Dating of major normal fault systems using thermochronology: An example from the Raft River detachment, Basin and Range, western United States

Wells, Michael L.; Snee, Lawrence W.; Blythe, Ann E.

doi:10.1029/2000jb900094

Cited by 93 publications

(114 citation statements)

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“…13.5 to 4 Ma that broadly coincided and ended with northeastward migration of hotspot volcanism ( Fig. 15; Rodgers et al, 1990Rodgers et al, , 2002Morgan, 1992, 2009;Anders, 1994;Wells et al, 2000;Egger et al, 2003;Konstantinou et al, 2012).…”

Section: Comparison Of the Extensional History Of The Knoll Mountain mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 Ma (Fig. 15; e.g., Wells et al, 2000;Egger et al, 2003;Konstantinou et al, 2012) and inferred to end by ca. 5 Ma (Konstantinou, 2015).…”

Section: New Perspective On the Extensional History Of The Ruby-east mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…17-16 and 12-10 Ma was relatively rapid and locally large magnitude (e.g., Colgan and Henry, 2009), and was partially manifest by the exhumation of mid-crustal metamorphic rocks in the Ruby-East Humboldt-Wood Hills and the Albion-Raft River-Grouse Creek metamorphic core complexes ( Fig. 1B; e.g., Mueller andSnoke, 1993a, 1993b;Camilleri and Chamberlain, 1997;Wells et al, 2000;Egger et al, 2003;Colgan and Henry, 2009;Colgan et al, 2010;Konstantinou et al, 2012). Since ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13.5 Ma in the Albion-Raft River-Grouse Creek metamorphic core complex to 4-0 Ma in the vicinity of the modern hotspot (Fig. 1B;Rodgers et al, 1990;Morgan, 1992, 2009;Anders, 1994;Wells et al, 2000;Rodgers et al, 2002;Egger et al, 2003;Konstantinou et al, 2012). Whether this space-time pattern of extension continues along the southern margin of the Snake River Plain west of ~114°W longitude is uncertain due to the general paucity of regional data on the distribution and timing of extensional faulting in this area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Middle Miocene to Holocene tectonics, basin evolution, and paleogeography along the southern margin of the Snake River Plain in the Knoll Mountain–Ruby–East Humboldt Range region, northeastern Nevada and south-central Idaho

2017

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New geologic mapping and tephrochronologic assessment of strata in extensional basins surrounding Knoll Mountain (Nevada, USA) reveal a geologic history linked to tectonic development of the Yellowstone hotspot and Snake River Plain to the north, and to the Ruby-East Humboldt-Wood Hills metamorphic core complex to the south. Data from these areas are utilized to present a paleogeographic reconstruction of northeastern Nevada-southcentral Idaho depicting the architecture of extensional faulting and basin development during collapse of the Nevadaplano over the past 17 m.y.Knoll Mountain is a northeast-trending horst along the southern margin of the Snake River Plain and track of the Yellowstone hotspot. The horst is bounded on the east by the Thousand Springs fault system and basin, and on the west by the Knoll Mountain fault and basin, where streams currently drain north into the Snake River Plain. The Knoll and Thousand Springs basins form half-grabens that are filled with the ca. 16 Ma to ca. 8-5 Ma Humboldt Formation, which was deposited in alluvial, eolian, and lacustrine environments during slip along range-bounding faults and a series of late-stage synthetic intrabasin faults. Structural, chronologic, and sedimentologic assessment of the Humboldt Formation in the Knoll basin indicates that it records overall southward fluvial drainage with slip along the Knoll Mountain fault beginning ca. 16 Ma and continuing to at least 8 Ma, and that between 8 and ca. 5 Ma, a west-dipping intrabasin fault system had developed. Between ca. 8-5 Ma to ca. 3 Ma, several fundamental changes took place, beginning with the cessation of faulting followed by widespread erosion that in turn was followed by deposition of older alluvium. The reversal of drainage direction from south to north flowing in the Knoll basin also took place during this time period, but its age relative to the widespread erosion or older alluvium is unknown.An integration of our work with previous studies north of Knoll Mountain reveal that the Knoll Mountain and intrabasin faults terminate to the north in the vicinity of the Jurassic Contact pluton, and that this area forms an accommodation zone separating broadly coeval and colinear faults bounding the ca. 10-8 Ma north-trending Rogerson graben, the northern end of which merges with the Snake River Plain. Furthermore, an integration of our work with previous work south of Knoll Mountain reveals that the Knoll Mountain fault formed part of a >190-km long, west-dipping fault zone that included the Ruby-East Humboldt detachment. This fault zone, which we refer to as the Knoll-Ruby fault system, had an extensive hanging-wall basin, the KnollRuby basin. The Knoll-Ruby fault system was a prominent structure facilitating collapse of the Nevadaplano in northeastern Nevada between ca. 16 and ca. 8-5 Ma, and its central part produced partial exhumation of high-grade, mid-crustal metamorphic rocks in the Ruby-East Humboldt-Wood Hills metamorphic core complex. By 8-5 Ma, during the waning stages of extension a...

