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Evaluating major controls on basinal stratigraphy, Pine Valley, Nevada; implications for syntectonic deposition

Ian Gordon and Paul L. Heller
Evaluating major controls on basinal stratigraphy, Pine Valley, Nevada; implications for syntectonic deposition
Geological Society of America Bulletin (January 1993) 105 (1): 47-55

Abstract

The interpretation of prograded gravel as an indicator of tectonic uplift, that is, "syntectonic" deposition, is not necessarily correct. Increases in sediment supply induced by tectonic uplifting did not control the progradation of gravel in the Pine Valley basin, an actively subsiding half graben in northeastern Nevada. Rather, the distribution of lithofacies in the Pine Valley basin is primarily controlled by the uneven distribution of subsidence within the basin. Differences in subsidence along the axis of the basin indicate a strong inverse relationship between the long-term subsidence rate since late Miocene time and the distance of gravel transport out into the basin. Differential progradation of alluvial gravel into the basin from various drainages along the footwall is not related to uplift or lithology of the source area, size of the catchment area, or climate. In addition, the relatively fixed location of the topographic low within the basin through time, as indicated by the distribution of lacustrine deposits and the position of the modern axial drainage, suggests that a balance between basin subsidence and sediment supply to the basin has been generally maintained through time. Thus, if subsidence rates are a measure of tectonic activity, gravel progradation may record times of reduced, not increased, tectonism.


ISSN: 0016-7606
EISSN: 1943-2674
Coden: BUGMAF
Serial Title: Geological Society of America Bulletin
Serial Volume: 105
Serial Issue: 1
Title: Evaluating major controls on basinal stratigraphy, Pine Valley, Nevada; implications for syntectonic deposition
Affiliation: University of Wyoming, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Laramie, WY, United States
Pages: 47-55
Published: 199301
Text Language: English
Publisher: Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
References: 31
Accession Number: 1993-001543
Categories: Quaternary geologyStratigraphySedimentary petrology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. sects., geol. sketch map
N40°00'00" - N40°15'00", W116°19'60" - W116°00'00"
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2019, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 1993
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