A geophysical‐geological transect of the Silent Canyon Caldera Complex, Pahute Mesa, Nevada

Abstract

Revision of lithological logs for boreholes penetrating the volcanic center at Pahute Mesa, Nevada, has led to a thorough review of the volcanic stratigraphy and geologic structure. We have combined this review with a compilation of old and newly acquired gravity and seismic travel time data, producing a unified interpretation along a northwest to southeast profile. The analysis supports a new interpretation of the Silent Canyon caldera complex. The caldera is found to be more asymmetric than previously suggested, with the southeastern boundary formed by linear, high‐angle normal faults and a more gently sloping northwestern boundary. The total thickness of volcanic units within the caldera complex does not appear to exceed 5 km. The shallow structure at Pahute Mesa could have a profound effect on the seismic response for regional and teleseismic signals from this nuclear test site. The Silent Canyon caldera complex is actually a set of nested calderas first filled by thick (>1 km) postcaldera lavas and subsequently buried by outflow sheets of the Timber Mountain caldera to the south. Thick, postcaldera lavas filled a half‐graben structure formed west of the West Greeley fault, dropping the tops of the youngest caldera‐forming units to depths in excess of 2 km. Therefore the western boundary of the caldera complex is poorly defined. East of the West Greeley fault, two overlapping calderas are defined, and stratigraphic data suggest the presence of even older calderas. The youngest caldera, the calc‐alkaline Area 20 caldera, is well defined from drill hole data. The Area 20 caldera overlaps the 13.6 Ma peralkaline Grouse Canyon caldera, which is less well defined, but apparently collapsed in trap‐door style along the Almendro fault. For both these calderas, collapse continued after the main caldera‐forming eruption, concurrent with the accumulation of thick (>1 km) lavas within the peripheral collapse zones. The geophysical interpretation indicates that the major structural boundary of the caldera complex corresponds to the NNE trending Scrugham Peak and Almendro faults, which offset the pre‐Tertiary contact more than 1 km but have less than 200 m offset in rocks of 11 Ma age. Drill hole data show that offsets along these faults increase systematically within older (up to 15 Ma) units, which are commonly rotated eastward in a style similar to units at the surface. Abrupt changes in the subsurface thickness of the caldera‐forming units occur across the faults, indicating that these linear features served as caldera boundaries.