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Paleomagnetic and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronologic data bearing on the structural evolution of the Silver Peak extensional complex, west-central Nevada

¹ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-1116, USA
² Department of Geological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844-3022, USA
³ New Mexico Geochronological Research Laboratory, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA

The Silver Peak extensional complex, located in the Silver Peak Range of west- central Nevada, is a displacement-transfer system linking the Furnace Creek–Fish Lake Valley fault system and transcurrent faults of the central Walker Lane. Late Neogene, northwest-directed motion of an upper plate, composed of lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and late Tertiary volcanic and volcaniclastic strata, exhumed a lower-plate assemblage of metamorphic tectonites with Proterozoic and Mesozoic protoliths.

Paleomagnetic investigation of Miocene–Pliocene pyroclastic and sedimentary rocks of the upper plate and Miocene mafic dikes in the lower plate reveals modest horizontal- axis tilting (northwest-side-up) and vertical-axis rotation (clockwise) within the extensional complex. Eight to ten samples from each of 123 sites were demagnetized; 95 sites yielded interpretable results. Dual- polarity results from one population of mafic dikes in the lower-plate assemblage indicate moderate, northwest-side-up tilting (declination D = 329°, inclination I = 37°, ₉₅ = 4.3°, number N = 30 sites; in situ) (₉₅ = the confidence limit for the calculated mean direction expressed as an angular radius from the calculated mean direction). Some dikes yield exclusively normal-polarity results that are interpreted to indicate modest clockwise vertical-axis rotation (D = 021°, I = 57°, ₉₅ = 4.3°, N = 19 sites; in situ) concurrent with uplift of the lower-plate rocks, and nine sites yield magnetization directions that are north-directed with positive inclinations of moderate steepness, similar to an expected Miocene field. Late Miocene pyroclastic rocks in the upper plate yield normal-polarity magnetizations suggestive of moderate, clockwise, vertical-axis rotation (D = 032°, I = 53°, ₉₅ = 8.8°, N = 10 sites). The apparent clockwise rotation is unlikely to result from incomplete sampling of the geomagnetic field, because the overall dispersion of the VGP (virtual geomagnetic pole) positions is high for the latitude of the site location. Middle Miocene sedimentary rocks probably were remagnetized shortly after deposition. Of eight ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar determinations from mafic dikes in the lower plate, five groundmass concentrates yield saddle-shaped age spectra, and one separate provided a plateau date of low confidence. Isochron analysis reveals that all six groundmass concentrates contain excess Ar. If rapid cooling and Ar retention below 250 °C are assumed, the preferred age estimate for mafic intrusions is provided by isochron dates and suggests emplacement between 12 and 10.5 Ma. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age-spectrum data are consistent with existing fission-track cooling and K-Ar isotopic age information from lower-plate granitic rocks and indicate rapid cooling of the lower-plate assemblage from well above 300 °C to 100 °C between 13 and 5 Ma. Rapid cooling may explain the overall distribution of paleomagnetic results from lower-plate intrusions such that the earliest acquired magnetizations reflect both northwest-side-up tilt and clockwise rotation and the younger magnetizations reflect northwest-side-up tilt. Overall, the paleomagnetic data from the Silver Peak extensional complex are interpreted to suggest that vertical-axis rotation of crustal-scale blocks, associated with displacement transfer in the central Walker Lane, may play an integral part in accommodating strain within a continental displacement-transfer system.

Key Words: ash-flow tuffs • extensional tectonics • geochronology • metamorphic core complexes • paleomagnetism • Walker Lane

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				M. S. Petronis, J. W. Geissman, J. S. Oldow, and W. C. McIntosh Tectonism of the southern Silver Peak Range: Paleomagnetic and geochronologic data bearing on the Neogene development of a regional extensional complex, central Walker Lane, Nevada Geological Society of America Special Papers, January 1, 2007; 434(0): 81 - 106. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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