Upcoming Talk at NPGS—Sean Long—April 2

What: NPGS Monthly Dinner Meeting in Reno, NV
When: Thursday April 2, 2015 at 6:30 PM
Speaker: Sean Long
Topic: A newly-defined fold province in eastern Nevada: a Valley and Ridge in the Basin and Range

Abstract: In Nevada, Tertiary extension has obscured the geological record of Mesozoic deformation that construction the Cordilleran mountain belt. In this study, a new paleo-geologic map of eastern Nevada, showing the ages and distributions of rocks that were at the surface at about 30 million years ago, illustrates the style and geometry of deformation associated with Cordilleran mountain building. The map reveals a region of folds in eastern Nevada that are similar in scale to those in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge province. The folds are interpreted to have formed during the Cretaceous period, as a result of eastward translation above a deep detachment surface that projects westward from the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt in Utah. These observations are synthesized with studies of other structural provinces of Nevada and western Utah, to propose a model for deformation during Cordilleran mountain building.

More information coming soon!