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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1986

A study of tectonic activity in the Basin-Range Province and on the San Andreas Fault. No. 1: Kinematics of Basin-Range intraplate extension

Strain rates assessed from brittle fracture and total brittle-ductile deformation measured from geodetic data were compared to estimates of paleo-strain from Quaternary geology for the intraplate Great Basin part of the Basin-Range, western United States. These data provide an assessment of the kinematics and mode of lithospheric extension that the western U.S. Cordillera has experienced from the past few million years to the present. Strain and deformation rates were determined by the seismic moment tensor method using historic seismicity and fault plane solutions for sub-regions of homogeneous strain. Contemporary deformation in the Great Basin occurs principally along the active seismic zones. The integrated opening rate across the entire Great Basin is accommodated by E-E extension at 8 to 10 mm/a in the north that diminishes to NW-SE extension of 3.5 mm/a in the south. Zones of maximum lithospheric extension correspond to belts of thin crust, high heat flow, and Quaternary basaltic volcanism, suggesting that these parameters are related through mechanism of extension such as a stress relaxation, allowing bouyant uplift and ascension of magmas.

Eddington, P. K.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Kinematics of a large-scale intraplate extending lithosphere: The Basin-Range

Upper lithospheric structure of the Cordilleran Basin Range (B-R) is characterised by an E-W symmetry of velocity layering. The crust is 25 km thick on its eastern active margin, thickening to 30 km within the central portion and thinning to approx. 25 km on the west. Pn velocities of 7.8 to 7.9 km/s characterize the upper mantle low velocity cushion, 7.4 km/s to 7.5 km/s, occurs at a depth of approx. 25 km in the eastern B-R and underlies the area of active extension. An upper-crustal low-velocity zone in the eastern B-R shows a marked P-wave velocity inversion of 7% at depths of 7 to 10 km also in the area of greatest extension. The seismic velocity models for this region of intraplate extension suggest major differences from that of a normal, thermally underformed continental lithosphere. Interpretations of seismic reflection data demonstrate the presence of extensive low-angle reflections in the upper-crust of the eastern B-R at depths from near-surface to 7 to 10 km. These reflections have been interpreted to represent low-angle normal fault detachments or reactivated thrusts. Seismic profiles across steeply-dipping normal faults in unconsolidated sediments show reflections from both planar to downward flatening (listric) faults that in most cases do not penetrate the low-angle detachments. These faults are interpreted as late Cenozoic and cataclastic mylonitic zones of shear displacement.

Smith, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A study of tectonic activity in the Basin-Range Province and on the San Andreas Fault. No. 2: Lithospheric structure, seismicity, and contemporary deformation of the United States Cordillera

The structural evolution of the U.S. Cordillera has been influenced by a variety of tectonic mechanisms including passive margin rifting and sedimentation; arc volcanism; accretion of exotic terranes; intraplate magmatism; and folding and faulting associated with compression and extension processes that have profoundly influenced the lithospheric structure. As a result the Cordilleran crust is laterally inhomogeneous across its 2000 km east-west breadth. It is thin along the West Coast where it has close oceanic affinities. The crust thickens eastward beneath the Sierra Nevada, then thins beneath the Basin-Range. Crustal thickening continues eastward beneath the Colorado Plateau, the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Plains. The total lithospheric thickness attains 65 km in the Basin-Range and increases eastward beneath the Colorado Plateau. The upper-crust, including the crystalline basement of the Cordillera, has P sub G velocities of 6 km/s in the Basin-Range and Rio Grande Rift. Lower P sub G velocities of 5.4 to 5.7 km/s are associated with the youthful Yellowstone, Valles and Long Valley calderas and the Franciscan assemblage of the western coastal margin. Averaged crustal velocity reflects integrated tectonic evolution of the crust-thick silicic bodies, velocity reversals, and a thin crust produce low averaged velocities that are characteristic of a highly attenuated and thermally deformed crust.

Smith, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Regional Tectonic Control of Tertiary Mineralization and Recent Faulting in the Southern Basin-Range Province, an Application of ERTS-1 Data

Research based on ERTS-1 MSS imagery and field work in the southern Basin-Range Province of California, Nevada and Arizona has shown regional tectonic control of volcanism, plutonism, mineralization and faulting. This paper covers an area centered on the Colorado River between 34 15' N and 36 45' N. During the mid-Tertiary, the area was the site of plutonism and genetically related volcanism fed by fissure systems now exposed as dike swarms. Dikes, elongate plutons, and coeval normal faults trend generally northward and are believed to have resulted from east-west crustal extension. In the extensional province, gold silver mineralization is closely related to Tertiary igneous activity. Similarities in ore, structural setting, and rock types define a metallogenic district of high potential for exploration. The ERTS imagery also provides a basis for regional inventory of small faults which cut alluvium. This capability for efficient regional surveys of Recent faulting should be considered in land use planning, geologic hazards study, civil engineering and hydrology.

