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Abstract Strongly deformed footwall rocks exposed in metamorphic core complexes (MCC) of the North American Cordillera were exhumed via ductile attenuation, mylonitic shearing, and detachment faulting. Whether these structures accommodated diapiric upwelling or regional extension via low‐angle normal faulting is debated. The Ruby Mountains‐East Humboldt Range MCC, northeast Nevada, records top‐west normal‐sense exhumation of deformed Proterozoic‐Paleozoic stratigraphy and older basement. We conducted 1:24,000‐scale mapping of the southwestern East Humboldt Range, with integrated structural, geochemical, and geochronological analyses to characterize the geometry and kinematics of extension and exhumation of the mylonitized footwall. Bedrock stratigraphy is pervasively intruded by Cretaceous, Eocene, and Oligocene intrusions, but observations of a coherent stratigraphic section show >80% vertical attenuation of Neoproterozoic to Ordovician rocks. These rocks are penetratively sheared with top‐west kinematics. The shear zone thus experienced combined pure‐ and simple‐shear (i.e., general shear) strain. We argue that this shear zone was syn‐/post‐kinematic with respect to Oligocene plutonism because: (a) mylonitic shearing spatially corresponds with preceding Oligocene intrusions; (b) thermochronology reveals that the shear zone experienced substantial cooling and exhumation after Oligocene plutonism; and (c) the mylonites are crosscut by undated, but likely late Oligocene, leucogranite. We propose that Eocene mantle‐derived magmatism and thermal incubation led to Oligocene diapiric upwelling of the middle crust, with ductile stretching focused on the flanks of this upwarp. Regional Basin and Range extension initiated later in the middle Miocene. Therefore, the development of the East Humboldt Range shear zone was not driven by regional extension and coupled detachment faulting.
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Decoupled Oligocene mylonitic shearing and Miocene detachment faulting in the East Humboldt Range metamorphic core complex, northeast Nevada, USA
The relationships between brittle detachment faulting and ductile shear zones in metamorphic core complexes are often ambiguous. Although it is commonly assumed that these two structures are kinematically linked and genetically related, direct observations of this coupling are rare. Here, we conducted a detailed field investigation to probe the connection between a detachment fault and mylonitic shear zone in the Ruby Mountain–East Humboldt Range metamorphic core complex, northeast Nevada. Field observations, along with new and published geochronology, demonstrate that Oligocene top-to-the-west mylonitic shear zones are crosscut by ca. 17 Ma subvertical basalt dikes, and these dikes are in turn truncated by middle Miocene detachment faults. The detachment faults appear to focus in preexisting weak zones in shaley strata and Mesozoic thrust faults. We interpret that the Oligocene mylonitic shear zones were generated in response to domal upwelling during voluminous plutonism and partial melting, which significantly predated the middle Miocene onset of regional extension and detachment slip. Our model simplifies mechanical issues with low-angle detachment faulting because there was an initial dip to the weak zones exploited by the future detachment-fault zone. This mechanism may be important for many apparent low-angle normal faults in the eastern Great Basin. We suggest that the temporal decoupling of mylonitic shearing and detachment faulting may be significant and underappreciated for many of the metamorphic core complexes in the North American Cordillera. In this case, earlier Eocene–Oligocene buoyant doming may have preconditioned the crust to be reactivated by Miocene extension thus explaining the spatial relationship between structures.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1830139
- PAR ID:
- 10434565
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geosphere
- ISSN:
- 1553-040X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02619.1
