Oligocene - Miocene unroofing of the Pahvant Range and re-evaluation of the Tertiary Oak City Formation in the Canyon Range: Evidence of low-angle normal faulting in west-central Utah
Date
2014-04-10
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Abstract
The gently west-dipping Sevier Desert reflector (SDR) in central Utah has long been at the center of a controversy about its nature. The reflector projects to surface along the western flanks of both the Canyon and Pahvant Ranges located on the eastern margin of the Sevier Desert basin. The lack of surface exposure has fueled the debate of the SDR representing either a detachment or an unconformity.
Re-evaluation of the Tertiary Oak City Formation on the western margin of the Canyon Range indicates an underlying detachment confirmed by re-interpretation of seismic line Placid Line 1. New apatite (U-Th)/He data from the Pahvant Range sampled in three across-strike transects have cooling ages from 25.6 – 8.5 Ma, displaying a spatial pattern of younging towards the western range margin, consistent with extensional exhumation. Based on surficial mapping and thermochronology in this study, the SDR is interpreted as a detachment.
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McGlashing, S. (2014). Oligocene - Miocene unroofing of the Pahvant Range and re-evaluation of the Tertiary Oak City Formation in the Canyon Range: Evidence of low-angle normal faulting in west-central Utah (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27171