Sediment-hosted disseminated gold deposits in Nevada, western United States are major gold sources and contain reserves in excess of 1 500 metric tons of gold (Percival et aI., 1988). Discovery of these deposit types continues at a pace, with Placer Dome announcing a mojor discovery, Pipeline, to the south of the Gold Acres Mine, along the Battle Mountain - Eureka Trend in 1994 (The Northern Miner, 1994). Host sediments favoured for disseminated gold mineralisation are thinly bedded silty limestones , carbonate debris flows and to a lesser extent shale, chert and sandstone. The distribution of mineralisation is controlled essentially by the intersection of high-angle faults, which acted as conduits for hydrothermal fluids, with favourable host lithologies, anticlines, low-angle faults and other high-angle faults. Geochemical signature for these deposits is simple being Au, Ag, As, Sb, Hg, Tl, Te, F and Ba, but individual element concentrations vary greatly between and within deposits. Age of mineralisation is cause for considerable debate, and ages ranging between isotopic dates of approximately 117 Ma to early to mid-Tertiary (30-40 Ma) are proposed. Most of these deposits are situated along three major trends namely the Carlin, Battle Mountain - Eureka and Getchell trends. The Battle Mountain - Eureka trend and, to a lesser extent the Carlin trend, are defined by major linear aeromagnetic and gravity anomalies , which are believed to reflect deep-seated structures. Most deposits are hosted in autochthonous Devonian, thinly bedded, silty limestones that occur as windows through what is believed to be allochthonous Ordovician siliciclastic sediments, which were transported from west to east along the Roberts Mountains thrust during the late-Devonian Antler Orogeny. However, recent fossil dating of what were thought to be Ordivician siliciclastic sediments, gives a Devonian age. This questions the age of Ordivician sediments at the other deposits and the interpretation of the structural windows in which deposits are located. Fault-bounded, proximal, carbonate debris-flow breccias are now recognised as a major host to mineralisation. These debris flow breccias, together with interbedded carbonate and siliciclastic sediments, carbonaceous sediments and soft sediment deformation are all characteristics of lithologies in pull-apart basins which develop along a major strike slip faults. It is proposed that sediment-hosted disseminated gold mineralisation is controlled by the distribution of deep-seated long-lived, predominantly right-lateral strike-slip faults. It is along these strike-slip faults that syn-sedimentary pull-apart basins developed, within which sediments favoured by epigenetic gold mineralisation were deposited. These pull-apart basins were then overprinted by post-depositional extensional structures, such as negative flower structures. Igneous intrusions and hydrothermal cells have exploited these extensional structures in both compressional and extensional regional tectonic regimes. This model explains the characteristics of the host sediment at many of the deposits, the spatial relationship between igneous intrusion and mineralisation, spanning the period Cretaceous through to mid-Tertiary, the distribution of deposits as districts along major regional trends and why hydrothermal activity is noted between deposit districts but with no complementary mineralisation. Mineralisation is controlled predominantly by high angle structures and although the recent age for mineralisation at the Betze/Post deposit is ~ 117 Ma (Arehart et aI., 1993a), placing it in the compressional Sevier Orogeny, these high-angle structures would be developed within local extensional tectonic domains as described above. This model can, and should, be applied to other areas of the world where similar geological features exist. In exploring for these deposits in Nevada the distribution of Ordovician siliciclastic sediments should be reviewed, especially where spatially associated with deep regional structures. Ordovician sediments have historically been regarded as unfavourable, hence large areas for potential exploration have been ignored but with new ages for these sediments this opens large areas for potential discoveries. / KMBT_363 / Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in

This dissertation research assesses the behavior of young faults in central Nevada through analyses of landforms associated with these faults. Four large earthquakes have occurred since 1915 in a striking N-S belt in central Nevada; no comparable earthquakes have occurred elsewhere in the Great Basin. The frequency of large-earthquake occurrence, and temporal and spatial patterns and rates of faulting in central Nevada during the Holocene were assessed through geomorphic and geologic studies of young fault scarps. Ages of paleoseismic events were estimated primarily through analyses of fault scarp morphologies and characterization and quantification of soil development associated with alluvial surfaces. Rates of fault scarp degradation were explored through diffusion-based modeling of latest Pleistocene pluvial shoreline scarps. Morphologic scarp age depends strongly on scarp size; modest variations in local climate, particle size, and aspect are less important. Incorporating a factor that depends on scarp size almost always decreases the scatter in scarp age estimates, and is critical if only small scarps exist along a fault zone. An average of ±30% uncertainty about the mean scarp age estimate remains after these analyses. Soil development indices were calibrated using 14 Holocene to latest Pleistocene soil profiles in central Nevada whose maximum ages are constrained. Soil development indices were used to estimate ages of faulted and unfaulted alluvial surfaces along fault scarps. Soils and morphologic fault scarp age estimates for paleoseismic events are generally consistent. Temporal and spatial patterns and rates of faulting during the Holocene were evaluated using age estimates for paleoseismic events. The long-term rate of faulting is about 10 times lower than the historical rate. There were no other N-S belts of faulting during the Holocene, although scarp ages suggest that there may have been other temporal clusters of faulting. There have been spatial clusters of faulting during portions of the Holocene. The extensional deformation rate across central Nevada during the Holocene is about 0.5-0.75 mm/yr. Integrating this rate with fault-slip data from other portions of the northern Great Basin, the Holocene extensional deformation rate is 3.5-6.5 mm/yr, substantially lower than the historical deformation rate.