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Section: Comparison Of the Extensional History Of The Knoll Mountain mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 Ma (Fig. 15; e.g., Wells et al, 2000;Egger et al, 2003;Konstantinou et al, 2012) and inferred to end by ca. 5 Ma (Konstantinou, 2015).…”

Section: New Perspective On the Extensional History Of The Ruby-east mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Middle Miocene to Holocene tectonics, basin evolution, and paleogeography along the southern margin of the Snake River Plain in the Knoll Mountain–Ruby–East Humboldt Range region, northeastern Nevada and south-central Idaho

2017

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“…In this paper, we investigate these potential models along a well-exposed low-angle detachment in the European Alps, combining detailed geochronology and thermochronology with structural, petrological and chemical analyses. Many studies have already used thermochronology to investigate the timing and rate of exhumation on low-angle detachments [e.g., Foster et al, 1993;Grasemann and Mancktelow, 1993;Wells et al, 2000;Vanderhaeghe et al, 2003;Brichau et al, 2006;Mulch et al, 2006], generally based on the concept of cooling ages for different mineral and isotopic systems [e.g., Wagner et al, 1977]. In contrast, absolute ages of deformation are rather difficult to obtain but have been acquired by dating neocrystallized synkinematic minerals (usually white mica) from specific structural sites, such as strain shadows, [Müller et al, 2000a] or from retrograde phyllonitic shear zones [Dunlap, 1997;Challandes et al, 2003Challandes et al, , 2008Kirschner et al, 2003;Mulch and Cosca, 2004;Mulch et al, 2005;Rolland et al, 2008;Rolland et al, 2009].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochronological evidence for continuous exhumation through the ductile‐brittle transition along a crustal‐scale low‐angle normal fault: Simplon Fault Zone, central Alps

et al. 2010

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[1] Major low-angle normal faults juxtapose different structural levels of the crust that record both brittle and ductile deformation. Field relationships alone cannot establish whether these different responses to deformation represent (1) parts of a single process of exhumation along the detachment or (2) two separate events, with the later, more discrete brittle detachment exhuming a fossil ductile shear zone from depth. These two general models are critically assessed for the lowangle normal Simplon Fault Zone (SFZ) in the central Alps. The SFZ shows a spatial transition from a broad ductile mylonitic shear zone to a discrete brittle detachment with identical kinematics. The age of the ductile shear zone and ductile-brittle transition is controversial. We present a detailed geochronological study based on fission track, 40 Ar/ 39 Ar, and Rb/Sr microsampling dating, coupled with structural, petrological, and chemical analyses that provides tight constraints on SFZ timing. Discontinuous mineral cooling ages over a broad range of temperatures across the fault zone argue for fault activity between 20 and 3 Ma. On the basis of synkinematic white mica in low-temperature shear zones and necks of foliation boudinage, the brittle-ductile transition in the footwall could be dated at ∼14.5-10 Ma. Overall, the data presented here are consistent with a continuous transition from ductile shearing to a more localized zone of brittle deformation within the same geological framework, over a period of ∼15 Ma. The SFZ is therefore an example of a telescoped crustal section within a single major lowangle fault, involving a continuous period of exhumation rather than a two-stage structure.

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Eocene and Miocene extension, meteoric fluid infiltration, and core complex formation in the Great Basin (Raft River Mountains, Utah)

et al. 2015

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Metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) in the North American Cordillera reflect the effects of lithospheric extension and contribute to crustal adjustments both during and after a protracted subduction history along the Pacific plate margin. While the Miocene‐to‐recent history of most MCCs in the Great Basin, including the Raft River‐Albion‐Grouse Creek MCC, is well documented, early Cenozoic tectonic fabrics are commonly severely overprinted. We present stable isotope, geochronological (40Ar/39Ar), and microstructural data from the Raft River detachment shear zone. Hydrogen isotope ratios of syntectonic white mica (δ2Hms) from mylonitic quartzite within the shear zone are very low (−90‰ to −154‰, Vienna SMOW) and result from multiphase synkinematic interaction with surface‐derived fluids. 40Ar/39Ar geochronology reveals Eocene (re)crystallization of white mica with δ2Hms ≥ −154‰ in quartzite mylonite of the western segment of the detachment system. These δ2Hms values are distinctively lower than in localities farther east (δ2Hms ≥ −125‰), where 40Ar/39Ar geochronological data indicate Miocene (18–15 Ma) extensional shearing and mylonitic fabric formation. These data indicate that very low δ2H surface‐derived fluids penetrated the brittle‐ductile transition as early as the mid‐Eocene during a first phase of exhumation along a detachment rooted to the east. In the eastern part of the core complex, prominent top‐to‐the‐east ductile shearing, mid‐Miocene 40Ar/39Ar ages, and higher δ2H values of recrystallized white mica, indicate Miocene structural and isotopic overprinting of Eocene fabrics.

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Dating of major normal fault systems using thermochronology: An example from the Raft River detachment, Basin and Range, western United States

Cited by 93 publications

References 78 publications

Middle Miocene to Holocene tectonics, basin evolution, and paleogeography along the southern margin of the Snake River Plain in the Knoll Mountain–Ruby–East Humboldt Range region, northeastern Nevada and south-central Idaho

Middle Miocene to Holocene tectonics, basin evolution, and paleogeography along the southern margin of the Snake River Plain in the Knoll Mountain–Ruby–East Humboldt Range region, northeastern Nevada and south-central Idaho

Geochronological evidence for continuous exhumation through the ductile‐brittle transition along a crustal‐scale low‐angle normal fault: Simplon Fault Zone, central Alps

Eocene and Miocene extension, meteoric fluid infiltration, and core complex formation in the Great Basin (Raft River Mountains, Utah)

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