HR: 0800h
AN: T51D-1373    [Abstracts]
TI: Gravity Study of the Queen Valley Pull-Apart Basin, Western Nevada
AU: * Black, R A
EM: black@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Stockli, D F
EM: stockli@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Christie, M
EM: mchristie@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Desmond, J
EM: jdesmond@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Kueker, A
EM: akueker@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Hadley, M
EM: mhadley@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Tincher, C
EM: ctincher@ku.edu
AF: University of Kansas, Dept. of Geology, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Casteel, J
EM: jcasteel@cwu.edu
AF: Central Washington University, Dept. of Geological Sciences, 400 E. Washington Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926 United States
AB: Queen Valley is a pull-apart basin located at the northern end of the White Mountains in western Nevada. It is bounded to the south by the NE-trending Queen Valley fault (QVF) zone and to the north by the EW-trending Coaldale fault (CF) zone. The QVF is a curvilinear feature which transfers strain from the northern termination of the Owens Valley/White Mountain fault zone (OVWMFZ) to the western CF. This study presents new gravity data acquired in the Queen Valley and surrounding ranges in summer 2004 by undergraduates of the University of Kansas and Central Washington University as part of a larger regional tectonic study including detailed structural field mapping and geochronology. Almost 500 new gravity stations were acquired by two field crews as part of a two week field research experience. Standard field procedures were used to tie the station measurements to absolute base stations in Bishop, CA, and station locations and elevations were determined by dual frequency GPS. Data were processed through the traditional suite of latitude, free-air, Bouguer, terrain and isostatic corrections. The data will be processed through the new, standard corrections associated with the National Gravity Database in the near future. Previous regional datasets indicated that the northern Queen Valley had a very thin sediment fill. However, preliminary analyses of the new dataset show that the data resolve several previously unrecognized subsurface features, including paired half-grabens with apparently opposing orientation within the northern Queen Valley. These half-grabens appear to be significantly deeper than previously interpreted from the sparser gravity data. An accommodation structure may decouple these features in mid-basin. A potential transpressional feature at the bend in the valley near the south end of the QVF is also resolved in the data. Shallow seismic reflection and ground-penetrating radar experiments are now being planned to resolve the very near-surface expression of several of the neotectonic features recognized in the gravity data.
DE: 1219 Gravity anomalies and Earth structure (0920, 7205, 7240)
DE: 6924 Interferometry (1207, 1209, 1242)
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005