The Colorado Lineament: A middle Precambrian wrench fault system

Warner, Lawrence

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1978)89<161:tclamp>2.0.co;2

Cited by 85 publications

(53 citation statements)

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“…Hite (1975) described a series of subparallel, regional northeast-trending fractures, a few of which are shown on figure 3. These fractures are a part of the Colorado lineament described by Warner (1978). The course of the Colorado River may, in part, be determined by these fractures.…”

Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mineral Resources of Wilderness Study Areas-Upper Colorado River Region, Utah fractures are part of a larger fracture system known as the Colorado lineament (Warner, 1978 No geochemical anomalies suggestive of mineralization were present along these fractures nor were mineralized areas observed in the study areas. The mineral resource potential for metals other than uranium and byproducts vanadium and copper is rated as low in all three study areas, with certainty level C.…”

Section: A22mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…- (Doelling, 1969 Utah, 1986). The Moki mine produced an additional 18,220 lbs U 3 0 8 from 1978(Lymon Shumway, past owner, Kanab, Utah, oral commun., 1986. The Royal mine had produced an additional 6,000 lbs U 3 0 8 from 1976 to 1980 (James Andrus, Energy Fuels Nuclear, Inc., current owner, Kanab, Utah, oral commun., 1986).…”

Section: Investigations By the Us Geological Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mineral resources of the Indian Creek, Bridger Jack Mesa, and Butler Wash Wilderness Study Areas, San Juan County, Utah

Patterson¹,

Toth²,

Case³

et al. 1989

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Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A22mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Investigations By the Us Geological Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mineral resources of the Indian Creek, Bridger Jack Mesa, and Butler Wash Wilderness Study Areas, San Juan County, Utah

Patterson¹,

Toth²,

Case³

et al. 1989

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“…From the Wyoming border to the Denver area, the shear zones are distributed approximately every 25 km. Many of these shear zones appear to be long-lived zones of crustal weakness [Tweto and Sims, 1963;Warner, 1978;Karlstrom and Humphreys, 1998;Selverstone et al, 2000;Shaw et al, 2001]. Selverstone et al [2000] compared the geologic features of four crustal blocks separated by the Skin Gulch, Buckhorn Creek, and Moose Mountain shear zones ( Figure 1).…”

Section: Shear Zones In the Northern Front Rangementioning

confidence: 99%

“…[13] A network of northeast trending Proterozoic shear zones [Tweto and Sims, 1963;Warner, 1978] divides the region into separate crustal blocks that record complex deformational histories [e.g., Reed et al, 1987;Selverstone et al, 2000]. From the Wyoming border to the Denver area, the shear zones are distributed approximately every 25 km.…”

Section: Shear Zones In the Northern Front Rangementioning

confidence: 99%

Early Proterozoic oceanic crust in the northern Colorado Front Range: Implications for crustal growth and initiation of basement faults

Cavosie¹,

Selverstone

2003

Tectonics

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Early Proterozoic oceanic crust exposed in a shear zone in the northern Colorado Front Range provides insight into the tectonic evolution of the Colorado province. Tectonically intermingled mylonitic amphibolite (locally pillowed), metagabbro, clinopyroxenite, metachert, and mélange are preserved within the Buckhorn Creek shear zone west of Fort Collins. Whole rock geochemical data support formation of the igneous protoliths in an oceanic environment. Major and trace element data overlap samples from modern oceanic ridges, and are distinct from modern arc trends. Metagabbros and clinopyroxenites preserve a subhorizontal lineation defined by igneous pyroxenes; core and mantle microstructures indicate initial deformation at temperatures >900°C. Secondary amphiboles define both subhorizontal and subvertical lineations. Kinematic analysis indicates that the rocks experienced E‐W strike‐slip deformation prior to and during amphibolite‐facies metamorphism, followed by N‐S shortening. 40Ar/39Ar data from secondary hornblende yield age steps as old as 1.9 Ga. Based on the chemical data and kinematic evidence for strike‐slip deformation, we propose that the Buckhorn Creek rocks originated at an oceanic ridge‐transform intersection. The high‐T pyroxene fabrics formed during ocean floor deformation prior to 1.7 Ga regional deformation of the Colorado province. The Buckhorn Creek fragment likely represents original oceanic basement for 1.8–1.7 Ga arc magmatism and sedimentation that ultimately formed the Colorado province continental crust. Reactivation of original oceanic fracture zones may be responsible for the network of regularly spaced northeast trending shear zones in Colorado. Once formed, subvertical transform faults are likely to survive the transition from oceanic to continental crust and persist as long‐lived crustal discontinuities.

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The crustal structure of the Arizona Transition Zone and southern Colorado Plateau from multiobservable probabilistic inversion

Qashqai

Afonso

Yang

2016

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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The Arizona Transition Zone is a narrow band that separates two of the main and most contrasting tectonic provinces in western US, namely the southern Colorado Plateau and the southern Basin and Range provinces. As such, the internal crustal structure and physical state of this transitional zone hold clues for understanding (i) the amalgamation of these provinces, (ii) the partitioning of deformation due to both past and present‐day stress fields, and (iii) the role of thermal versus compositional effects in controlling surface observables. Here we employ and expand a novel multiobservable probabilistic inversion method and jointly invert fundamental mode Rayleigh phase velocities, receiver functions, surface heat flow, geoid height, and absolute elevation to obtain an internally consistent 3‐D model of the temperature, density, Vs, and Vp of the Arizona Transition Zone and the southern portions of the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range. Our results confirm a significant crustal thickening from ∼28 km in the SW of the Arizona Transition Zone and southern Basin and Range to ∼48 km beneath the southern Colorado Plateau. Inverted temperatures agree well with the location of recent volcanism and indicate that the lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary is not deeper than ∼70 km in most of the region. We find that major pre‐Cambrian surface structures and/or shear zones separate crustal domains with distinct bulk properties, suggesting that the juxtaposed crustal blocks still retain, at least in part, their original characteristics. However, widespread intrusions of significant volumes of mafic magmas have affected these blocks at different depths, locally overprinting their original compositions and creating highly heterogeneous crustal sections. A dominant and large‐scale internal crustal pattern of SW dipping planes/structures is evident in our models, coinciding with the orientation of deep faults previously inferred from earthquake focal mechanisms. While we cannot categorically corroborate the presence of melt or aqueous fluids within the crust, our results are compatible with these scenarios beneath some parts of the Basin and Range, the Mogollon‐Datil, and Springerville volcanic fields.

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The Colorado Lineament: A middle Precambrian wrench fault system

Cited by 85 publications

References 0 publications

Mineral resources of the Indian Creek, Bridger Jack Mesa, and Butler Wash Wilderness Study Areas, San Juan County, Utah

Mineral resources of the Indian Creek, Bridger Jack Mesa, and Butler Wash Wilderness Study Areas, San Juan County, Utah

Early Proterozoic oceanic crust in the northern Colorado Front Range: Implications for crustal growth and initiation of basement faults

The crustal structure of the Arizona Transition Zone and southern Colorado Plateau from multiobservable probabilistic inversion

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