Bechtold, I. C.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Crustal extension and transform faulting in the southern Basin Range Province

The author has identified the following significant results. Field reconnaissance and study of geologic literature guided by analysis of ERTS-1 MSS imagery have led to a hypothesis of tectonic control of Miocene volcanism, plutonism, and related mineralization in part of the Basin Range Province of southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. The easterly trending right-lateral Las Vegas Shear Zone separates two volcanic provinces believed to represent areas of major east-west crustal extension. One volcanic province is aligned along the Colorado River south of the eastern termination of the Las Vegas Shear Zone; the second province is located north of the western termination of the shear zone in southern Nye County, Nevada. Geochronologic, geophysical, and structural evidence suggests that the Las Vegas Shear Zone may have formed in response to crustal extension in the two volcanic provinces in a manner similar to the formation of a ridge-ridge transform fault, as recognized in ocean floor tectonics.

Liggett, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Intraplate extensional tectonics of the eastern Basin-Range Inferencess on structural style from seismic reflection data, regional tectonics, and thermal-mechanical models of brittle-ductile deformation

Using 1500 km of industry-released seismic reflection data, surface geology, velocity models from refraction data, and earthquake data, the large extensional structures in the crust of the eastern Basin-Range and its transition into the Middle Rocky Mountains and Colorado Plateau have been studied. It is suggested that the close spatial correlation between normal faults and thrust fault segmentation along the Wasatch Front reflects major east-trending structural and lithological boundaries inherited from tectonic processes associated with the evolution of the cordilleran miogeocline, which began in the Precambrian.

Smith, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A study of tectonic activity in the Basin-Range Province and on the San Andreas Fault. No. 3: Kinematics of Great Basin intraplate extension from earthquake, geodetic and geologic information

Strain rates assessed from brittle fracture, associated with earthquakes, and total brittle-ductile deformation measured from geodetic data were compared to paleostrain from Quaternary geology for the intraplate Great Basin of the western United States. These data provide an assessment of the kinematics and mode of lithospheric extension that the western U.S. Cordillera has experienced in the last 5 to 10 million years. Strain and deformation rates were determined by the seismic moment tensor method using historic seismicity and fault plane solutions. Contemporary deformation of the Great Basin occurs principally along the active seismic zones. The earthquake related strain shows that the Great Basin is characterized by regional E-W extension at 8.4 mm/a in the north that diminishes to NW-SE extension of 3.5 mm/a in the south. Zones of maximum extension correspond to belts of shallow crust, high heat flow, and Quaternary basaltic volcanism, suggesting that these parameters are related through an effect such as a stress relaxation allowing bouyant uplift and ascension of magmas.

Eddington, P. K.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Thermomechanical modeling of the Colorado Plateau-Basin and range transition zone

The Colorado Plateau (CP) basin and range (B & R) boundary is marked by a transition zone on the order of 75 to 150 km in width. As one moves westward across this transition from the CP interior to the B & R there is a variation in the surface topography, surface heat flow, Bouguer gravity, seismicity, and crustal structure. This transition extends eastward into the western CP from the Wastach-Hurricane fault line and is largely coincident with the high plateaus of Utah and the Wasatch Mountains. It has been suggested that this transition zone marks a thermal and tectonic encroachment of the CP by the B & R. A simple two dimensional numerical model of the thermal regime for the transition zone was constructed to test the hypothesis that the observed geophysical signatures across the transition are due to lateral heat conduction from steady state uniform extension within the B & R lithosphere. Surface heat flow, uplift due to flexure from thermal buoyant loading, and regional Bouguer gravity are computed for various extension rates, crustal structures, and compensation depths.

Londe, M. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Similarities and contrasts in tectonic and volcanic style and history along the Colorado plateaus-to-basin and range transition zone in Western Arizona: Geologic framework for tertiary extensional tectonics

The overall temporal and spatial relations between middle Tertiary volcanism and tectonism from the Basin and Range province onto the edge of the Colorado Plateaus province suggest that a single magnetic-tectonic episode affected the entire region more or less simultaneously during this period. The episode followed a post-Laramide (late Eocene through Oligocene) period of 25 million years of relative stability. Middle Tertiary volcanism did not migrate gradually eastward in a simple fashion onto the Colorado Plateau. In fact, late Oligocene volcanism appears to be more voluminous near the Aquarius Mountains than throughout the adjacent Basin and Range province westward to the Colorado River. Any model proposed to explain the cause of extension and detachment faulting in the eastern part of the Basin and Range province must consider that the onset of volcanism appears to have been approximately synchronous from the Colorado River region of the Basin and Range across the transition zone and onto the edge of the Colorado Plateaus.

