Exhumation Associated with Continental Strike-Slip Fault Systems
Tectonism of the southern Silver Peak Range: Paleomagnetic and geochronologic data bearing on the Neogene development of a regional extensional complex, central Walker Lane, Nevada
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Published:January 01, 2007
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CiteCitation
Michael S. Petronis, John W. Geissman, John S. Oldow, William C. McIntosh, 2007. "Tectonism of the southern Silver Peak Range: Paleomagnetic and geochronologic data bearing on the Neogene development of a regional extensional complex, central Walker Lane, Nevada", Exhumation Associated with Continental Strike-Slip Fault Systems, Sarah M. Roeske, Alison B. Till, David A. Foster, James C. Sample
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Paleomagnetic and geochronologic data from mafic intrusive rocks, inferred to contain magnetizations of early Late Cretaceous age, and upper Tertiary volcanic rocks, all part of the upper plate of the Silver Peak extensional complex in the southern Silver Peak Range, add to the growing body of results suggesting that Neogene displacement transfer within the central Walker Lane involved components of modest magnitude crustal tilting and, at least locally, rotation of structural blocks. Mesozoic intrusions and upper Tertiary volcanic rocks yield paleomagnetic data that are discordant to expected field directions. The data from 49 accepted sites in mafic dikes that cut granitic rocks, 4 sites in a single Oligocene(?) ash flow tuff, 20 sites in mid-Miocene andesite flows, and 28 sites in upper Miocene to lower Pliocene pyroclastic rocks may imply a systematic progression in the magnitude of vertical axis rotation and tilting with age. At a minimum, the data are consistent with at least some 20° of clockwise rotation of upper-plate rocks in this part of the Silver Peak Range and demonstrate a greater regional extent to the area affected by clockwise rotation during Neogene displacement transfer. Eight new 40Ar/39Ar age determinations from the mafic dikes and adjacent host rocks, all somewhat disturbed age spectra, imply that these rocks cooled below ∼300 °C during the Late Cretaceous between about 90 and 80 Ma. Four mafic dike groundmass concentrates yield integrated apparent ages between 86.31 Ma ± 0.12 Ma and 80.80 Ma ± 0.11 Ma, and four age spectra from biotite from the host granite yield integrated values between 93.6 ± 0.9 Ma and 78.6 Ma ± 0.2 Ma. The mafic dikes yield in situ exclusively normal polarity results consistent with an early Late Cretaceous age of magnetization acquisition, with an overall group mean (D = 25.1°, I = 55.4°, α95 = 3.4°) that is discordant to an early Late Cretaceous expected field (D = 337°, I = 66°). Ten of 20 sites from steeply dipping mid-Miocene andesite flows and 21 of 28 sites in gently tilted upper Miocene ash flow tuffs yield overall stratigraphically corrected group means (D = 24.4°, I = 36.7°, α95 = 7.1°) and (D = 16.5°, I = 53.5°, α95 = 7.6°, respectively) that are discordant in a clockwise sense to the Miocene expected direction (D = 358°, I = 55°). The paleomagnetic data support a history of tilting and vertical axis rotation of the southern Silver Peak Range, most of which occurred coincidently with latest Miocene and Pliocene exhumation of the lower-plate rocks in the extensional complex. In addition, it is possible that the paleomagnetic data from Mesozoic intrusions record an additional, modest phase of deformation that predated development of the extensional complex. The observations are consistent with a tectonic model where deformation of upper-plate rocks in this area involved a small component of west- to southwest-side-down tilting, likely related to range-scale folding during the late Miocene and Pliocene, accompanied by modest clockwise vertical axis rotation.
- absolute age
- andesites
- Ar/Ar
- ash flows
- Cenozoic
- Cretaceous
- dikes
- Esmeralda County Nevada
- extension
- igneous rocks
- intrusions
- lava flows
- mafic composition
- magnetization
- Mesozoic
- Miocene
- Neogene
- Nevada
- paleomagnetism
- Pliocene
- pyroclastics
- remanent magnetization
- rotation
- Silver Peak Mountains
- tectonics
- Tertiary
- tuff
- United States
- volcanic rocks
- Walker Lane