Age and depositional setting of the Permian Black Dyke Formation: Implications for the paleogeography and structural evolution of western Nevada

Abstract

In western Nevada, the Black Dyke Formation includes volcanic rocks overlain conformably by volcaniclastic sediments. At the base, hornblende-phyric basalts with cognate hornblende-bearing gabbroic cumulates are interbedded with tuffs and pyroclastic breccia. Amphiboles give 40Ar/ 39Ar ages of 276 Ma. Clinopyroxene-phyric pillow basalts and plagioclase-phyric andesitic lava flows are present higher in the section. Facies changes between exposures reflect development near volcanic centers. According to our investigations, the Black Dyke Formation is involved in east-west-trending folds overturned toward the south, and overlain unconformably by the Mesozoic Dunlap Formation, which unconformably overlies the Mississippian-Permian Mina Formation. Interpreted until now as tectonic slices within the Luning allochthon, we suggest that the Black Dyke Formation is part of the Sonoma allochthon associated with the Mina Formation. The Sonoma records closure of the Havallah basin (Golconda allochthon), and collision of an arctrench system with the North American margin. The Black Dyke Formation exhibits similarities with the Permian arc sequence of the northern Sierra Nevada. Both sequences are characterized by amphibole-bearing breccias, clinopyroxene-phyric pillow-basalts, plagioclase-phyric andesites and overlying volcaniclastic sediments. These sequences developed in the same geodynamic environment (an islandarc).