Cenozoic and Mesozoic structure of the eastern Basin and Range province, Utah, from COCORP seismic-reflection data

Abstract

COCORP seismic-reflection data collected from the eastern Basin and Range in west-central Utah provide information on Cenozoic extensional tectonics, Mesozoic thrusting, and their interrelationships. Those data show a series of remarkably continuous, low-angle reflectors that extend more than 120 km perpendicular to strike and can be traced as deep as 15–20 km. Over that distance, none of these events are significantly cut by any high-angle normal faults. A major detachment beneath the Sevier Desert can be traced from a surface zone of normal faulting to a depth of 12–15 km, with a regional apparent westward dip of 12°. Tentative correlation of upper- and lower-plate events suggests 30–60 km of extensional displacement on this detachment. Whether this structure is a reactivated Mesozoic thrust is uncertain. West-steepening splays off the end of the detachment reach depths of 20 km and may represent a major Mesozoic ramp or zones of distributed ductile shearing during extension. Some events are interpreted to be Mesozoic thrusts, of which at least one (beneath the House Range) has been reactivated during the Cenozoic. The Snake Range decollement dips gently east and has a sense of Cenozoic displacement opposite to that of other Cenozoic detachments farther east. Deep events are most numerous beneath the east side of the Sevier Desert where they occur to depths of 30 km, at the top of or perhaps partly within the anomalously low velocity upper mantle.