Mio-Pliocene Sediments, Gravity Slides, and Their Tectonic Significance, East-Central Nevada

Application of structural geology to mineral and energy resources of the Central and Western United States

“…The tuffs were deposited prior to or during the early phases of crustal extension. Syntectonic sedimentary rocks of the Miocene and Pliocene Horse Camp Formation both gradationally and unconformably overlie the volcanic rocks (Moores, 1968). As much as 3,300 m of the Horse Camp Formation were deposited in the northern Grant Range and in Railroad Valley; this thickness is a composite figure and less than this can be expected in the Horse Camp sedimentary basins.…”

“…Deposition of the Oligocene volcanic sequence probably mostly predates extension in the northern Grant Range because there is little angular discordance at the base of or within the volcanic sequence (Scott, 1965;Moores and others, 1968); however, deposition of the Miocene and Pliocene Horse Camp Formation (which remains poorly dated) probably spanned a period of major extension because units display the geometry of growth-faulted sedimentary deposits and include syntectonic deposits (Moores, 1968;Moores and others, 1968). Lower strata ofthe Horse Camp Formation are tilted as much as 80°, and tilting decreases upward such that younger strata exhibit only minor tilting (Moores and others, 1968).…”

“…As much as 3,300 m of the Horse Camp Formation were deposited in the northern Grant Range and in Railroad Valley; this thickness is a composite figure and less than this can be expected in the Horse Camp sedimentary basins. In actual thickness, Oligocene to Holocene deposits probably do not exceed 3,500 min Railroad Valley or the Horse Camp Basin in the northern Grant Range (Moores, 1968;Bortz and Murray, 1979;Flanigan, 1988;Read and Zogg, 1988;Veal and others, 1988).…”

Chapter 10: Structural features and emplacement of surficial gravity-slide sheets, northern Idaho-Wyoming thrust belt

“…Gravity-slide blocks associated with Tertiary extensional faulting occur throughout the Basin and Range Province of Nevada, Utah, and Idaho (Longwell, 1951;Drewes, 1959Drewes, ,1963Drewes, , 1967Cook, 1960;Mackin, 1960;Ypung, 1960;Kurie, 1966;Seager, 1970;Moores, 1968;Shackelford, 1975;Krieger, 1977;Bally and others, 1981;Todd, 1983;Faugere and others, 1986;Sable and Anderson, 1986;1987, p. 444;Boyer & Allison, 1987) and adjacent portions of the Idaho-Utah-Wyoming thrust belt (Beutner, 1972;Hait and others, 1977;Moore and others, 1984;Oriel and Moore, 1985;Moore and others, 1987;Hait, 1987;Skipp, 1988;Janecke, 1989;Anders, 1990;McCalpin and others, 1990). As gravity-slide surfaces are difficult to distinguish from thrusts or extensional faults and may have been misinterpreted as such (Boyer and Allison, 1987), gravity-slide surfaces are probably more extensive than has been previously recognized.…”

Water Resources of the Basin and Range Carbonate-Rock Aquifer System, White Pine County, Nevada, and Adjacent Areas in Nevada and Utah

“…Fine-grained, clay-rich sediments deposited in pluvial lakes and playas. Miller and others, 1999) between the northern and southern parts of the Snake Range, and the Horse Camp Formation in the northern part of the Grant Range and in Railroad Valley (Moores, 1968;Moores and others, 1968). Analysis of rocks from southern Nevada that are similar to the OSU suggests that these consolidated rocks have significantly lower permeability than the overlying unconsolidated basin-fill deposits (Belcher and others, 2001) and could function as a low-permeability barrier between the overlying younger basin-fill and the underlying higher permeability pre-Cenozoic carbonate rocks.…”