HR: 0800h
AN: T31C-0579 [Abstracts]
TI: Magnitude, Timing, and Geometry of Extension in the Southern Sevier Desert Basin From Piercing Points, Seismic-Stratigraphic Reconstruction, and Deep well Data
AU: * Coogan, J C
EM: jcoogan@western.edu
AF: Dept. of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Western State College of Colorado, 128
Hurst, Gunnison, CO 81231, United States
AU: DeCelles, P G
EM: decelles@email.arizona.edu
AF: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E 4th Street, Tucson, AZ 85721,
United States
AB:
Palinspastic reconstruction of Mesozoic thrust sheets provides the main constraint for an estimated 47 km of
Cenozoic extensional displacement along the Sevier Desert detachment (SDD) in the central Sevier Desert
Basin. Hanging wall and footwall piercing points indicate that the SDD accommodated a minimum of 35 km of
extensional displacement in the narrower southern part of the basin. The piercing points for the SDD are defined
by the intersection of the SDD, the Canyon Range thrust (CRT), and a regional early Cenozoic erosion surface
(ES). The hanging wall piercing point lies immediately northeast of the Cricket Mountains, where the SDD-CRT-
ES intersection is narrowly defined by intersecting structure maps derived from published seismic reflection data.
The footwall piercing point lies in the southern foothills of the Canyon Range, where the SDD breakaway plane is
well constrained by an industry seismic line that lies within 2 km of the exposed intersection of the CRT with the
base of the Oligocene Oak City Formation.
Timing of extension in the southern Sevier Desert basin is constrained by a kinematic reconstruction of
detachment and imbricate fault displacement, footwall uplift, and supradetachment sedimentation for Oligocene,
Miocene, and Plio-Pleistocene seismic sequences. The reconstruction is centered on a seismic reflection and
gravity interpretation along the published Pan Canadian profiles 2 and 3 that is tied to dated intervals in six
industry wells. Fault restoration indicates that Oligocene and Miocene phases of slip each accounted for about 40
percent of the total displacement. Simultaneous backstripping of the Oligocene, Miocene, and Plio-Pleistocene
supradetachment sequences records hanging wall subsidence simultaneous with footwall uplift, with a footwall
burial history that is consistent with published Miocene apatite and zircon fission-track ages of footwall samples.
The geometric evolution of the southern SDD extensional system is consistent with its development above a
broad westward-migrating "rolling hinge" zone associated with isostatic uplift of the detachment footwall. Hanging
wall normal faults east of the footwall crest exhibit small post-Miocene displacement, with demonstrable
Quaternary slip restricted to the crest and western limb of the uplift, most notably along the Black Rock and Clear
Lake fault zones. Early abandonment of the eastern part of the detachment may explain the indistinct geomorphic
and structural expression of the break-away zone at the surface. The deepest level of the southern SDD also
presents a complex geometry and kinematic history. The 1996 Chevron 1-29 Black Rock Federal well through the
western basin margin penetrated a normal fault that places Jurassic over lower Cambrian strata at 4650 m
measured depth, well above the principal SDD seismic reflection. The fault is not correlated to any large-
displacement high-angle fault at shallow levels, and may form the abandoned roof to an extensional duplex.
DE: 8011 Kinematics of crustal and mantle deformation
DE: 8038 Regional crustal structure
DE: 8099 General or miscellaneous
DE: 8109 Continental tectonics: extensional (0905)
DE: 8118 Dynamics and mechanics of faulting (8004)
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting