Award Date

1-1-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geoscience

First Committee Member

Wanda J. Taylor

Number of Pages

252

Abstract

The central Nevada thrust belt (CNTB) is a north-south trending belt of contractile structures in the hinterland of the Sevier orogenic belt. This study tests the hypothesis that analysis and regional correlation of CNTB structures is possible after retrodeformation of younger extensional faults; The central Pancake Range underwent multiple episodes of Cenozoic extensional faulting. Fault sets generally strike N-S or NE-SW; one synvolcanic set strikes E-W. These normal fault sets: (1) form five temporally distinct episodes that correspond to regional tectonic events; (2) record a rotation in the stress field through time; and (3) locally developed within a three dimensional strain field as opposed to plane strain; The Sand Spring, Ike Spring, and Indian Spring thrusts (previously undocumented) regionally correlate to the Duckwater and White Pine thrusts. These thrust faults have steeply-dipping ramps and formed out-of-sequence. These structures represent the CNTB in east-central Nevada, a single contractional belt with at least 27 km of shortening.

Keywords

Belt; Cenozoic; Central; Extension; Mesozoic; Nevada; Superimposed; Thrust

Controlled Subject

Geology

File Format

pdf

File Size

18503.68 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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