Structural geology of the Montgomery Mountains and the northern half of the Nopah and Resting Spring Ranges, Nevada and California

Abstract

Research Article| November 01, 1983 Structural geology of the Montgomery Mountains and the northern half of the Nopah and Resting Spring Ranges, Nevada and California B. C. BURCHFIEL; B. C. BURCHFIEL 1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar G. S. HAMILL, IV; G. S. HAMILL, IV 2Research and Development Company, Box 36506, Houston, Texas 77036 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar D. E. WILHELMS D. E. WILHELMS 3U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information B. C. BURCHFIEL 1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 G. S. HAMILL, IV 2Research and Development Company, Box 36506, Houston, Texas 77036 D. E. WILHELMS 3U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 Publisher: Geological Society of America First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (1983) 94 (11): 1359–1376. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1983)94<1359:SGOTMM>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 B. C. BURCHFIEL, G. S. HAMILL, D. E. WILHELMS; Structural geology of the Montgomery Mountains and the northern half of the Nopah and Resting Spring Ranges, Nevada and California. GSA Bulletin 1983;; 94 (11): 1359–1376. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1983)94<1359:SGOTMM>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 More than 7,500 m of upper Precambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the area of the Montgomery Mountains and the northern half of the Nopah and Resting Spring Ranges represent a typical Cordilleran miogeosynclinal sequence. During Mesozoic time, after a period of earlier Mesozoic folding and high-angle faulting, these rocks were cut by thrust faults that divided the rock sequence into four structural units in the Resting Spring Range and the Montgomery Mountains. From the top down, the units are: (1) the Montgomery thrust plate, (2) the Baxter thrust plate, (3) the Resting Spring thrust plate, and (4) the Amargosa unit. Beneath the Montgomery thrust fault in the Montgomery Mountains lies the Six Mile thrust plate, which has limited extent but may be a major subunit of the Baxter plate. The Montgomery thrust plate moved eastward along a single thrust, but the Resting Spring thrust plate moved eastward along an anastomosing series of thrust faults, which divided it into a series of lobes. Thrust faults in the Resting Spring Range now dip east because Cenozoic tilting has reversed their original subhorizontal or west dips. In the Nopah Range, there are three major structural units, which are, from the top down: (1) the Chicago Pass thrust plate, (2) the Shaw thrust plate, and (3) the Nopah Range unit. Structural units in the Nopah Range cannot be unequivocally correlated with those in the Resting Spring Range and Montgomery Mountains, and two hypotheses must be presented for correlation: hypothesis 1 correlates the Baxter thrust plate of the Resting Spring Range with the Shaw thrust plate of the Nopah Range, and hypothesis 2 correlates the Baxter thrust plate with the Chicago Pass thrust plate of the Nopah Range.Post-thrusting structures are related to progressive west or northwest extension. Cenozoic folds around the north end of Stewart Valley are oblique and related to right slip on the northwest-striking Stewart Valley fault. These may be the oldest post-thrusting structural features in the area. Right slip and high-angle dip-slip faults are probably contemporaneous, forming ranges and valleys by pull-aparts. Continued extension caused rotation of earlier high-angle dip-slip faults so that some of them are now subhorizontal. Some low-angle faults are probably gravity slides and form gradations into more chaotic landslides. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. 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.