Young, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Volcanism of the Colorado Plateau - Basin and Range Transition: Implications for Crustal Processes

On the Colorado Plateau-Basin and Range transition in Arizona and New Mexico, basaltic volcanism takes two physiographic forms: (1) Major central composite volcanoes (e.g., San Francisco Peaks) in which basaltic magma differentiates at shallow crustal levels to siliceous and members and (2) large numbers of small cinder cones and a few domes that result from numerous discrete magma batches which apparently had little opportunity for differentiation. This study represents the first look at the petrogenesis of Plateau-bounding volcanic fields, based on rigorous stratigraphic controls, in combination with major and trace-element constraints. The emerging pattern of large volcanic constructs associated with shallow fractional crystallization, and numerous cinder cones associated with limited or no shallow differentiation may provide an analogue for interpreting petrogenetic patterns and/or tectonic settings on Mars.

Condit, C. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Extension of continental lithosphere - A model for two scales of basin and range deformation

The development of a model for deformation in an extending continental lithosphere that is stratified in density and strength is described. The lithosphere model demonstrates that the necking instabilities at two wavelengths originate due to a strong upper crust, a mantle layer, and a weak lower crust. It is observed that the dominant wavelengths of necking are controlled by layer thickness and the strength of the layers control the amplitude of the instabilities. The model is applied to the Basin and Range Province of the western U.S. where deformations in ranges and tile domains are detected. The relation between the Bouguer gravity anomaly and the deformations is studied. The data reveal that the horizontal scale of short wavelength necking correlates with the spacings of individual basins and ranges, and the longer wavelength corresponds to the width of tilt domains. The control of the Basin and Range deformation by two scales of extensional instability is proposed.

Zuber, M. T.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Neotectonics of the San Andreas Fault system, basin and range province juncture

The development, active processes, and tectonic interplay of the southern San Andreas fault system and the basin and range province were studied. The study consist of data acquisition and evaluation, technique development, and image interpretation and mapping. Potentially significant geologic findings are discussed.

Estes, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Application of standard photogeologic techniques to LANDSAT imagery for mineral exploration in the basin and range province of Utah and Nevada

The author has identified the following significant results. Standard photogeologic techniques were applied to LANDSAT imagery of the basin and range province of Utah and Nevada to relate linear, tonal, textural, drainage, and geomorphic features to known mineralized areas in an attempt to develop criteria for the location of mineral deposits. No consistent correlation was found between lineaments, mapped according to specified criteria, and locations of mines, mining districts, or intrusive outcrops. Tonal and textural patterns were more closely related to geologic outcrop patterns than to mineralization. A statistical study of drainage azimuths of various length classes as measured on LANDSAT showed significant correlation with mineralized districts in the length class of 3-6 km. Alignments of outcrops of basalt, a rock type highly visible on LANDSAT imagery, appear to be colinear with acidic and intermediate intrusive centers in some areas and may assist on the recognition of regional fracture systems for mineral exploration.

Lattman, L. H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Application of ERTS and EREP images to geologic investigations of the basin and range: Colorado plateau boundary in northwestern and north-central Arizona

The author has identified the following significant results. In the course of the ERTS investigation in the Cataract Creek Basin of the Coconino Plateau it was recognized that shallow perched ground water associated with the Kaibab Limestone could be discovered by means of drilling guided by geologic mapping aided by the use of ERTS imagery. At the Globe Ranch, the perched water table is only 5 meters beneath the surface at the site of the original, hand dug well. Recharge occurs from local runoff and from direct precipitation on the outcrop belt of the sandstone. This well provides water for the ranch at the rate of about 1,000 gallons a week. In order to explore the possibility of further developing this aquifer, unit 5 was mapped over an area of about 50 square miles in the vicinity of the hand-dug well, with negative results. A new location was then picked for drilling based on the occurrence of unit 5 in a favorable structural setting. This location was along a normal fault, and it was anticipated that water might be structurally trapped within the down-dropped block of the fault. Four shallow testholes were drilled and all encountered water. These four water-bearing holes are currently being monitored and will be tested to determine potential production of water from the local sandstone aquifer.

Goetz, A. F. H.↗
NASA NTRS1973

A reconnaissance space sensing investigation of crustal structure for a strip from the eastern Sierra Nevada to the Colorado Plateau

The author has identified the following significant results. Analysis of ERTS-1 MSS imagery over the sourthern Basin-Range Province of California, Nevada, and Arizona has led to recognition of regional tectonic control of volcanism, plutonism, mineralization, and fault patterns. This conclusion is the result of geologic reconnaissance of anomalies observed in ERTS-1 and Apollo-9 data, guided by intermediate scale U-2 photography, SLAR, and relevant geologic literature. In addition to regional tectonic studies, the ERTS-1 imagery provides a basis for detailed research of relatively small geologic features. Interpretation of ERTS-1 and Apollo-9 space imagery and intermediate scale X-15 and U-2 photography indicates the presence of a major fault zone along the California-Nevada state line, here named the Pahrump fault zone. Field mapping confirms previously unreported evidence of fault breaks in bedrock, along range fronts and in Quaternary alluvium and lake sediments. Regional gravity lows and fault traces within the Pahrump fault zone from a general left stepping en echelon pattern. The trend and postulated diplacement for this fault are similar to other major strike slip fault zones in the southern Basin-Range Province.

Bechtold, I. C.↗