Lower and Middle Devonian strata crop out on the former stable carbonate platform that existed in the Quinn Canyon Range, through the carbonate shelf edge in the Pancake Range, to the carbonate slope and outer-shelf basin in the Reveille Range. The strata of the Reveille Range record a transition from deposition on the carbonate platform in the Lower Devonian, to deposition at the carbonate platform margin, to deposition in the outer-shelf basin in the Middle Devonian. Conodonts collected from the base of the Sevy Dolomite yield a kindlei-Zone age, an indication that the Sevy Dolomite is younger than previously recognized. Throughout the Lower and Middle Devonian, carbonate strata of the Pancake Range and Quinn Canyon Range were deposited on the shallow carbonate platform. Conodonts collected from the base of the Lower Alternating Member of the Simonson Dolomite in the Quinn Canyon Range have a slightly older age (serotinus- to costatus Zone) than other eastern Nevada locations. The Lower Devonian Sevy Dolomite was deposited in a shallow carbonate subtidal through supratidal environment and is similar in outcrop throughout the ranges. Petrographic studies show that the samples are lithologically and diagenetically similar, indicating a similar intensity of dolomitization from the precursor calcareous mudstone. The Formation classifies as bioturbated mudstone and wackestone. The Middle Devonian Simonson Dolomite was deposited in shallow carbonate subtidal through supratidal environments. The Simonson Dolomite was affected by Milankovitch Cycles, glacioeustatic oscillations of sea level, producing a characteristic rhythmic bedding. The Middle Devonian Sadler Ranch Formation and Denay Limestone are lithologically and diagenetically different from the shallow water deposits of the Lone Mountain Dolomite, Sevy Dolomite, and Simonson Dolomite. The Sadler Ranch Formation and Denay Limestone were deposited at the carbonate platform edge and on the carbonate slope and outer-shelf basin, respectively. The Sadler Ranch Formation is dolomitized and may be classified as fossiliferous wackestone and mudstone. The Denay Limestone is not dolomitized and is classified as mudstone and fossiliferous grainstone and packstone. Dolomitization in the Paleozoic strata of Nevada is a secondary feature, an early diagenetic replacement of strata which were originally limestone. This replacement process was controlled by transgressions and regressions of the shoreline. Shallow carbonate platform deposits (shelfal and tidal-flat) are dolomitized, whereas deep water outer-shelf basin and slope deposits are not. / Graduation date: 1997

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND LINDGREN. / Accompanied by 3 folded plates in envelope inserted in back cover. / Bibliography: leaves 165-170. / by Gary James Axen. / M.S.

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The thesis area consists of 33 square miles in the south-central Pueblo Mountains of Humboldt County, Nevada and Harney County, Oregon. The Pueblo Mountains are tilted fault block mountains found in the extreme northwestern part of the Basin and Range province and were produced during Early Tertiary Basin and Range orogeny. Northwest and northeast trending faults of Late Tertiary time have since cut the entire stratigraphic sequence. The oldest rocks exposed are metamorphosed Permian to Triassic eugeosynclinal sedimentary rocks. The metamorphic sequence is intruded by several granitic plutons of Late Jurassic to Middle Cretaceous age. A thick sequence of Miocene basalt flows unconformably overlies the pre- Tertiary rocks. A slight angular unconformity separates the basalt sequence from overlying Miocene tuffaceous sedimentary rocks, sillar flows, and welded tuffs. Unconsolidated deposits of Quaternary alluvium include alluvial fan and lacustrine sediments. Mineralization within the area includes several gold prospects, a mercury prospect, and a possible copper deposit. The copper prospect consists of a large gossan (6, 000 feet by 3, 000 feet). Mineralization and alteration from a Cretaceous porphyritic quartz monzonite intrusion has produced potassic and quartz sericite hydrothermal alteration in the host. Oxidation and weathering has removed the sulfides from the surface leaving goethite, hematite, and limonite residues. / Graduation date: 1971

Late Pleistocene displacement along the Lone Mountain fault suggests the Silver Peak-Lone Mountain (SPLM) extensional complex is an important structure in accommodating and transferring strain within the eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) and Walker Lane. Using geologic and geomorphic mapping, differential global positioning system surveys, and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) geochronology, we determined rates of extension across the Lone Mountain fault in western Nevada. The Lone Mountain fault is the northeastern component of the SPLM extensional complex, and is characterized by a series of down-to-the-northwest normal faults that offset the northwestern Lone Mountain and Weepah Hills piedmonts. We mapped eight distinct alluvial fan deposits and dated three of the surfaces using ¹⁰BE TCN geochronology, yielding ages of 16.5 +/- 1.2 ka, 92.3 +/- 8.6 ka, and 142.2 +/- 19.5 ka for the Q3b, Q2c, and Q2b deposits, respectively. The ages were combined with scarp profile measurements across the displaced fans to obtain minimum rates of extension; the Q2b and Q2c surfaces yield an extension rate between 0.1 +/- 0.1 and 0.2 +/- 01 mm/yr and the Q3b surface yields a rate of 0.2 +/-.1 to 0.4 +/- 0.1 mm/yr, depending on the dip of the fault. Active extension on the Lone Mountain fault suggests that it helps partition strain off of the major strike-slip faults in the northern ECSZ and transfers deformation around the Mina Deflection northward into the Walker Lane. Combining our results with estimates from other faults accommodating dextral shear in the northern ECSZ reveals an apparent discrepancy between short- and long-term rates of strain accumulation and release. If strain rates have remained constant since the late Pleistocene, this could reflect transient strain accumulation, similar to the Mojave segment of the ECSZ. However, our data also suggest an increase in strain rates between ~92 ka and ~17 ka, and possibly to present day, which may also help explain the mismatch between long- and short-term rates of deformation in the region.

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