Jurassic Magmatism and Tectonics of the North American Cordillera

Mesozoic structures of the Dolly Varden Mountains and Currie Hills, Elko County, Nevada
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Published:January 01, 1995
Mesozoic structures in the Dolly Varden Mountains include low-angle normal(?) faults at high angles to bedding, near-bedding-parallel faults which cut out strata, large-scale folds, east-striking normal faults, and north-striking normal faults. Mesozoic deformation in the Dolly Varden Mountains is constrained to be no younger than 165 ± 3 Ma based on a U-Pb zircon age obtained for the Melrose intrusion. In the nearby Currie Hills, north- and northwest-trending folds deforming Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata are likely correlative with contractional features in the southern Pequop Mountains. Near the town of Currie, formations as young as Lower Jurassic appear to be included in the folding. Considering the age of these formations, and the lack of evidence for deformation prior to their deposition, it appears that Mesozoic structures in the Dolly Varden Mountains formed between the Early Jurassic and 165 Ma, or probably within the Middle Jurassic. The age of folds in the Currie Hills cannot be as tightly constrained. No strong evidence for correlating them with folds in the Dolly Varden Mountains exists. Therefore, it can only be said that they probably formed after the Lower Jurassic and before Tertiary volcanism.
- absolute age
- contraction
- dates
- deformation
- dikes
- Elko County Nevada
- evolution
- faults
- folds
- high-angle faults
- intrusions
- low-angle faults
- Mesozoic
- nesosilicates
- Nevada
- normal faults
- orthosilicates
- Paleozoic
- Pequop Mountains
- Sevier orogenic belt
- silicates
- stratigraphy
- thickness
- U/Pb
- United States
- volcanism
- zircon
- zircon group
- Dolly Varden Mountains
- Currie Hills
- Currie Nevada
- Melrose Intrusion