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Geotectonic evolution of the Great Basin

¹ Department of Geosciences, Box 210077, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

View larger version (59K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Position of the Great Basin in the western Cordillera (adapted after Dickinson, 2002). Modern triple plate junctions: MTJ—Mendocino; RTJ—Rivera; TTJ—Tofino. Other abbreviations: BM—Blue Mountains; CRP—Columbia River Plateau (check pattern and red color denote extent of Columbia River Basalt lavas); KFMS—Kisenehn-Flathead-Mission-Swan extensional Paleogene basins; KM—Klamath Mountains; LCZ—Lewis and Clark fault zone; PNW—Pacific Northwest; RFZ—Rivera Fracture Zone; SN—Sierra Nevada; SRP—Snake River Plain; TMI—Tres Marias Islands (cross pattern and red color denote extent of bimodal volcanic suite).

View larger version (84K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 2. Time-space diagram of lithic assemblages in the Great Basin and adjoining areas (note time-scale breaks at 50 Ma, 400 Ma, and 500 Ma). The rectangle labeled truncation denotes schematically the completion of continental truncation along the Permian-Triassic California-Coahuila transform and subsequent initiation of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Cordilleran continental-margin magmatic arc. Key thrusts: GT—Golconda; LFT—Luning-Fencemaker; RMT—Roberts Mountains. UMG/BCF—Uinta Mountain Group and Big Cottonwood Formation.

View larger version (94K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 3. Precambrian to early Paleozoic (pre–375 Ma, mid–Late Devonian) paleotectonic map of the Cordilleran miogeocline and associated geotectonic features in the Great Basin and adjacent areas. The ancestral eastern Klamath–northern Sierra Nevada intraoceanic island-arc complex is not shown within the paleo–Pacific Ocean because its distance offshore is uncertain for the time frame depicted. UMG/BCF—Uinta Mountain Group and Big Cottonwood Formation.

View larger version (85K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 4. Syn-Antler (Devonian-Mississippian) and post-Antler but pre-Sonoma paleotectonic map of the Great Basin and adjacent areas. The relative positions of an intraoceanic frontal arc in the northern Sierra Nevada (NSN) and its paired remnant arc in the eastern Klamath Mountains (KLA) are uncertain. Double-headed arrows denote the NE-SW tectonic trends of Paleozoic island-arc elements oriented at a high angle to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic continental margin of California (Dickinson, 2000). Key tectonic elements in Nevada (west to east): HB—Havallah basin; RMA—Roberts Mountains allochthon (capped by the Antler overlap sequence); AFB—Antler foreland basin. Formational names indicate local components of the Mississippian carbonate province. Dashed outlines denote basins of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains province closest to the Antler thrust front: DM—Dry Mountain; I-A—Inyo-Argus; OQ—Oquirrh; WR—Wood River.

View larger version (39K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 5. Syn-Sonoma (ca. 250 Ma) paleotectonic map of the Great Basin and adjacent areas (GA—Golconda allochthon) near the Permian-Triassic time boundary during oblique truncation of the Cordilleran continental margin by the California-Coahuila transform (C-C), which is contorted and offset by younger deformation in the Mojave region south of the Garlock fault. Eastern Klamath Mountains (KLA) and northern Sierra Nevada (NSN) arcs and remnant arcs (double-headed arrows denote NE-SW tectonic trends within the island-arc complex) are shifted SSE by 210 km to reverse Early Cretaceous dextral slip along the Mojave–Snow Lake fault, and the Klamath Mountains block is additionally shifted eastward to align with the Sierra Nevada block prior to Early Cretaceous forearc extension (Constenius et al., 2000) and later translation associated with Paleogene clockwise rotation of the Pacific Northwest (Oregon-Washington) Coast Range (see Fig. 8). PFR–Pine Forest Range.

View larger version (49K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 6. Triassic-Jurassic (post-Sonoma) paleotectonic map of the Great Basin and adjacent areas after mid–Early Triassic initiation of the Cordilleran magmatic arc. Positions of Cordilleran magmatic arc and accreted arc have been adjusted to compensate for younger Cretaceous-Paleogene displacements. Accreted intraoceanic arc segments are shown schematically for the Blue Mountains (BM), western Klamath Mountains (KM), Sierra Nevada foothills (SN), and Peninsular Ranges (PR). Shelfal (s) and basinal (b) facies are shown schematically within the backarc basin of western Nevada. Locations of backarc Jurassic plutons are after Elison et al. (1990) and Elison (1995). Configuration of Utah-Idaho trough is after Peterson (1972).

View larger version (61K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 7. Cretaceous-Paleogene paleotectonic map of the Great Basin and adjacent areas. Migratory Laramide magmatism is modified after Dickinson and Snyder (1978). Flank of Bisbee rift basin is after Dickinson and Lawton (2001b). Subordinate retroarc structures: ETB—Eureka thrust belt; MFTB—Maria fold-and-thrust belt.

View larger version (52K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 8. Mid-Cenozoic (Late Eocene to Early Miocene) paleotectonic map of the Great Basin and adjacent areas. Migratory volcanic fronts and core complex ages are after Dickinson (2002). Curved arrows in Pacific Northwest indicate Paleogene rotational displacements of Oregon-Washington (Pacific Northwest) Coast Range (OCR) and Blue Mountains Province (BMP) and translational displacement of Klamath Mountains block (KLA), with former positions shown by dashed outlines. Region of major post–mid-Eocene, pre–mid-Miocene extension is adapted after Seedorff (1991) and Axen et al. (1993). Locations of core complexes are after Wust (1986) and Axen et al. (1993). Selected Great Basin core complexes: RM—Ruby Mountains; RR—Raft River; SR—Snake Range. Zone of southwest Arizona volcanism is after Spencer et al. (1995). Extent of slab window is adapted after Dickinson (1997).

View larger version (58K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 9. Post–18 Ma (basin-range) paleotectonic map of the Great Basin and adjacent areas. Boundaries of Basin and Range Province and extent of magmatic arc are adapted after Dickinson (1997, 2002). Postarc volcanic centers (and local Late Miocene core complexes), formed near California-Nevada line in western Great Basin as Mendocino triple junction migrated northward (offshore arrow), not shown within span of earlier arc magmatism. Chain of Snake River Plain calderas (hachured circles with ages in Ma inside circles) of Yellowstone (Y) hotspot track (initiated with McDermitt caldera [M]) is modified after Pierce and Morgan (1992). Mid-Miocene Columbia River dike swarms (west to east): Monument, Cornucopia, Chief Joseph. Modoc-Oregon lava plateaus are largely Pliocene in age at the surface. Other features: BM—Blue Mountains; Gf—Garlock fault; NNR—Northern Nevada Rift (geophysical extent); StB—Steens Basalt (coeval with Columbia River Basalt).