Mesozoic geology of the Jackson Mountains, northwestern Nevada

Abstract

Research Article| March 01, 1984 Mesozoic geology of the Jackson Mountains, northwestern Nevada BRANCH J. RUSSELL BRANCH J. RUSSELL 1Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information BRANCH J. RUSSELL 1Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201 Publisher: Geological Society of America First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (1984) 95 (3): 313–323. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1984)95<313:MGOTJM>2.0.CO;2 Article history First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation BRANCH J. RUSSELL; Mesozoic geology of the Jackson Mountains, northwestern Nevada. GSA Bulletin 1984;; 95 (3): 313–323. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1984)95<313:MGOTJM>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract The Jackson Mountains Unit, a tectonostratigraphic unit in the Jackson Mountains, northwestern Nevada, includes the Upper Triassic pelagic, carbonate, and volcanogenic sedimentary rocks of the Boulder Creek beds, the Upper Triassic to Middle Jurassic volcanic and volcanogenic sedimentary rocks of the Happy Creek complex, and the Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of the King Lear Formation. The lower Mesozoic rocks of the Jackson Mountains Unit record a transition from sedimentation on a starved lower slope–basinal margin, locally interrupted by prograding deposition from shoaled Mesozoic and possibly Paleozoic carbonate terranes, to the eruption of a proximal intraoceanic magmatic arc. This magmatic arc, represented by the Happy Creek igneous complex, erupted at the margin of North America that lay in northwestern Nevada during early Mesozoic and possibly later times.Between Middle Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous times, the Jackson Mountains Unit was subjected to multiple phases of deformation. Broad, open folding, probably resulting from shortening along a southwest-northeast axis (modern coordinates), affected the region between Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous times.During Early Cretaceous times, southeast-northwest shortening produced cleavage, thrusts, and folds. The second phase of shortening, orthogonal to the first, produced local intermountain basins in which the fluvial sediments of the Lower Cretaceous King Lear Formation were simultaneously deposited, on erosional unconformities above lower Mesozoic rocks of the Jackson Mountains Unit, and deformed. Also during the second phase of deformation, late Paleozoic sedimentary rocks were thrust over the Jackson Mountains Unit.A later phase of thrusting affected second phase structures between Early and mid-Cretaceous times. The absence of significant metamorphism and the development of only modest foliation, except near thrust faults, suggest that thrusting in the Jackson Mountains was thin skinned. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.