Miocene crustal extension and uplift in southeastern Nevada: Constraints from fission track analysis

Fitzgerald, Paul G.; Fryxell, Joan E.; Wernicke, Brian P.

doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1991)019<1013:mceaui>2.3.co;2

Cited by 95 publications

(97 citation statements)

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“…The geothermal gradients determined from our data are reasonable (23-31 °C), invariable across the study area, and similar to the average continental geothermal gradient (~25 °C) and published geothermal gradients from the region (e.g., Reiners et al, 2002;Fitzgerald et al, 1991Fitzgerald et al, , 2009Karlstrom et al, 2010). This implies that the temperatures at the top and base of zircon He PRZ may close to their expected values.…”

Section: Figure 5 Geologic Cross Section B-b′ Across the Beaver Dam supporting

confidence: 61%

“…In the Beaver Dam Mountains, the timing of exhumation from our (U-Th)/He ages is within error of apatite fission track data (from Stockli, 1999) on these same samples, and compatible with the timing of exhumation regionally (e.g., Fitzgerald et al, 1991Fitzgerald et al, , 2003Fitzgerald et al, , 2009Reiners et al, 2000;Bernet et al, 2002;Reiners, 2005;Quigley et al, 2010). The youngest ages are also consistently between 18 and 17 Ma.…”

Section: Figure 5 Geologic Cross Section B-b′ Across the Beaver Dam supporting

confidence: 61%

“…Thermochronology studies of the Virgin Mountain anticline , and of the South Virgin-White Hills detachment in the Gold Butte block (Fitzgerald et al, 1991(Fitzgerald et al, , 2009Reiners et al, 2000;Bernet et al, 2002;Reiners , 2005), Lost Basin Range (Fitzgerald et al, 2009), and northern White Hills (Fitz gerald et al, 2003(Fitz gerald et al, , 2009) also show rapid cooling at 19-17 Ma. Sedimentological constraints from the region show a similar, but slightly younger age (ca.…”

Section: Temporal and Spatial Patternsmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Low-temperature thermochronologic constraints on the kinematic histories of the Castle Cliffs, Tule Springs, and Mormon Peak detachments, southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada

2015

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We use apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronometry to evaluate the timing, magnitude, and spatial pattern of Miocene strain within the Beaver Dam Mountains, Tule Springs Hills, and Mormon Mountains of southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada (USA). The region is host to three major low-angle structures, the Castle Cliffs, Tule Springs, and Mormon Peak detachments, the origin and role of which in regional extension are vigorously debated. We analyzed 36 samples collected from Precambrian basement gneisses and Paleozoic to Jurassic siltstones and sandstones exposed in the footwalls of these detachments. Zircon He ages from the footwall of the Castle Cliffs detachment record rapid footwall exhumation ca. 18-17 Ma. At structurally higher positions, apparent ages become progressively older, defining a zircon He partial retention zone. Paleodepth reconstructions of the data using published cross sections suggest 180 °C, or greater, of cooling or 6.8-8.2 km of total exhumation, yielding a maximum of ~13 km of extension across this detachment. In contrast, zircon and apatite ages from the footwall of the Mormon Peak record rapid exhumation at 14-13 Ma and 5.8-7.1 km of vertical exhumation. Using a range of restored fault dips (20°-28°) for the Mormon Peak detachment, the thermochronology data record 10.9-19.5 km horizontal extension. Data from the Tule Springs detachment also show a similar timing of exhumation and indicate that there has been 5.0-6.8 km of vertical exhumation and a minimum of ~5 km of extension. The results demonstrate that extension initiated in the east along the Castle Cliffs detachment and migrated westward with time. Although our data indicate that existing extension estimates across this system of detachment faults are too high (40 km versus 54 km), the pattern of cooling ages and protracted cooling history recorded in these ranges are inconsistent with rootless gravity slide interpretations and lowmagnitude extension models.

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Section: Figure 5 Geologic Cross Section B-b′ Across the Beaver Dam supporting

confidence: 61%

Section: Figure 5 Geologic Cross Section B-b′ Across the Beaver Dam supporting

confidence: 61%

Section: Temporal and Spatial Patternsmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Low-temperature thermochronologic constraints on the kinematic histories of the Castle Cliffs, Tule Springs, and Mormon Peak detachments, southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada

2015

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“…The first change from northeastdirected extension to west-northwest-directed extension in the Death Valley area (Fitzgerald et al, 1991;Gans and Bohrson, 1998) at ca. 16 Ma resulted in the onset of sinistral movement on the Garlock fault.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Neogene evolution of the Indian Wells Valley, east-central California

Monastero¹,

Walker²,

Katzenstein³

et al. 2002

Geologic Evolution of the Mojave Desert and Southwestern Basin and Range

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The Indian Wells Valley located in east-central California has been an active sedimentary basin off and on throughoutTertiary time. During the Paleogene, the Indian Wells Valley was part of the Goler basin, and in the Miocene, the valley received volcaniclastic and terrigenous sediment correlated with rocks of the Ricardo Group. In the Pliocene, the Indian Wells Valley became the locus of deposition in a half graben formed by low-angle normal faulting along the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada. Two significant structural and tectonic changes are recorded in the stratigraphy of the Indian Wells Valley: one at the close of the Miocene and the second at the end of the Pliocene. The late Miocene transition occurred sometime between 7 and 5 Ma and resulted in the uplift of the nearby Sierra Nevada and the formation of a half graben. Transition from a regime of east-west extension to one dominated by transtensional dextral faulting occurred in the late Pliocene, marking a change in regional stress, the cause of which is, as yet, undocumented. Dextral strike-slip faulting dominates the modern structural setting and controls the sparse sedimentation in the valley. This pattern of extension followed by transtension appears to be part of a progression that began in Death Valley ca. 16 Ma and moved westward. Today the Indian Wells Valley accommodates a component of integrated transtensional shear and is part of the evolving margin between the North American and Pacific plates.

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“…FT or (U-Th)/He on zircon, rutile or titanite) are available from the SSZ making it hard to compare footwall cooling of the Pegasus core complex to other core complex settings worldwide. In typical core complex settings like the Basin and Range province of the western US or the Aegean Sea rapid cooling at time-averaged rates exceeding 100 C km À1 from greenschist/amphibolite facies metamorphism is indicated by ages for mylonitization and zircon and apatite fission track cooling ages that are usually identical within error and of the same age as sediments in half graben in the hangingwall (Fitzgerald et al, 1991;Bryant et al, 1992;Foster and John, 1999;Kumerics et al, 2005;Brichau et al, 2006Brichau et al, , 2007Brichau et al, , 2010. At least the titanite and zircon (U-Th)/He ages of Reiners et al (2004) from outside the SSZ are in the same range as the AFT ages from the SSZ, providing good evidence for rapid footwall cooling from~200 C at 85e80 Ma.…”

Section: Thermal Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinematic, finite strain and vorticity analysis of the Sisters Shear Zone, Stewart Island, New Zealand

Ring

Bernet

Tulloch

2015

Journal of Structural Geology

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Miocene crustal extension and uplift in southeastern Nevada: Constraints from fission track analysis

Cited by 95 publications

References 0 publications

Low-temperature thermochronologic constraints on the kinematic histories of the Castle Cliffs, Tule Springs, and Mormon Peak detachments, southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada

Low-temperature thermochronologic constraints on the kinematic histories of the Castle Cliffs, Tule Springs, and Mormon Peak detachments, southwestern Utah and southeastern Nevada

Neogene evolution of the Indian Wells Valley, east-central California

Kinematic, finite strain and vorticity analysis of the Sisters Shear Zone, Stewart Island, New Zealand

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