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Abstract Mesozoic crustal shortening in the North American Cordillera’s hinterland was related to the construction of the Nevadaplano orogenic plateau. Petrologic and geochemical proxies in Cordilleran core complexes suggest substantial Late Cretaceous crustal thickening during plateau construction. In eastern Nevada, geobarometry from the Snake Range and Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range-Wood Hills-Pequop Mountains (REWP) core complexes suggests that the ~10–12 km thick Neoproterozoic-Triassic passive-margin sequence was buried to great depths (>30 km) during Mesozoic shortening and was later exhumed to the surface via high-magnitude Cenozoic extension. Deep regional burial is commonly reconciled with structural models involving cryptic thrust sheets, such as the hypothesized Windermere thrust in the REWP. We test the viability of deep thrust burial by examining the least-deformed part of the REWP in the Pequop Mountains. Observations include a compilation of new and published peak temperature estimates (n=60) spanning the Neoproterozoic-Triassic strata, documentation of critical field relationships that constrain deformation style and timing, and new 40Ar/39Ar ages. This evidence refutes models of deep regional thrust burial, including (1) recognition that most contractional structures in the Pequop Mountains formed in the Jurassic, not Cretaceous, and (2) peak temperature constraints and field relationships are inconsistent with deep burial. Jurassic deformation recorded here correlates with coeval structures spanning western Nevada to central Utah, which highlights that Middle-Late Jurassic shortening was significant in the Cordilleran hinterland. These observations challenge commonly held views for the Mesozoic-early Cenozoic evolution of the REWP and Cordilleran hinterland, including the timing of contractional strain, temporal evolution of plateau growth, and initial conditions for high-magnitude Cenozoic extension. The long-standing differences between peak-pressure estimates and field relationships in Nevadan core complexes may reflect tectonic overpressure.
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Jurassic–Cenozoic tectonics of the Pequop Mountains, NE Nevada, in the North American Cordillera hinterland
Abstract The Ruby Mountains–East Humboldt Range–Wood Hills–Pequop Mountains (REWP) metamorphic core complex, northeast Nevada, exposes a record of Mesozoic contraction and Cenozoic extension in the hinterland of the North American Cordillera. The timing, magnitude, and style of crustal thickening and succeeding crustal thinning have long been debated. The Pequop Mountains, comprising Neoproterozoic through Triassic strata, are the least deformed part of this composite metamorphic core complex, compared to the migmatitic and mylonitized ranges to the west, and provide the clearest field relationships for the Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonic evolution. New field, structural, geochronologic, and thermochronological observations based on 1:24,000-scale geologic mapping of the northern Pequop Mountains provide insights into the multi-stage tectonic history of the REWP. Polyphase cooling and reheating of the middle-upper crust was tracked over the range of <100 °C to 450 °C via novel 40Ar/39Ar multi-diffusion domain modeling of muscovite and K-feldspar and apatite fission-track dating. Important new observations and interpretations include: (1) crosscutting field relationships show that most of the contractional deformation in this region occurred just prior to, or during, the Middle-Late Jurassic Elko orogeny (ca. 170–157 Ma), with negligible Cretaceous shortening; (2) temperature-depth data rule out deep burial of Paleozoic stratigraphy, thus refuting models that incorporate large cryptic overthrust sheets; (3) Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene intrusions and associated thermal pulses metamorphosed the lower Paleozoic–Proterozoic rocks, and various thermochronometers record conductive cooling near original stratigraphic depths; (4) east-draining paleovalleys with ∼1–1.5 km relief incised the region before ca. 41 Ma and were filled by 41–39.5 Ma volcanic rocks; and (5) low-angle normal faulting initiated after the Eocene, possibly as early as the late Oligocene, although basin-generating extension from high-angle normal faulting began in the middle Miocene. Observed Jurassic shortening is coeval with structures in the Luning-Fencemaker thrust belt to the west, and other strain documented across central-east Nevada and Utah, suggesting ∼100 km Middle-Late Jurassic shortening across the Sierra Nevada retroarc. This phase of deformation correlates with terrane accretion in the Sierran forearc, increased North American–Farallon convergence rates, and enhanced Jurassic Sierran arc magmatism. Although spatially variable, the Cordilleran hinterland and the high plateau that developed across it (i.e., the hypothesized Nevadaplano) involved a dynamic pulsed evolution with significant phases of both Middle-Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous contractional deformation. Collapse long postdated all of this contraction. This complex geologic history set the stage for the Carlin-type gold deposit at Long Canyon, located along the eastern flank of the Pequop Mountains, and may provide important clues for future exploration.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1830139
- PAR ID:
- 10309880
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geosphere
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1553-040X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Documenting the spatio‐temporal progression of deformation within fold‐thrust belts is critical for understanding orogen dynamics. In the North American Cordillera, the geometry, magnitude, and timing of contractional deformation across a broad region of Nevada known as the “Sevier hinterland” has been difficult to characterize due to minimal exposures of syn‐contractional sedimentary rocks and overprinting of Cenozoic extension. To address this, we present geologic mapping and U‐Pb zircon geochronology from three exposures of the Cretaceous Newark Canyon Formation (NCF) in central Nevada. In the Cortez Mountains, NCF deposition between ∼119 and 110 Ma is hypothesized to be related to generation of relief by thrusting/folding to the west. In the Fish Creek Range, NCF deposition between ∼130 and 100 Ma was related to motion on an east‐vergent thrust fault. In the Pancake Range, NCF deposition is bracketed between ∼129 and 66 Ma and post‐dated east‐vergent folding. We incorporate these timing constraints into a compilation of deformation timing in the Sevier hinterland. Late Jurassic (∼165 and 155 Ma) shortening, which is largely post‐dated shortening in the Luning‐Fencemaker thrust belt to the west and pre‐dated initial deformation in the Sevier fold‐thrust belt to the east, is interpreted to represent diffuse, low‐magnitude deformation that accompanied eastward propagation of the basal Cordilleran décollement. Cretaceous (∼130 and 75 Ma) hinterland shortening, which includes deformation associated with NCF deposition, was contemporaneous with shortening in the Sevier fold‐thrust belt. This is interpreted to represent long‐duration strain partitioning between the foreland and hinterland during continued coupling above the basal décollement and the progressive westward underthrusting of thick North American lower‐middle crust.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02307.1
