedge: Insights from three‐dimensional finite element modeling of the Provo salient, Sevier fold‐thrust belt, Utah

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

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